INFSCI 0015 Data Structures Lecture 0: Programming

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INFSCI 0015 - Data StructuresLecture 0
Programming

• Peter Brusilovsky
• http//www2.sis.pitt.edu/peterb/0015-011/

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INFSCI 0015 and BSIS

• Information Science
• Data Structures
• Information Science and programming
• So, do we need to learn a programming language?
• To understand it, you have to do it!
• No magic in programming!

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What is special for INFSCI 0015

• Programming and Data Structures
• Double the content CS1 and CS2
• Data Structures is the goal
• Language is the tool
• Double load?
• Regular load for students familiar with
  programming (36)
• Much more work for beginners (39, 312)

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Why C?

• Modular procedural language with arrays,
  structures, and references
• C vs. Pascal
• modern, portable, better textbooks and tools
• employment prospects (C, C, Java)
• C vs. C or Java
• small, clean, simple
• can support learning data structures without
  learning too much language extras

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Learning C

• Be careful, read your programs!
• The basic philosophy of C "programmers know
  what they are doing" - KR2, p.3
• Ask questions in CourseWeb forums
• Meet TAs and your instructor during the office
  hours
• Practice, practice, practice!
• Run all examples, modify it
• Solve problems, check yourself on quizzes

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Books

• Books for C
• Deitel and Deitel (DD)
• Kernighan and Ritchie (KR2)
• Extra books
• Multiple free tutorials on the Web
• Books for Data structures
• Gilberg and Forouzan
• Other books

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Course Tools

• All information will be provided via course home
  pages (http//www2.sis.pitt.edu/peterb/0015-011/
  )
• BlackBoard system will be used as a course tool
  for
• Posting announcements (WATCH IT!)
• Posting course materials, assignments, quizzes
• Learning about and communicating with each other
• Asking questions and getting answers
• Submitting assignments
• Viewing grades and feedback
• Other tools could be introduced on later stages

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A Few Words on Logistics

• Final grade 403030
• To get credit submit homework before or on the
  due date
• Catch up early
• Get books, ask questions, seek help
• Run examples, experiment, write
• Activity counts
• Be active in forums, answer questions
• Waiting list

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CourseInfo

• CourseInfo system will be used as a course tool
  for
• Posting course materials, assignments, and
  quizzes
• Learning about and communicating with each other
• Asking questions and getting answers
• Submitting assignments
• Viewing grades and feedback
• Other tools could be used on later stages

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Communication

• To you
• Watch closely the CourseInfo site for
  announcements.
• Check your CIS mail regularly - most important
  and urgent information will be send to it
• From you
• If a question is not personal (an answer could be
  useful for others) - ask via forum
• If it is a personal question - ask me or TA by
  e-mail (can do it from CourseInfo too)
• Waiting list

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CourseInfo Assignment

• Due Tuesday 9/6/01
• Home page (picture!) - up to 4pt
• Try visible features, ask questions, answer
  questions (done?)
• Complete C Pre-test - results are not counted
  towards your grade
• Submit test message to the test forum

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What are computers?

• idiot servants that can do simple operations
  incredibly fast if you tell them every step to do
• like little children in their need for specific
  and detailed instruction
• computers are not brains are not smart -
  they only as good as the program they are running

Adapted from J. Wyatt s slides
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Programs and programming

• What is a program?
• A set of instructions working with data designed
  to accomplish a specific task
• The recipe analogy
• Ingredients are the Data
• Directions are the Program Statements
• What is programming
• The art and craft of writing programs
• The art to control these idiot servants and
  naïve children

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Commands and data

• Components of a program
• Data
• Commands (instructions)
• This is true on several levels
• Basic features of a machine language or a
  programming language
• Ways to represent information - data types
• Ways to act on information - operations

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Information Representation

• Computer store information digitally in binary
  format
• Ultimately everything is ones and zeroes
• characters, numbers
• instructions (programs!!)
• pictures, video
• Binary arithmetic E.g., 7 00000111
• 99 01100011

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From Commands to Algorithms
machine commands
0100 0001101 10001110
high-level language commands
a 16
printf("Hello!\n)
basic control structures
while for if-else switch
average
maximum
string reading
simple patterns
algorithms
sorting
binary search
matching
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C Program Syntax

• Most C programs have the following (at minimum)
• main (program arguments)
• ltone or more statementsgt
• Every program must have a main function. Note
  that C is case sensitive (Main is not the same as
  MAIN or main).

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Hello World Program

• include ltstdio.hgt
• main()
• printf(Hello World!\n)

Dissection adapted From S. Pilachewski
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Hello World - dissected

• include ltstdio.hgt
• main()
• printf(Hello World!\n)
• Directive which tells the compiler that the
• standard input / output library will be
  used.

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Hello World - main() Function

• include ltstdio.hgt
• main()
• printf(Hello World!\n)
• Execution of a C program always begins at the
  main() function. Every C program must have one
  (only one) main() function.

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Hello World - the Braces

• include ltstdio.hgt
• main()
• printf(Hello World!\n)
• The open brace () marks the beginning of the
  function body, which is one or more program
  statements which perform some task.
• The closing brace () marks the end of the
  function body.

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Hello World - the printf statement

• include ltstdio.hgt
• main()
• printf(Hello World!\n)
• This statement is a function call to the printf
  function in the C Standard I/O Library. It
  displays the message which is the argument to the
  function. The \n denotes the newline.

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Hello World - the semicolon

• include ltstdio.hgt
• main()
• printf(Hello World!\n)
• The semicolon marks the end of a C program
  statement.