ECE 264 Advanced C Programming 2009/01/16

reminder: The rst exercise is due next Wednesday. If you have no class at 2:30PM today, please go to MSEE 190 and complete the exercise.

Contents
1 2 Ofce Hours Programming Environments 2.1 2.2 2.3 3 4 5 6 7 8 Programming at School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Programming at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Programming at Home and at School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 7 9 10 11

Data Type Array Array and Function Array and Pointer Pointer and Address Reuse Function

ECE264 Purdue University

Yung-Hsiang Lu

1 Ofce Hours
Ofce hours start today. Since everyone can go to at least one current ofce hour, the ofce will stay the same. Instructors Ofce Hours: Monday, 130-230PM, MSEE 190 Tuesday, 5-6PM, MSEE 190 Wednesday, 230-330PM, MSEE 190 Friday, 230-330PM, MSEE 222 (not MSEE 190) TAs Ofce Hours: Wednesday, 4-5PM, MSEE 190 In addition to the ofce hours, you can make appointments with the instructor.

2 Programming Environments
Please remember that you are responsible making your programs work for the machines in MSEE 190. You must double check before submission.

2.1 Programming at School

This is the easiest option. Try this if possible.

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2.2 Programming at Home

If you want to write programs at home, here are some options: If you have a Linux computer, start a terminal and type ssh [email protected] Please replace xx by the account given to you. Also, do not always use msee190pc11. You can use other machines. If everyone uses the same computer, it will be very slow. If you have a Windows computer, download an ssh client from https://engineering.purdue.edu/PULS/pc software/ssh clients and install it. Then, you can connect to the computers at campus. The following options are more complex. Consider these options only if you are familiar with computer administration because each option can take a lot of time. If you have Windows computer, install cygwin from http://www.cygwin.com/ It emulates a UNIX environment in Windows. Make sure you also install gcc, gdb, ddd, and pthread. You need Qt (http://www.qtsoftware.com/products) to run the demonstration for PA3 and the visualization for PA4. If you have a Windows computer, install virtualbox from http://www.virtualbox.org and then Linux as a guest system. You probably need 20GB disk space and 2GB memory so the computer is fast enough. Inside Linux, make sure you install gcc, gdb, ddd, pthread, and Qt.

2.3 Programming at Home and at School

If you want to write programs both at home and at school, version control is strongly recommended. Copying code back and forth is undesirable because you may forget which version is the latest and run the risk of erasing your new code. Please talk to the instructor if you need help setting up version control.

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3 Data Type
We have seen several types in C already, including integer, character, and string. In fact, C does not have real string. In C, a string is an array of characters. We will talk about arrays a littler later. Why do we need different data types in C? First, different types have different sizes. For example, float is single-precision oating point and double is double-precision oating point. The maximum value of float (4 bytes) is approximately 1038 . The maximum value of double (8 bytes) is approximately 10308 . If double can hold more numbers, why do we use float? Performance. Double-precision operations usually are much slower. If you do not need the precision, you can improve performance by using float. Another reason of different types is the operations. When two integers are added, they are added bit by bit. When two oating point numbers are added, they have to be aligned by their decimal points rst. C does not explicitly dene the size of each type, even though a character is usually one byte, or 8 bits. It is value is -128 to 127. An integer is usually 4 bytes, between -2 billion (approximately) to 2 billion (approximately). You can use sizeof(int) to nd out the size (bytes) of an integer. What is the possible result of the following statement? double a = .... /* a very large number */ double b = .... /* a very small number */ double c = a + b - a; /* Is c the same as b? */ No, c may be different from b because b is lost in a + b (a is too large). In C, each character is also an integer, based on it corresponding ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) value, for example, a is is 97 and A is 65. In C, a control character starts with backslash \ (also called escape character). A newline is \n and a tab is \t.

4 Array
Computer programs are very good at doing the same operations on different data. For example, adding two vectors, each with 20 elements. /* array.c */ #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <sys/time.h>
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int main(int argc, char * argv[]) { const int vecSize = 20; int veca[vecSize]; int vecb[vecSize]; int vecSum[vecSize]; int cnt; struct timeval currTime; gettimeofday(&currTime, NULL); srand(currTime.tv_usec); /* use the current microsecond to initialize the random number */ for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize; cnt ++) { veca[cnt] = rand() % 1000; /* between 0 and 999 */ vecb[cnt] = rand() % 1000; } for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize; cnt ++) { vecSum[cnt] = veca[cnt] + vecb[cnt]; } for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize; cnt ++) { printf("%3d + %3d = %4d\n", veca[cnt], vecb[cnt], vecSum[cnt]); } return 0; } This program introduces many new concepts. First, we declare a constant using const. By adding const, the compiler will detect whether you accidentally modify the value. A major source of problems in programs is accidental modication. Use the compiler to help you detect errors. The next three lines declare and dene three arrays of integers. An array is like a vector. Each array has 20 elements. In C, when an array is declared and dened, the elements values are not initialized. It is your responsibility to initialize the elements. In fact, you should always initialize the elements. Using uninitialized elements is a common mistake. Worse, your program may run correctly sometimes (depending on the computers). The next line declares an integer counter. We are going to assign the elements by using random numbers. To make the elements truly random, we set the seed of the random number generator by calling srand. The seed has to be something that is hard to predict. We will use the current microsecond as the seed. This is achieved by calling gettimeofday. This function returns a structure
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of two elds: second and microsecond. We will talk about structures later. Right now, just remember that this is a way to set the random number generator. The next two lines initialize the elements in the two vectors. This line says 1. initialize cnt to zero. 2. If cnts value is smaller than vecSize, execute the code inside the curly bracket { ... }. If the condition is false, jump to the code after the close bracket }. 3. after nishing one iteration, add one to cnt, go back to step 2. The for line has three parts, separated by two semicolons. The part before the rst semicolon is the initialization and executes only once. The part between the two semicolons is the condition and it is checked before running the code inside the bracket. If the condition is satised, the code inside the brackets is executed. If the condition is false, jump to the code after the pair of brackets. The third part is executed after each iteration. In this example, the value of cnt increases by one after each iteration. In C, cnt ++; /* plus plus */ means taking the current value of cnt, adding one, putting the new value back to cnt. If the original value is 7, the new value is 8. Similarly, cnt --; /* minus minus */ means taking the current value of cnt, subtracting one, putting the new value back to cnt. You can also use the following statements cnt += 1; /* same as cnt ++ */ cnt -= 1; /* same as cnt -- */ You can replace 1 by another number cnt += 5; /* same as cnt ++ five times */ cnt -= 3; /* same as cnt -- three times */
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Yung-Hsiang Lu

The variable cnt is called the array index. In C, the index starts from zero and ends at size - 1 (inclusive). It is not between 1 and size. This is a common mistake. The next for block takes each pair of elements from the two vectors, adds them, and stores the result in vecSum. Finally, the last for block prints the result. We can specify the number of digits used for each eld by using %3d. In this case, 3 digits are used for each element in veca or vecb. This is sufcient because each element is between 0 and 999. Each element in vecSum can be as large as 1998 so we give four digits. The output of one execution is 255 355 658 925 423 68 937 405 125 664 276 361 984 966 384 281 607 664 449 383 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 420 672 461 765 791 282 79 917 394 885 346 75 682 989 187 640 636 266 590 872 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 675 1027 1119 1690 1214 350 1016 1322 519 1549 622 436 1666 1955 571 921 1243 930 1039 1255

If you execute the same program several times, you will see different numbers because we use a random number generator. In this example, we do not use the values of argc nor argv. In a C program, a function does not have to use the arguments. When you compile a program, the compiler will give a warning message.

5 Array and Function

If a program can only add 20 elements of random values, the program is not particularly interesting. We are going to create a function that can add arrays of different sizes.
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/* array2.c */ #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <sys/time.h> int addVector(int * va, int * vb, int * vsum, int size) { int cnt; for (cnt = 0; cnt < size; cnt ++) { vsum[cnt] = va[cnt] + vb[cnt]; } return 0; } int main(int argc, char * argv[]) { const int vecSize = 20; int veca[vecSize]; int vecb[vecSize]; int vecSum[vecSize]; int cnt; struct timeval currTime; gettimeofday(&currTime, NULL); srand(currTime.tv_usec); for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize; cnt ++) { veca[cnt] = rand() % 1000; vecb[cnt] = rand() % 1000; } addVector(veca, vecb, vecSum, vecSize); for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize; cnt ++) { printf("%3d + %3d = %4d\n", eca[cnt], vecb[cnt], vecSum[cnt]); } return 0; } The function addVector takes four arguments: the rst two are the input arrays, the third is the output array, and the last is the size of the arrays. What do these asterisks mean in the arguments? Before explaining this, we need to understand arrays and pointers in C.

ECE264 Purdue University

Yung-Hsiang Lu

6 Array and Pointer

In C, an arrays name represents the starting location of a continuous piece of memory, as illustrated in the following gure. In other words, the name of the array is a pointer to a piece of memory. The size of this piece of memory is the product of the number of elements and the size of each element (remember we mentioned different data types have different sizes?).

veca
When we pass an array to a function, we pass that pointer to the function and the function can modify the elements. In C, a pointer is declared with an asterisk. int * va; /* a pointer to an integer or an array of integer */ Cs arrays do not know their own sizes; therefore, we also have to pass the size into the function as the last parameter. Remember the indexs range is between 0 and size 1 (inclusive). Giving an index outside the allowed range is a common mistake. This mistake (in most cases) cannot be detected by a compiler and can cause a program to crash at run-time. C does not automatically initialize variables. When you declare a variable or a pointer int va; int * pa; you must always initialize their values before using them. Uninitialized variables are common sources of errors. Moreover, the programs behavior is unpredictable. /* Do NOT do this */ int * pa; /* not initialized */ if (pa == 0) /* result unpredictable */ { ... } because pa has not been initialized. The condition is meaningless.
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Yung-Hsiang Lu

7 Pointer and Address

A pointer does not have to be the beginning of an array. A pointer can point to a variable. int val1 = 5; int val2 = 10; int * ptr; printf("%d %d\n", ptr = & val1; /* /* * ptr = 31; printf("%d %d\n", ptr = & val2; * ptr = 97; printf("%d %d\n",

val1, val2); ptr points to the address of val1 */ change the value of the address pointed by ptr */ val1, val2);

val1, val2);

The output of this section of code is 5 10 31 10 31 97 In this example, two variables are assigned the values of 5 and 10. Then, ptr points to the address of val1. In C, & means the address of a variable. When we want to change the value of the address pointed by ptr, we need to add asterisk * ptr. Then ptr points to the address of val2 and modies the value. Can we write this? ptr = 86; The answer is both yes and no. You will receive a warning message but the program can execute. What does this line do? It assigns an address (value 86) to ptr. This is all right. However, if you want to change the value at this location * ptr = 67; The program will crash (Segmentation fault) because the program is not allowed to modify the value at this particular memory address. In general, a program does not control which memory address it can use. It has to obtain the address by using &. The printf function displays the value of a variable. Is there a way to input the value from a keyboard? Yes, of course.
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int v; scanf("%d", & v); When a program reaches this line, the program will stop and wait for the user to enter a value (and hit the Enter key). Then, v has the value entered by the user.

8 Reuse Function
We have created a function to add two arrays. We can reuse the function to add arrays of different sizes since the size is given into the function as an argument. /* array3.c */ #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <sys/time.h> int addVector(int * va, int * vb, int * vsum, int size) { int cnt; for (cnt = 0; cnt < size; cnt ++) { vsum[cnt] = va[cnt] + vb[cnt]; } return 0; } int main(int argc, char * argv[]) { const int vecSize1 = 20; const int vecSize2 = 10; int veca[vecSize1]; int vecb[vecSize1]; int vecSum1[vecSize1]; int vecc[vecSize2]; int vecd[vecSize2]; int vecSum2[vecSize2]; int cnt; struct timeval currTime; gettimeofday(&currTime, NULL); srand(currTime.tv_usec); for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize1; cnt ++) {
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veca[cnt] = rand() % 1000; vecb[cnt] = rand() % 1000; } addVector(veca, vecb, vecSum1, vecSize1); /* call it first time */ printf("vecSum1 :\n"); for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize1; cnt ++) { printf("%3d + %3d = %4d\n", veca[cnt], vecb[cnt], vecSum1[cnt]); } for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize2; cnt ++) { vecc[cnt] = rand() % 1000; vecd[cnt] = rand() % 1000; } addVector(vecc, vecd, vecSum2, vecSize2); /* call it again */ printf("vecSum2 :\n"); for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize2; cnt ++) { printf("%3d + %3d = %4d\n", vecc[cnt], vecd[cnt], vecSum2[cnt]); } return 0; } In this example, addVector is called twice with different arrays of different sizes. Of course, we can create another function that initializes the values in the arrays: /* array4.c */ #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <sys/time.h> void initVector(int *va, int size) { int cnt; for (cnt = 0; cnt < size; cnt ++) { va[cnt] = rand() % 1000;
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} } int addVector(int * va, int * vb, int * vsum, int size) { int cnt; for (cnt = 0; cnt < size; cnt ++) { vsum[cnt] = va[cnt] + vb[cnt]; } return 0; } int main(int argc, char * argv[]) { const int vecSize1 = 20; const int vecSize2 = 10; int veca[vecSize1]; int vecb[vecSize1]; int vecSum1[vecSize1]; int vecc[vecSize2]; int vecd[vecSize2]; int vecSum2[vecSize2]; int cnt; struct timeval currTime; gettimeofday(&currTime, NULL); srand(currTime.tv_usec); initVector(veca, vecSize1); initVector(vecb, vecSize1); addVector(veca, vecb, vecSum1, vecSize1); printf("vecSum1 :\n"); for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize1; cnt ++) { printf("%3d + %3d = %4d\n", veca[cnt], vecb[cnt], vecSum1[cnt]); } initVector(vecc, vecSize2); initVector(vecd, vecSize2); addVector(vecc, vecd, vecSum2, vecSize2); printf("vecSum2 :\n");

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for (cnt = 0; cnt < vecSize2; cnt ++) { printf("%3d + %3d = %4d\n", vecc[cnt], vecd[cnt], vecSum2[cnt]); } return 0; } We add a new function initVector. It does not return anything so the functions return type is void. You can probably guess that a function does not have to return int. A function can also return char, float, or double. Here is an important way to reduce the possibility of mistakes in a program. A good programmer detects and removes similar code by creating functions. If you nd that you are writing code in several places and the code is identical or somewhat similar, you should create a function so that the code is in a single place. Why? Because you have to change only one place later, if any change is needed. Assume that you will change the same programs many times because you will. Consider this example, if you want each element to be between -50 and 9590, you need to change only one place in initVector. This may not seem much improvement. However, as your program becomes larger and more complex, you will quickly lose track of how many places to change. A program with several similar pieces of code is likely to have mistakes. When you need to change the code, you will likely change some places but forget to change the other places. As a result, the program will behave in a strange way. In some test cases, the program is correct (executing the code you have recently changed). In some other cases, the program is wrong (executing the code you forgot to change). This type of mistakes is very hard to nd and very time-consuming to correct. It is better to prevent the problems all together from the beginning. Do not copy-paste code. You should create a function instead. Copy-paste code in multiple places is a common reason of mistakes. Copy-paste code seems to allow you to create a lot of code quickly, but you will spend many hours nding and xing problems later. In rare cases, you may copy-paste code for performance reasons (calling a function may slightly slow down a program). However, such cases are rare and you should not worry about it in ECE 264. You need to write a correct program before making it fast.

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