Lecture #2: How is programming like driving a car?

programming computers
• The “trick”
– figuring out how to get the computer to do what you want it to do

– combining basic “atomic” operations to do interesting things

things we might want to do

• Useful programs
– presentation software (i.e., this program)

– text editor

– computer game

– web browser
computer operations
• Remember – they’re very basic
– get/set memory values

– simple arithmetic

– test values

– execute instructions

getting from operations to programs

• This is “it”
– it’s not easy

– it’s not obvious

– you can usually do something many different ways

• some ways are good
• some suck
so what’s with this driving thing?
• Analogy: driving a car
– why do we drive cars?
• transportation: get from here to there
• fun: drive fast, look good
• race: drive real fast, don’t crash

– how do we drive a car?

• do we just tell the car where we want to go?

– only in science fiction novels

• we have to control the car
car controls
• What controls do we have?
– ignition key

– steering wheel

– gas pedal

– brake

– clutch

– shifter

– turn signals

– radio
car operations
• So what kinds of operations can we perform?
– ignition key
• turn car on
• turn car off

– steering wheel
• rotate steering wheel clockwise
• rotate steering wheel counterclockwise

– gas pedal
• depress gas pedal (%)

– brake
• depress brake pedal (%)
car operations continued
• What kinds of operations can we perform?
– clutch
• depress clutch pedal (%)

– shifter
• move up
• move down
• move left
• move right

– turn signals
• ignore them
• signal right turn
• signal left turn
and just a couple more…
• Those were all “output” operations
• Input is important too
– your eyes
• look

– your ears
• “loud pipes save lives”

so what’s yer point?

• There is no obvious relationship between car operations and what you
want to do with a car
• Likewise, there is no obvious relationship between computer
instructions and what you want to do with a computer
let’s go a little deeper into this analogy
• Driving directions: how to get from point A to point B
• Example: how did I just get here?
– Shan Hai Gardon

– Turn left out of SHG gate

– turn left at second stop sign

– turn right at second stop sign

directions?
• None of those directions mentioned any car parts or operations!
• Our brains interpret automatically
– also handle a lot of unmentioned tasks

• This is where the analogy breaks down

– computers can’t make assumptions
 – computers can’t interpolate (unless programmed explicitly to do so)

– computers can’t make judgment calls

interpreting directions
• Let’s look at the first direction:
to Shan Hai Gardon
• What does this really mean?
– assumes I know how to get onto Shan Hai Gardon gate

– stay in my lane

– go the speed limit

– use the brake as necessary

– flip other drivers the bird

but even these aren’t useful!
• Stay in my lane
– what does that mean?

– how could we express this with numbers?

• measure:

– local average of lane direction

– car velocity vector

• compute:

– difference between lane direction and car velocity vector

– desired deflection of velocity vector

• adjust steering wheel

– feedback loop
» magnitude of difference between current and desired direction
» perceived centripetal force
stay in my lane
• Instructions:
– repeat the following continuously:
• get lane direction
• get car direction
• desired deflection = difference (lane direction, car direction)
• desired steering wheel rotation = S * desired deflection

– S (“Steering constant”) is a constant that is unique to my

car and my driving style

• turn wheel to desired rotation
• if perceived g-force > Gmax, turn wheel back a bit

details
• Computers are the ultimate detail-oriented things
– they need everything spelled out exactly

– they will follow instructions literally

– they will follow stupid instructions just as diligently as sensible ones

so where does C come in?
• In our analogy, this is how things match up:
– “to get places” : “to balance my checkbook” (or whatever)

– car operations : computer instructions

– driving directions : software design

– instructions : C program

• So when you write a C program, you will be doing things in baby

steps.
doesn’t that get boring?
• It sure can
– but there are ways to make things less tedious

• In terms of the driving analogy…

– in every step, you are regulating the car’s speed
 – that means that everywhere you’re going to have the same set of instructions
• adjust gas pedal and brake to make the current speed equal to the desired speed

functions
• So, why not write the instructions generically once, and then invoke
the same set of instructions from different places in the directions?
– this is the C concept of a function

– functions are groups of statements that can be invoked repeatedly

– functions can take parameters, which allow each invocation to be slightly

different
• such as the “desired speed” in the last example
so (finally!) let’s talk about C
• What is C?
– One of countless programming languages
• but one of the more popular
• was considered a “programmer’s” language

– K&R C

– ANSI/ISO 9899-1990 (R1997)

• “ANSI-standard” C
 a simple example
• Here’s a very simple C program:
/*

* HelloWorld: A simple C program

*/
• This is a comment
1). comments help explain the program to
someone #include <stdio.h>
2).they are ignored by the computer.

int main (void)

printf (“Hello, world!\n”);

return 0;

–
 a simple example
• Here’s a very simple C program:
/*

* HelloWorld: A simple C program

*/

#include <stdio.h>

• This is an instruction to the compiler to insert the

contents of a file named “stdio.h” into the program int main (void)

{
--supplies useful information for the compiler printf (“Hello, world!\n”);

return 0;

–
a simple example
• Here’s a very simple C program:

/*

* HelloWorld: A simple C program

*/

#include <stdio.h>

int main (void)

• This tells the compiler we’re about to define {

a function, named main. printf (“Hello, world!\n”);

return 0;
main is a special function; it is where your }
program starts running

–.
a simple example
• Here’s a very simple C program:

/*

* HelloWorld: A simple C program

*/

#include <stdio.h>

int main (void)

• This is a C statement. {

– This statement calls a function named printf printf (“Hello, world!\n”);

– It causes the text to be printed on the screen return 0;

OK! Now let’s run the example…