IPO Model

The IPO model is a tool.

You use it as a way to analyse the way something works so that you understand it better.

The great thing about the IPO model for IT is that it describes how something works using the same three steps that are essential to computerise a task.

Programming means that you….(the programmer) have to write out instructions for the computer to follow to get a job done.

To be able to do this you have to analyse and plan how to get the job done.

The word ANALYSE is often intimidating. When told to analyse something most people don't know where to start. Analysis is not that difficult when you have some tools to help you - and the IPO model is just such a tool. Breaking something down into its Input, Processing and Output is analysing it.

Planning a program means that you have to figure out:

What Input the program needs - and how to get this input.

What Processing needs to be done (e.g. what calculations and manipulations must happen).

What Output the computer must produce to show that it has done the job - and how this output must look / where it must appear.

There are a few questions here where you need to identify the input, output or processing in a scenario.

Try to get all of them right....

You will need the IPO model as a tool for every program you write in my classroom - from now to Grade 12.

It is ESSENTIAL you understand how it works!