Advanced Program Design with C

1
Advanced Program Design with C

• Part 0
• Introduction to the course
• Introduction to C

2
Introduction to the Course

3
Introduction to the course Instructor

• Name Joey Paquet
• Position Associate Professor, Department of
  Computer Science and Software Engineering
• Teaching topics Programming languages, Compiler
  design, Software engineering and programming
  methodology
• Research topics Design and implementation of
  programming languages, Parallel and/or
  distributed computing, Demand-driven computation,
  Context-driven computation
• Contact information
• Web www.cse.concordia.ca/paquet
• E-mail paquet_at_cse.concordia.ca
• Office EV 3-221
• Office hours Fridays 10am-12pm

4
Introduction to the course Calendar description

• Prerequisite COMP 352 previously or
  concurrently. Introduction to C. I/O with
  stream classes. Pointers and their uses. The
  Standard Template Library (STL) containers,
  algorithms, iterators, adaptors, function
  objects. Class design constructors, destructors,
  operator overloading, inheritance, virtual
  functions, exception handling, memory management.
  Advanced topics libraries, locales, STL
  conventions, concurrency, template
  metaprogramming. Applications of C systems,
  engineering, games programming. Project.
  Lectures three hours per week. Laboratory two
  hours per week.

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Introduction to the course Rationale

• Most of our courses are taught using the Java
  programming language.
• C programming is pervasive in many key areas of
  the software industry
• Computer games and entertainment industry
• Audio/Video processing
• Computer device drivers
• Control systems
• Telecommunications systems
• Embedded software systems
• Simulation systems
• Medical imaging
• Though C and Java have many similar syntactical
  elements and structures, C has many subtleties,
  technicalities and features that differ from
  Java.
• Most importantly, its implementation and runtime
  systems is very different from Java, which makes
  it well-adapted to the application areas
  mentioned previously.
• This course aims at teaching C to an audience
  well-trained in computer programming and putting
  the newly acquired knowledge into practice
  through a challenging project.

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Introduction to the course Project

• The project is to be undertaken small teams
  (typically 4 members) and consists of the
  building of a challengingly large and complex C
  application.
• The completion of the project is divided into two
  separate components
• (1) the Intermediate Project Delivery is a first
  operational build of the software, effectively
  demonstrating the full implementation of some
  important software features
• (2) the Final Project Delivery is the
  demonstration of the finalized version of your
  software.
• During the project deliveries, you also have to
  demonstrate that your code includes many of the
  C features presented in the lectures.
• The individual assignments will also be related
  to the project.

7
Introduction to the course Graduate attributes

• As part of both the Computer Science and Software
  Engineering program curriculum accreditation, the
  content of this course includes material and
  exercises related to the teaching and evaluation
  of graduate attributes.
• Graduate attributes are skills that have been
  identified by the Canadian Engineering
  Accreditation Board (CEAB) and the Canadian
  Information Processing Society (CIPS) as being
  central to the formation of Engineers, computer
  scientists and information technology
  professionals.
• The accreditation criteria for the Software
  Engineering and Computer Science programs dictate
  that graduate attributes are taught and evaluated
  as part of the courses.
• This particular course aims at teaching and
  evaluating 3 graduate attributes. The following
  is a description of these attributes, along with
  a description of how these attributes are
  incorporated in the course.

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Introduction to the course Graduate attributes

• Graduate attribute 1 Problem analysis
• Definition the ability to use appropriate
  knowledge and skills to identify, analyze, and
  solve complex engineering problems in order to
  reach substantiated conclusions.
• The project in this course is defined in a way
  that requires the students to analyze the problem
  at hand before and determine for themselves
  exactly what needs to be done, and then determine
  how and with the help of what tools and software
  libraries it can be achieved.

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Introduction to the course Graduate attributes

• Graduate attribute 2 Design
• Definition the ability to design solutions for
  complex, open-ended engineering problems and to
  design systems, components or processes that meet
  specified needs with appropriate attention to
  health and safety risks, applicable standards,
  and economic, environmental, cultural and
  societal considerations.
• The project in this course is presented in an
  open-ended fashion, and its size and complexity
  is such that it needs to be tackled in teams. The
  individual assignments provide a platform for
  designing at a smaller level, and provide the
  additional difficulty of having to be integrated
  in the larger design of the project.

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Introduction to the course Graduate attributes

• Graduate attribute 3 Use of Engineering tools
• Definition the ability to create, select, apply,
  adapt, and extend appropriate techniques,
  resources, and modern engineering tools to a
  range of engineering activities, from simple to
  complex, with an understanding of the associated
  limitations.
• The course teaches the use of the C language,
  and leaves the students free to select what
  programming environment and libraries that they
  will use in the assignments and project.
  Selection and use of the right tools and
  libraries is a crucial aspect of accomplishing
  the practical work.

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Introduction to the course Evaluation

• Individual evaluation components
• Written examinations (midterm, final) 15 30
  45
• Individual assignments (3) 3 X 5 15
• Team work evaluation components
• Intermediate project delivery 15
• Final project delivery 25

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Introduction to the course Bibliography

• Y. Daniel Liang. Introduction to Programming with
  C. Third Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2014. ISBN-13
  978-0-13-325281-1
• Walter Savitch. Absolute C. Fifth Edition,
  Addison-Wesley, 2013. ISBN-13 978-0-13-283071-3
• Walter Savitch. Problem Solving with C. Ninth
  Edition, Pearson, 2014. ISBN-13
  978-0-13-379174-3
• Bjarne Stroustrup. A Tour of C. Addison-Wesley,
  2014. ISBN-13 978-0-321-958310
• Bjarne Stroustrup. The C Programming Language.
  Fourth edition. Addison-Wesley, 2013. ISBN-13
  978-0-321-56384-2
• Bjarne Stroustrup. Foundations of C. Proc. 22nd
  European Symposium on Programming (ESOP).
  Springer LNCS 7211. April 2012.
• Bjarne Stroustrup. A history of C 1979--1991.
  In History of programming languages---II, Thomas
  J. Bergin, Jr. and Richard G. Gibson, Jr. (Eds.).
  ACM, New York, NY, USA 699-769. 1996.
  DOI10.1145/234286.1057836
• Bjarne Stroustrup. The Design and Evolution of
  C. Addison Wesley, ISBN0-201-54330-3. March
  1994

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Introduction to the course Bibliography

• Bjarne Stroustrup. Adding Classes to C An
  Exercise in Language Evolution. Software
  Practice and Experience, Vol. 13, pp. 139-161,
  1983.
• Bjarne Stroustrup. Classes an abstract data type
  facility for the C language. SIGPLAN Not. 17, 1.
  January 1982, 42-51. DOI10.1145/947886.947893

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Introduction to C

• History
• Features and goals
• Significance
• Tools

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Introduction to C

• C is a statically typed, multi-paradigm,
  compiled, general-purpose programming language.
• It is a middle-level language, as it comprises a
  combination of both high-level and low-level
  language features.
• It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in
  1979 at Bell Laboratories as an enhancement to
  the C programming language following the
  object-oriented principles pioneered by Simula.

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Introduction to C Principles and goals

• Bjarne Stroustrup describes some principles that
  he used for the design of C
• Statically typed, general-purpose language, as
  efficient and portable as C
• Direct and comprehensive support for multiple
  programming styles (procedural programming, data
  abstraction, object-oriented programming, and
  generic programming)
• Give the programmer choice, even if this makes it
  possible for the programmer to choose incorrectly
  
• As compatible with C as possible, providing a
  smooth transition from C
• Avoid features that are platform specific or not
  general purpose
• Not incur overhead for features that are not used
  
• Function without a sophisticated programming
  environment

• Goals
• Augment C with the notion of classes and
  inheritance
• Keep the same performance as C
• Keep same applicability as C

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Introduction to C History, versions

• Stroustrup began to work on C in 1979.
• The idea of creating a new language originated
  from Stroustrup's experience in programming for
  his Ph.D. thesis.
• Stroustrup found that Simula had features that
  were very helpful for large software development,
  but the language was too slow for practical use.
• Remembering his Ph.D. experience, Stroustrup set
  out to enhance the C language with Simula-like
  features.
• C was chosen because it was general-purpose,
  fast, portable and widely used.
• Besides C and Simula, some other languages that
  inspired him were ALGOL 68, Ada, CLU and ML.

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Introduction to C History, versions

• Initial modifications to C included (1980)
• type checking and conversion for function
  parameters
• classes data structures (struct) encapsulating
  functions
• derived classes (inheritance)
• public/private access modifiers
• constructors/destructors
• friend classes
• Later added (1981)
• inline functions
• default function parameters
• overloading of assignment operator
• The resulting language was named "C with Classes
• Further evolutions (1983-1984)
• virtual methods and dynamic binding mechanism
• method and operator overloading
• reference types
• After this, the language was renamed as C.

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Introduction to C History, versions

• Commercial implementations
• Release 1.0 (1985)
• implemented as a C to C language translation
  system called Cfront
• Release 2.0 (1989)
• multiple inheritance,
• abstract classes,
• static member functions,
• const member functions,
• protected members
• Release 3.0 (1990)
• templates
• exception handling
• namespaces
• new type cast operations
• Boolean type

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Introduction to C History, versions

• Standards
• C98 (1998) First C standard
• C03 (2003) Minor revision
• C11 (2011) Major revision

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Introduction to C Positive and negative aspects

• Positive aspects
• General purpose language
• Language implementation focus on high performance
  and lean runtime system
• Provides both high level abstraction and
  low-level programming features
• Popularity and availability of tools
• Negative aspects
• Very large and complex language that requires
  deep technical knowledge in order to properly use
  it
• Its low level capacities and focus on efficiency
  make it an insecure language
• Many C developments, such as the Standard
  Template Library add features that add security
  and abstraction, and free the programmer from
  low-level programming, but to the detriment of
  performance compared to C

22
Introduction to C Popularity and significance

• Factors for popularity
• C is a superset of C a C compiler can
  compile C programs, and C code and libraries can
  be reused in C classes and programs
• C was designed for performance similar with C
• A great number of reliable C compilers are
  available for most platforms
• C was the first object-oriented programming
  language suitable for the development of large
  commercial software
• A very wide array of C libraries are available,
  both for general use and for specialized purposes
• An extremely great amount of C code has been
  written, which in turn either makes it prone to
  reuse or binds the developers to the language

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Introduction to C Popularity and significance

• C is widely used in the software industry.
• In terms of usage, is one of the most popular
  languages ever created.
• Some of its application domains include key areas
  of software development such as systems software,
  device drivers, application software, embedded
  software, high-performance server and client
  applications, video and audio processing, and
  entertainment software such as video games and
  computer animation.
• C continues to be one of the preferred
  programming languages to develop professional
  applications.
• The language has gone from being initially mostly
  Western to attracting programmers from all over
  the world.

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Introduction to C Tools

• Compilers and IDEs
• Apple Xcode C
• Bloodshed Dev-C
• CodeBlocks
• Cygwin
• Eclipse for C
• MINGW - "Minimalist GNU for Windows"
• GNU CC
• The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure
• Microsoft Visual C 2010
• Sun Studio NetBeans

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Introduction to C Libraries

• General
• Boost
• MFC Microsoft Foundation classes
• STL Standard Template Library
• GUI
• MFC GUI
• Qt
• SFML
• WxWidgets

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Introduction to C References

• International Organization for Standardization.
  ISO/IEC 148821998 Programming languages C.
  1998.
• International Organization for Standardization.
  ISO/IEC 148821998 Programming languages C.
  2003.
• International Organization for Standardization.
  ISO/IEC 148821998 Information technology --
  Programming languages C. 2011.
• Bjarne Stroustrup. A Tour of C. Addison-Wesley,
  2014. ISBN-13 978-0-321-958310
• Bjarne Stroustrup. The Design and Evolution of
  C. Addison Wesley, ISBN0-201-54330-3. March
  1994
• Bjarne Stroustrup. A history of C 1979--1991.
  In History of programming languages---II, Thomas
  J. Bergin, Jr. and Richard G. Gibson, Jr. (Eds.).
  ACM, New York, NY, USA 699-769. 1996.
  DOI10.1145/234286.1057836