I found this searching for the Tabular Method. This was a suggested tag in the Rubric I've been evaluating myself on based on the one suggested in How to Prepare for Technical Interviews.
I never found the answer to what the "Tabular Method" was. But this article still drew me in.
What is the 4 step method called? Madison doesn't give it a name, she just outlines some steps. She does refer to the book How to Solve It which uses these titles as chapter headings.
**Understand the problem** by clarifying parts you don't understand. Understand inputs and outputs. Then create your own test cases that covers simple and complex states.
**Devise a plan** as pseudo code comments in your code.
**Carry out the plan** by replacing pseudo code with real code. If you get stuck, solve an easier part first and come back to it.
**Review** * Are there other approaches that could work? * Is it understandable? * Can you use the result or method for another problem? * Can you improve the performance of the solution? * Are there other refactorings? * Are there published solutions we can compare our answer with?