Difference Between Algorithm, Pseudocode, and Program

Algorithm Vs. Pseudocode Vs. Program: Find the Difference Between Algorithm, Pseudocode, and Program

All three of these are procedures used in a computer system, but there is a significant difference between algorithm, pseudocode, and program. In this article, we will discuss the same. But let us first know a bit more about each of these.

Algorithm – It is a well-defined, systematic logical approach that comes with a step-by-step procedure for computers to solve any given program.

Program – It refers to the code (written by programmers) for any program that follows the basic rules of the concerned programming language.

Pseudocode – A pseudocode is basically a simplified version of the programming codes. These codes exist in the plain English language, and it makes use of various short phrases for writing a program code before implementing it in any programming language.

What is an Algorithm?

We use an algorithm to generate a solution to any given problem in the form of steps. When we use a computer for solving any given problem (in well-defined multiple steps), we need to communicate these steps to the solution properly to the computer.

When we execute any algorithm on a computer, we need to combine various operations like subtraction and addition for performing various complex operations of mathematics. We can express algorithms using flowcharts, natural language, and many more.

What is a Pseudocode?

Pseudocode refers to a method using which we represent any algorithm for any program. Pseudocode does not consist of any specific syntax like a programming language. Thus, one cannot execute it on a computer. We can use several formats for writing pseudocode. A majority of them take down the structures from the available languages, like FORTRAN, Lisp, C, etc.

Various times, we can present an algorithm using the pseudocode because any programmer can easily read as well as understand them (those who are familiar with multiple programming languages). You get to include various control structures using pseudocode, such as repeat-until, if-then-else, while, for and case. It is present in various languages that are high-level.

Note– A pseudocode is not equivalent to a real programming language.

What is a Program?

It refers to a set of various instructions that a computer follows. No machine is actually capable of reading a program directly. It is because it only understands the available machine code. Instead, you can write anything in a computer language and then use a compiler or interpreter (for compiling and interpreting) so that it becomes understandable for any computer system.