2.

2 Flowcharts

A flowchart is a symbolic diagram that describes a sequence of events or steps in a

process/program. Whereas a block diagram describes the actual system, a flowchart
describes the process/tasks that the system performs. If a microcomputer is controlling
the system processes then the flowchart is effectively describing the program(s), which
run on the processor. Thus, familiarity with flowcharts is important when
designing/describing software (as outlined at a later stage).

Initially we will use flowcharts to describe system processes in a general sense without
considering coding. In the same way that block diagrams can be very general or complex,
so too can flowcharts. Sometimes a complicated process may be described by a series of
flowcharts starting with a simple main diagram which refers to other more detailed ‘sub’
flowcharts. This breaking down of a process into sub-processes is also an important
aspect of software design.

FLOWCHART SYMBOLS

SYMBOL EXAMPLE

START

Terminal symbol

Calculate new
value

General process/simple sequence

Sort table of
data
Sub process/subprogram

Check
temperature

Input/output (I/O) operation

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 Is Temp
too high?

Decision symbol

Output new
value

Flow of events from symbol to symbol

Other symbols may be found as part of the Microsoft office DRAW tools in WORD. The following
example describes a simple domestic system using flowcharts.

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