"Introduction To Programming"
  W12EAC-SI0002G  COURSE / LECTURE  '2024/25

• Course content description / PDF
• ePortal:  W12EAC-SI0002G # W # Introduction to Programming - LECTURE
  
  

Evaluation:    

• Midterm / forming exam (stationary, written on the paper): November 27, 2024
      →  example tasks (1)  related to the first part of the semester
     
  
• Final exam is planned for: January 29, 2025
      →  example tasks (2) & repetition materials  related to the second part of the semester and final exam
     
  
• Retake exam (for students who fail or were absent / during midterm or final exam)
  is planned for the first week of winter session February 5-7, 2025
  

Subject objectives:

• Learning the basic programming constructs which are common to most of algorithmic languages:
  types, variables, conditional branching, looping, functions with arguments, recursion, arrays, lists, files.
  Getting acquainted with selected forms of dynamic and complex data structures: list, stack, queue and tree.
• Acquiring the ability of the structural and procedural programming in C or C++,
  using the integrated development environments to improve the processes of editing, compiling and testing multi-file programming projects.
• Acquisition of basic knowledge on computer algorithms, how they are presented and analyzed.
  Getting familiar with standard algorithms processing large amounts of data, i.e.: searching, aggregating and sorting.
• Development of the knowledge in the area of information technologies and improving the skills in its use in engineering work.
     
  

Teaching materials for current semester ('2024):

• LECTURE-01
  The algorithms and methods for their representation. The flowcharts.
  The stages and tools used during software development. Standards of programming languages.
  The overall structure, syntax and semantics of the program in C or C++. Examples of source code for simple console applications.
  Computer data and their representations. Data types and ranges of values. Program variables, variable declaration and initialization. The visibility of identifiers. Storage classes. Predefined scalar types and user defined types (typedef). Logic, bitwise and arithmetic operators. Rules for calculation of algebraic expressions.
  Slides:  L01 - Introduction (PDF)
  
  Wiki:    programming paradigms ,  comparison of programming languages ,   C   /  C++  standards
    
  Other resources:
    - MIT Open course "Introduction to C++": Lecture 1 notes "1. Introduction"
  
  

  RECOMMENDED free eBook / Wikibooks (in English, Polish and some other languages):   - C programming [EN]    or  Język C [PL]        (   C   PDF )   - C++ programming [EN]   or  Język C++ [PL]   ( C++ PDF )    - W3schools  "C Tutorial"  ( + examples + "Try it yourself" )   - W3schools  "C++ Tutorial"  ( + examples + "Try it yourself" )

    
    
  
•  LECTURE-02
  Dialogue with the user in text mode. Formatted input and output using standard library <stdio.h>.
  Basic programming instructions: assignment, conditional selection and choice. Controlling the flow of the algorithm, folding and nesting conditional instructions. Examples of algorithms that process small amounts of data. The standard mathematical functions. Dealing with streams and basic input/output operations.  .
  Slides:  L02 - Input/Output, if/else, switch (PDF)  
  Online printf and scanf documentation  (from  www.cplusplus.com  portal)
  
  Other resources:
    - C programming / Program flow control
    - MIT "Introduction to C++": Lecture 2 notes "2. Flow of control"
    - Exercises: w3resource - C++ Basics (85 exercises with solution)     
    
  Supplementary readings:
   - Wikipedia → Structured Programming
  - C Programming / Program flow control →  "Last thing: goto"
     (illustration of :  what programming would look like, without structured if-else statements and loop statements) 
    
    
  
• LECTURE-03
  The concept of iterations in the program. The types of loops: while, do-while, for. Terms of completion and nesting the loops. Instructions to break or continue the loop. Simple iterative algorithms: counting, searching the minimum or maximum, summing up the data values retrieved from the stream.
  Slides:  L03 - Loops (PDF)
  
  Other resources:
    - GeeksForGeeks notes: Loops in Programming
    - Exercises: w3resource - C++ Loops (87 exercises with solution)
    - Hints/documentation for more advanced/color text console printing:  console color,  gotoxy,  clrscr
     
   
  
• LECTURE-04
  Arrays in C/C++. Array declaring, defining and indexing. Processing array data using a loop. One-dimensional and multi-dimensional arrays.
  Slides:  L04 - Arrays (PDF)
  
  Other resources:
    - wikiBook: C Programming / Arrays
    - GeeksforGeeks C Arrays
    - example algorithms:  inserting new value into array, deleting / removing some value from array
    - MIT course - Lecture 4 notes: Arrays and Strings
    - Exercises: w3resource - C++ Array (29  exercises with solution in C++)
  
  

  For more advanced students: Something to read and think over: Why aren't  "variable-length"  arrays part of the C++ standard?, i.e. discussion, why there are problems with VLA (Variable Lenght Array) which was introduced / allowed in C language version C99:    int my_size;      double my_array[my_size]; especially, when somebody try to modify the variable "my_size" later: i.e..  scanf("%d", &my_size);     or     my_size = my_size+1; + article  "Legitimate Use of Variable Length Arrays" by Chris Wellons    " . . . In general, VLAs not useful. They’re time bombs. VLAs are nearly always the wrong choice . . . "

     
    
  
    
  
•   .  .  .   (next materials will be published successively as the lectures progress)
    
    
    
    
  
  

Archival teaching materials from previous edition of this course  ('2023)

• LECTURE-05
  Functions and procedures in programming languages. Declaring, defining and invoking the function. Parameter-less functions. Explicit passing of the data via the argument list or the return statement. Passing arguments by value and by reference. Default values for arguments. Overloaded functions. Inline functions. Recursion.
  Slides:  L05 - Functions (PDF)
     
  Other resources:
    - w3schools - C Functions  tutorial,  Function parameters , Function declaration and definition
    - cplusplus - Functions  tutorial
    - MIT course - Lecture 3 notes: Functions
     
  
  
• LECTURE-06
  Pointers: Computer memory addresses, pointers to variables and memory, pointers arithmetic in C/C++. The relationship between pointers and arrays. Working with arrays using the pointer notation i. Passing arguments to the function by address. Standard C functions which operate directly on computer memory <string.h> (memset, memcpy, memcmp, memmove, etc.)
  Slides:  L06 - Pointers (PDF)
  
  Other resources:
   -  MIT: Lecture 5 notes Pointers
   -  guru99: Pointers in C Programming: What is Pointer, Types & Examples 
   -  tutorialspoint: C - Pointers (Pointer arithmetic, Array of pointers, Pointer to pointer, Passing pointers to functions)
    - Wikibooks/ C programming: Pointers
   -  programiz: C Pointers (with examples)
   -  programiz: Relationship Between Arrays and Pointers
  
     
• LECTURE-07
  C-string - an array representation of strings in C/C++. Declaring, defining, and manipulating the null-terminated character sequences.
  Standard C library <string.h> (strcpy, strcmp, strcat, strlen, etc.). Examples of user-defined functions for processing textual data.
  Slides:  L07 - C-string - char arrays  (PDF)
  Additional examples: Writing custom functions performing C-string text processing
  
  Other resources:
    - Wikibooks/Language C - String manipulation  ( PL: Napisy )
    - guru99: Strings in C: How to Declare Variable, Initialize, Print, Examples
    - cplusplus: Null-terminated character sequences  tutorial
     
     
• LECTURE-08
  Structural type - the concept of structures in C/C++. Definition, declaration and initialization of structural variables.
  Nesting of composite types (structures and arrays). An example of a simple in-memory database (using the data representation in the form of arrays of structures).
  Slides:  L08 - Struct (PDF)
  Examples of C struct application: example tasks using array of struct
  
  Other resources:
    - cplusplus: Data structures
    - tutorialspoint: C - Structures
    - programiz: C struct
    - guru99: What is a Struct in C++
    - guru99: Difference between Structure and Class: Explained with C++ Example
     
        
  
• LECTURE-10
  Support for external memory in the form of raw data files. Random access and text files. Procedural <stdio.h> libraries for standard file operations. Input and output operations for the characters, strings and formatted data. Binary data - block files. Portability of the data representation between different operating systems..
  Slides:  L10 - Files (PDF)
   
  Other resources:
    - guru99: C File management
    - programiz:  C Files Input/Output  +  C Files Examples
    - tutorialspoint:  C - file I/O
    - codingeek: Files in C Programming Language: Introduction and Various File Modes
      +  File operations  +  Examples and explanation of fgets, fputs, fprintf, fscanf, fread, fwrite
      +  Text Files vs Binary Files 
    
     
• LECTURE-10a
  Completing the lecture 10 (on external files) and additional demonstrations/examples of text files processing.
  Slides:  L10a - Examples of text file operations (PDF)
     
     
  
• LECTURE-11
  Dynamic memory allocation. Allocating and freeing the allocated memory (malloc, calloc, free / new and delete operators).
  Heap overflow and dynamic data corruption. Dynamic allocation and reallocation of arrays of a specified size.
  Slides:  L08 - Dynamic memory allocation (PDF)
  Comparision of:  static array,  quazi-dynamic array (with bounded max size), and dynamic array
     
  Other resources:
    - BinaryUpdates: Dynamic Memory Allocation in C Programming
    - Design&Reuse: Dynamic Memory Allocation and Fragmentation in C and C++
    - Guru99: Dynamic Memory Allocation in C using malloc(), calloc() Functions ,
    - GeeksForGeeks: Dynamic Memory Allocation in C using malloc(), calloc(), free() and realloc()
    - cplusplus: Dynamic memory  tutorial
    - Guru99:  C++ Dynamic Allocation of Arrays with Example ,  
                   :  Stack vs Heap: Know the Difference
     
• LECTURE-12
  Additional examples of binary files processing.
  Slides:  L11 - Examples of binary file operations (PDF).
     
  plus: Repetition of selected problems from whole semester (preparation to final exam)
    
• FINAL EXAM
  
  

• LECTURE-Extra-1 
  The complex pointer data structures. The array of pointers to simple variables, array of pointers to arrays, dynamic array of pointers to dynamic strings. Pointers to functions. Standard qsort function.
  
  
• LECTURE-Extra-2 
  Dynamic and recursive data structures: the pointer-driven list, stack, queue, priority queue, binary tree, and their properties.
  
  

Literature: