The SFC editor a graphical tool for algorithm development
Tia Watts · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2004
This paper describes The SFC Editor, a graphical algorithm development tool for both beginning and advanced programmers. Flowcharts have long been used by programmers as a format for designing and visualizing the logic of an algorithm. Since drawing flowcharts by hand can be very tedious, most programmers use software for creating their flowcharts; usually the technique employed by the software package involves selecting the graphical components of a flowchart and manually creating the lines of flow among them. The SFC (Structured Flow Chart) Editor differs from other flowchart creation software because its focus is on the design of flowcharts for structured programs; using a building block approach, the graphical components of a flowchart are automatically connected and structured pseudo-code is simultaneously generated for each flowchart. While SFC was originally designed as a tool for beginning to intermediate programmers, it has been used by students in upper level classes and by professional system designers. This paper presents anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of the SFC Editor in a computer science overview course and a summary of future directions for the project.