Problem Solving Part 2 - And how it related to Computer Science by way of Apollo 13

In the previous article we looked at the basics of problem solving, and I showed you the clip from Apollo 13, and asked you to work out:

The GIVEN

The GOAL

The CONSTRAINTS

The RESOURCES

The OWNER

From this clip you should have worked out the following:

THE GIVEN:

three astronauts, in a ship designed for only two men, too much CO2 being produced, the CO2 scrubbers not working

THE GOAL:

fit a square peg in a round hole

THE CONSTRAINTS:

time, CO2 levels, communication time, finite amount of resources

THE RESOURCES:

only what they had in the spacecraft. Nothing else.

THE OWNER:

the team at mission control “the guys upstairs have given us this, and we’ve got to come through”

Here is an actual transcript from the Apollo 13 Mission logs:

Here is how they solved the problem for real in 1970

Here is how they solved the problem in the movie

Here is an image showing the solution they created at mission control and the one they created in the Apollo 13 Capsule

In these two blog posts we've looked at defining a problem. in Computer Science, understanding exactly what you have to do, so that there is no mistake, and defining EXACTLY what your program has to do is one of the most difficult jobs. Usually this is done by a Consultant or Analyst who will then give you, them programmer a specific list of inputs, outputs and expected behaviors.