Flowgorithm Tutorial

Flowgorithm is a free flowchart software that lets you create runnable flowcharts. Flowgorithm is a visual programming language designed for beginners and students to learn programming skills. The flowchart tool is implemented using the Microsoft C# and is based on .NET 4 Framework.

Origin of the Name

Flowgorithm = Flowchart + Algorithm

  The name is the fusion of two English words: “Flowchart” and “Algorithm”. Flowgorithm can interactively create source code for the flowchart in many supported programming languages.

Author

The author of Flowgorithm software is Devin Cook

Flowgorithm Logo

 

Flowgorithm Logo

 

 

Overview

A flowchart represents a visual or graphical modeling language to represent the flow of control, execution of the algorithm, and instructions.

Versions

The major versions of the flowchart software are as follows:

Download & Install

Flowgorithm uses Windows Installer and also supports silent installation. Steps to install the software on the Windows operating system:

Flowgorithm Features

Software programs are written using a text editor or IDE ( Integrated Development Environment). Depending on the programming language, this can be easy or very difficult for a beginner. Flowgorithm is a visual programming language. It allows the programmer to visually add flowchart symbols to the flowchart and then execute them to verify the output. Flowgorithm supports many i18n languages. We can create flowcharts in the localized language.

 

Flowgorithm Software Features

 

Tool Components

Toolbar Icons

Flowgorithm Menu and the Toolbar icons:

 

Flowgorithm Toolbar

 

Flowchart Symbols

The Flowgorithm flowchart visually represents algorithms using symbols such as rectangles, rhombuses, parallelograms, and diamonds.

 

Flowchart Symbols Set

 

Flowgorithm uses symbols to represent the different actions we want the program to perform. Each shape has a precise, logical meaning. The shape contains a textual indication that describes the activity to be performed. The sequence in which the operations must be performed is shown with connecting arrows.

Flowgorithm Data Types

Flowgorithm Source File

The Flowgorithm source files have an XML(Extensible Markup Language) structure. XML is a standard way of encoding data for processing and exchange across applications on the Web. Flowgorithm source files have *.fprg file extensions. We can edit the *.fprg source file directly with text editors.

Comment Statement

Flowchart Comments are for other programmers, students, and instructors. They allow others to understand your program and logic.

Input/Output Statement

Basic flowchart input and output statements:

Execute Flowchart

Students can run and execute the flowcharts using the Flowgorithm software. The flowchart execution starts with the “Main” function. The main function has no parameters. The execution is from the top to the bottom symbol. The execution starts with the Main flowchart symbol and ends with the End symbol.

Hello World Flowchart

A common way to learn something new is to create a simple “Hello World” program with the programming language or tools we are learning. The “Hello World” Flowgorithm flowchart prints the “Hello World” message on the output console window.

Sample Flowchart

Sample Flowgorithm flowchart with an output symbol:

 

Flowgorithm Tutorial

 

Identifiers

An identifier is a name assigned to a particular variable, function, procedure, or user-defined item. It labels a specific memory location where data is stored or a set of actions are carried out.

Declare Statement

Assign Statement

A rectangle indicates an assignment statement. It is where a variable is given a new value.

Variables

Layout Windows

Take User Input

If Control

Loops

Loops allow the repetition of statements in the flowchart. Consider the simple example of printing a hundred numbers. To print the numbers without loops, we must add a hundred Output statements to the flowchart. This will make the flowchart too big and look cumbersome.

Loop structures allow the repetition of statements. So, with a loop, we can add a single Output statement and iterate the loop a hundred times.

While Loop

For Loop

Do While Loop

Nested For Loop

We can nest loop statements inside another loop statement.

Functions

A function is a set of instructions that accomplishes a particular and well-defined task. If tasks require repetition, functions can be created.

Flowgorithm functions can be broadly divided into two groups:

  • Intrinsic or Built-in Functions
  • User-defined Functions

Built-in Functions

The flowchart software already predefines built-in functions. The Flowgorithm supports over 20 predefined functions.

User-defined Functions

The programmer defines user-defined functions. The programmer can design their own functions and invoke them in the flowchart. We can define the function once and reuse the function.

Call Statement

The Call statement allows the programmer to invoke functions.

Function Parameters

The programmer can pass information to the functions using the parameters.

Recursion

The Flowgorithm supports recursion. A recursive function is a function that calls itself.

Generate Code

We can run programs directly in Flowgorithm. Flowgorithm can also convert the flowchart into many high-level popular language source codes. These include:

  • C #
  • C ++
  • Java
  • Kotlin
  • JavaScript
  • Lua
  • Perl
  • Python
  • QBasic
  • Ruby
  • Visual Basic, etc

Flowgorithm Source Code Viewer

Flowgorithm Programming Languages CodeGen

Arrays

An array is a data structure that contains a collection of items. The items should be of the same data type, like an Integer, String, etc. Using Arrays, we can store, search, sort, or retrieve data easily.

Flowgorithm Turtle Graphics

Flowgorithm 3.0 introduces a new feature and capability to draw Turtle graphics.

Turtle Graphics Example

File I/O

Flowgorithm 3.0 introduces file capabilities like reading and writing text files from the flowchart.

File Symbols

Read Text File

Write Text File

Export Flowchart

We can export the Floworithm flowchart to an image file. Flowgorithm supports export to PNG(Portable Network Graphics) and SVG(Scalable Vector Graphics) image files.

Update Flowgorithm

The latest version is Flowgorithm 3.0. To update the flowchart tool from an older version:

The below steps update the tool from 2.x -> 3.x

Update Flowgorithm To Latest Version

Official Website

For more information on the Flowgorithm tool, visit the official website:

http://flowgorithm.org/