design - Strategies and tools for planning programs? -

i second year compsci university student, , programs getting larger, , time have them shorter, find marks dropping.

i believe isn't because not putting in enough time or effort, instead because have little experience creating bigger programs.

first year compsci had programs trivial me (particularly first semester), , in second, programs had 1 component , maybe 1 or 2 tricky parts figure out.

an example of assignment given now, includes making vcard reader, given standard, takes .vcf vcard file , parses structure. 'hard' parts assignment many, given structure , function definitions had work with. notably, had handle lines continued onto next ('folded' lines), parse given line , spot errors , return given code, , manage multiple pointers in proper fashion ensure complete before filling in structure.

now have learned particular tool, function diagrams, list functions , link them based on calling function, , have found has helped me recent assignment, not need keep track of calling what.

on other hand, believe happening not on way approach bigger assignment this, , end rewriting , rethinking of code. takes of limited time, resulting in program not meet requirements deadline, or poorly tested.

so ask strategies or tools utilize make these assignments easier.

if relevant, of programming in c, , functional, not oo.

before writing code, write out on paper flow diagrams show logical progression of program. then, after you've written down on paper, translate code. doing you:

1. think through program needs do.
2. helps see problems before commit them in code.