Question

INTEGRATIVECASESEATTLEPAPERPRODUCTS-SeattlePaperProducts(SPP)is modifying its sales department payroll system to change the way it calculates sales commissions. Under the old system, commissions was a fixed percentage of dollar sales. The new system is considerably more complex, with commission rates varying according to the product sold and the total dollar volume of sales Jason Scott was assigned to use audit software to write a parallel simulation test program to calculate sales commissions and compare them with those generated by the new system. Jason obtained the necessary payroll system documentation and the details on the new sales commission policy and prepared his program Jason used the sales transaction data from the last payroll period to run his program. To his surprise, his calculations were $5,000 less than those produced by SPP's new program. Individual differences existed for about half of the company's salespeople. Jason double-checked his program code but could not locate any errors. He selected a salesperson with a discrepancy and calculated the commission by hand. The result agreed with his program. He reviewed the new commission policy with the sales manager, line by line, and concluded that he understood the new policy completely. Jason is now convinced that his program is correct and that the error lies with SPP's new program. He is now asking himself the following questions (which I would like you to provide answers for. Additional information may be found in the text.) 1. What can be done to find the error in the program?

Answer 1

In computer programming, a logic error is a bug in a program that causes it to operate incorrectly, but not to terminate abnormally Unlike a program with a syntax error, a program with a logic error is a valid program in the language, though it does not behave as intended

There are basically three types of errors that you must contend with when writing computer programs

1. Syntax errors
2. Runtime errors
3. Logic errors

Three types of errors

There are basically three types of errors that you must contend with when writing computer programs:

Finding errors in program are:

Syntax errors

In effect, syntax errors represent grammar errors in the use of the programming language

Common examples are

1. Misspelled variable and function names
2. Missing semicolons
3. Improperly matches parentheses, square brackets, and curly braces
4. Incorrect format in selection and loop statements

Run time errors

Run time errors occur when a program with no syntax errors asks the computer to do something that the computer is unable to reliably do. Common examples are:

1. Trying to divide by a variable that contains a value of zero
2. Trying to open a file that doesn't exist
3. There is no way for the compiler to know about these kinds of errors when the program is compiled.

Logic errors

Logic errors occur when there is a design flaw in your program. Common examples are:

1. Multiplying when you should be dividing
2. Adding when you should be subtracting
3. Opening and using data from the wrong file
4. Displaying the wrong message