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11b Assignment 3 Vector FAQs

This document contains frequently asked questions (FAQs) about CS107 Assignment 3. It provides answers to questions about what changes need to be made for the assignment, how to test implementations of a vector and hashset, how to use the supplied test files, when to use lfind instead of lsearch, that it is correct to allow vector insertion at the end of the array, and how to use asserts to check assumptions and terminate the program if an assertion fails. The document also provides an example of how to properly use asserts and explains how to fix errors where variable names appear as symbols rather than text.

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Khatia Ivanova
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22 views

11b Assignment 3 Vector FAQs

This document contains frequently asked questions (FAQs) about CS107 Assignment 3. It provides answers to questions about what changes need to be made for the assignment, how to test implementations of a vector and hashset, how to use the supplied test files, when to use lfind instead of lsearch, that it is correct to allow vector insertion at the end of the array, and how to use asserts to check assumptions and terminate the program if an assertion fails. The document also provides an example of how to properly use asserts and explains how to fix errors where variable names appear as symbols rather than text.

Uploaded by

Khatia Ivanova
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CS107 Assignment 3: Frequently Asked Questions

1. Question: I see a sample application called thesaurus-lookup, but I didn't see any mention of that in the handout. Are we
expected to do anything for this?

Answer: No. The only changes you need to make are to vector.[hc] and hashset.[hc]. You can test your implementations of
your vector and your hashset by running vector-test and hashset-test to ensure that the output makes sense. When you're sure
that you're done coding, you can use the supplied streamtokenizer.[hc] and thesaurus-lookup.c files to build another, more
sophisticated test application that exercises the generic C containers to do more meaningful things. It's a good thing to play with,
because you'll be writing an even more sophisticated application for Assignment 4, which has you use your vector, your hashset,
this streaktokenizer type, and a few more custom types. In particular, look at the thesaurus-lookup.c file to get some clues on
how you store C strings in a generic container like the vector and the hashset. It'll be helpful come Assignment 4.

2. Question: The specifications for this question says that if the vector is not sorted, we are to use a linear search algorithm. Should
we build that lsearch function, or is there a pre-made lsearch function? I looked for lsearch and could not find it in the standard c
libraries.

Answer: There is an lsearch function that's part of the gcc version of the C library. You can find the reference on an Elaine
workstation using the command "man -s 3c lsearch". If you just type "man lsearch" it gives you the reference for an lsearch
command line program, which isn't what you're looking for. That being said, you'll probably want to use lfind instead of lsearch.
Read the documentation that comes up and you'll understand why.

3. Question: Is it a mistake to allow VectorInsert to insert off the end of the array?

Answer: No, it's actually right. When an array has 10 elements, the legal insertion points are 0-10. To insert at position 10 is just
to tack the new element onto the end.

4. Question: In the vector class interface, some of the functions say that "an assert is raised if ...". What is an assert and how do I
use it?

Answer: Assert is a very handy (mostly debugging) runtime macro. Asserts are statements you add to your code to verify that
assumptions you make in your code are actually true. If not, when you run your program, it will fail on the assert statement,
reporting which line failed.

The standard assert macro can be used to detect and report exceptional conditions. This macro takes one argument, an
expression which is evaluated and if true (non-zero) execution continues on, but if false (zero) results, it will print an error and
terminate the program. The idea is to assert what must be true before carrying out an operation that depends on those
assumptions.

#include <assert.h> // need to include this to see macro


definition
{
int i, scores[MAX_SCORES];
i = SomethingComplicated(); // i should be in bounds,
but is it really?
assert(i >= 0 && i < MAX_SCORES); // assert before we
access
scores[i] = ...

In industry often the "production" version of the code will not include the assert statements, so never put an expression that
changes the state or data inside an assert statement. Here is an example of what not to do:

#include <assert.h>
{
int i, scores[MAX_SCORES];
assert(i = 5); // will return TRUE but you are assigning i
inside
// the assert. This is BAD!
scores[i] = ...

To find out more about assert, read its man page.

5. Question: Whenever I have errors during compilation, the variables in my error messages are displayed as 'â' instead of the
actual variable name.

Answer: Add the following line to the file "~/.cshrc":


setenv LC_CTYPE C

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