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Topics For Midterm Test

The document outlines topics that will be covered on an upcoming midterm test for an introductory C programming course. It covers fundamental concepts like algorithms, data types, operators, conditionals, loops, functions, and input/output. Specifically, it will test understanding of topics like pseudocode, flowcharts, preprocessing, compilation, libraries, arithmetic expressions, conditional expressions, iteration statements, functions, and formatted input/output functions.

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Jeremy Pho
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43 views4 pages

Topics For Midterm Test

The document outlines topics that will be covered on an upcoming midterm test for an introductory C programming course. It covers fundamental concepts like algorithms, data types, operators, conditionals, loops, functions, and input/output. Specifically, it will test understanding of topics like pseudocode, flowcharts, preprocessing, compilation, libraries, arithmetic expressions, conditional expressions, iteration statements, functions, and formatted input/output functions.

Uploaded by

Jeremy Pho
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Midterm Test Topics [Prasanna Ghali]

Topics for midterm test


1. Fundamentals

1. What is algorithm?

2. How to represent algorithms (pseudocode and flowchart)

3. Ability to devise algorithms for simple problems and represent such algorithms using
pseudocode and flowcharts
4. Understanding of problem-solving recipe described in class lectures and practiced in
labs/tutorials

5. Understanding of programming environment including code editors, compiler


toolchains, and shells
6. Understanding of redirection operators: < and >

7. Functional understanding of machines: CPU, control unit, ALU, registers, memory, input,
and output

8. von Neumann architecture for stored-programs: both instructions and data are stored
in memory and instructions are executed by CPU to transform data (stored in memory)

9. Low-level languages: machine languages, assembly languages


10. High-level languages; translators from high-level to low-level languages including
interpreters, compilers, and assemblers

11. Basic data types:

1. integer: signed and unsigned, char , short , int , long , long long data types
2. floating-point: float , double , long double
3. void keyword to represent no data
12. Understand difference between variables and constants

13. Lexical conventions and tokenization: identifiers, keywords, constants, operators,


tokens, whitespace
14. Able to tokenize simple code snippet, as in how many tokens in following statement:
printf("Average value: %f\n", average);

2. Creating a simple program

1. source file consists of functions


2. functions are encapsulations of algorithms
3. understand meaning of function declarations (prototypes) and definitions
4. role of function main
5. understand purpose of header files
6. understand purpose of preprocessor program
7. understand preprocessor directives: include and define
8. what is a function argument and a function parameter
9. single- and multi-line comments
10. variables: declaration, definition, and initialization
11. what does compiling mean?
12. what does linking mean?
13. understand options of gcc : -std=c11 , -pedantic-errors , -Wstrict-prototypes , -
Wall , -Wextra , -Werror , -c , -o

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Midterm Test Topics [Prasanna Ghali]

14. understand various stages of compiler driver (preprocessor, compiler proper,


assembler, linker)
15. understand how to use gcc flags to invoke only the preprocessor, compiler, assembler
16. understand diagnostic warning and error messages from the compiler
17. I/O functions in standard library
18. mathematical functions in standard library
19. linking with external libraries
3. Arithmetic and assignment expressions

1. operators, operands
2. meaning of unary, binary, and ternary operators

3. arithmetic operators
1. multiplicative operators
2. additive operators
3. notion of type and behavior of / and % operators
4. expression evaluation using expression trees

5. precedence
6. associativity

7. assignment and side-effects


8. lvalues and rvalues

1. what is lvalue and what is rvalue?


2. why does x = 7 work and not 7 = x
9. compound assignment operators
10. sizeof operator

11. implicit type conversion


12. explicit type conversion using type cast operator ()

13. order of operand evaluation and sequence points

4. Conditionals

1. relational operators ( < , <= , and so on) and equality operators: == , !=

1. integer values for true and false expression evaluations


2. applications and examples
2. boolean values resulting from relational expressions

3. _Bool type and <stdbool.h> header and bool , true , and false macros

4. logical operators ( && , || , ! )

1. order of operand evaluation and short-circuit evaluation


2. precedence and associativity
3. applications and examples
5. if statement

1. what is a statement in C? ( ; or expr; or block of statements delimited by { and


})
2. else clause
3. nested if statements
4. dangling else problem
5. applications and examples
6. Conditional operator ? :

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Midterm Test Topics [Prasanna Ghali]

7. switch statement

1. what is a label?
2. case keyword
3. break keyword
8. Why these operators are special (hint: they are sequence operators): logical or: || ,
logical and: && , conditional operator: ? : , and comma operator ,

5. Iteration - looping and repetitions

1. while statement

1. different problem solving techniques involving counters, sentinels


2. introduce getchar and putchar standard library functions
3. problem solving techniques involving text files: emulating Unix programs such as
wc , cp , cat , ...
2. for statement and significance of its three expressions

3. rewriting a for statement as a while statement and vice-versa

4. do while statement

5. guidelines on when to use which iteration statement


6. infinite loops

7. Jump statements: break , continue , and return statements

8. increment and decrement operators

9. unspecified expression evaluation when using increment and decrement operators in


expressions
6. Larger Programs

1. Programs consisting of multiple source files


2. headers files, function declarations (or prototypes), function definitions
3. idea of compiling individual source files into object files and linking these object files
plus external libraries into single executable
7. Functions
1. Function call operator ()
2. Call-by-value semantics
3. What is stack? What is a stack frame? Understanding of how functions use stack and
stack frames for inter-function communication
4. Able to trace function calls and determine arguments of each function call and return
value from function call
8. Input/output

1. Formatted input/output
1. abstraction of I/O using streams
2. stdin , stdout , and stderr
3. printf function: printing integers and floating-point numbers to stdout
4. scanf function: reading integers and floating-numbers from stdin , significance
of & operator in arguments
5. conversion specifiers used in printf and scanf functions to print common
integer and floating-point types
6. controlling width and precision of output of integers and floating-point numbers
7. escape sequences - able to understand the meaning of this and similar escape
sequences: printf("\"\\%%\t%%\t%%\\\"\n");
2. Character reading functions:

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Midterm Test Topics [Prasanna Ghali]

1. getchar and putchar


2. Meaning of end-of-file macro EOF declared in <stdio.h>
3. Why should the return value from getchar be int and not char type

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