Question

If the following pseudocode were an actual program, what would it display? Declare String s1 = "New York" Declare String s2 = "Boston" If s1 > s2 Then Display s2 Display s1 Else Display s1 Display s2 End If

Short answer

``` Set s1 to "New York" Set s2 to "Boston" If s1 > s2 then Display s2, s1 Else Display s1, s2 End If ``` Answer: The pseudocode would display "New York" followed by "Boston".

Step-by-step solution

Understand the pseudocode

We have two strings, s1 and s2. The pseudocode checks if s1 > s2. If this condition is true, it displays s2 and then s1. If the condition is false, it displays s1 and then s2.

Evaluate the comparison

In most programming languages, strings are compared lexicographically, that is, on the basis of their Unicode values. s1 is "New York" and s2 is "Boston". Since the character 'B' of "Boston" comes before the character 'N' of "New York" in lexicographical order, s2 is considered to be "smaller" than s1. So, the condition s1 > s2 is false.

Determine the output based on the comparison result

Since the condition s1 > s2 is false, the program will display the output corresponding to the "Else" block of the pseudocode. Therefore, it will display s1 ("New York") and then s2 ("Boston").