W3-branches

February 4, 2021

1 Week 3 - branches
1.1 Setup
[18]: #include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

1.2 Recap (useful also for Test 1)

What are expressions? A: something that has a value, type, and possibly a side effect. More
precisely, this something is a sequence of operands, operators, and parentheses.
[2]: // example of integer expression
int a = 23; // declaration with initialization
(2*a*a - 67)/2; // value: 495; type: int; side effect: none.

[2]: 495

[3]: a = 4*4.1;
// expression: value 16, type: double; side effect: variable a is assigned␣
,→value 16

[3]: 16

Note: value of operator = (assignment) is the value of the expression to the right of =.

[4]: cout << (2*a*a - 67) / 2 << endl;

// actually also an expression: value: cout; type: stream class; side effect:␣
,→output

222

[4]: @0x7f4941b56b60

In the expression above, what are the: 1. Operands: cout, 2, a, 67, endl. 2. Operators: «, *, -, /.
What is the role of ()?

1
 1.2.1 Order of evaluating operators
1. Precedence: which operator is evaluated first when there are many of different kinds?
1. Math order: - (unary) has higher precedence than *,/,% which has higher precedence
than +,- (binary operators)
2. « (output) has low precedence, so we can write nice output statements without too many
().
3. = (assignment) has low precedence, so we can write nice assignment statements without
too many ().
4. For the full list, see (https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/operator_precedence).
2. Associativity: which operator is evaluated first when there are many operators of the same
kind?
1. Math associativity: *, /, +, -: left to right.
2. «, »: left to right.
3. = (assignment): right to left(!).

[5]: a = 3;
4*-a+5 // 1st do - (unary) -> -3; 2) * next : 4 times -3 = -12; 3) + next.

[5]: -7

[6]: // declare two integer variables x, y and assign value 1 to both.

int x,y=1; // two declarations, only the second is initialized.
cout << x << " " << y ;

0 1

[7]: // declare 2 ints, initialize to 1

int x1, y1;
x1 = y1 = 1; // works because = (assignment) is right associative
cout << x1 << " " << y1;

1 1

[8]: // output the value of variable a but write a nice message

cout << "Variable a is " << a;

Variable a is 3

1.2.2 Practice with evaluating expressions

[9]: 1/2/2.0 // -> 0 / 2.0 -> 0.0

[9]: 0.0000000

[10]: 1/(2*2.0) // -> 1/4.0 -> 0.25

[10]: 0.25000000

2
[11]: 3 * -2 + 2 / (0.5 / 2) // unary first -> 3 * (-2) + 2 / (0.5 / 2)
// () next -> 3 * (-2) + 2 / 0.25
// * next -> -6 + 2 / 0.25
// / next -> -6 + 8.0 = 2.0

[11]: 2.0000000

[12]: int a = 9;
cout << 2 * a / (a+1);

2 Boolean expressions
A new type: Boolean, and two new literals (constant value of type bool). Boolean types are actually
integers. True equivalent to non-zero; false equivalent to zero.
[13]: bool eligible = false;
cout << eligible << endl;
// if we want to see the bool literals:
cout << boolalpha << eligible;

0
false

[14]: bool eligible = false;

cout << eligible << endl;
// if we want to see the bool literals:
cout << boolalpha << eligible;

false
false
boolalpha modifies the state of cout until it is reset, for example until we output the flag noboolalpha.
[15]: bool eligible = false;
cout << eligible << endl;
// if we want to see the bool literals:
cout << noboolalpha << eligible;

false
0

2.1 Relational operators

Relational (a.k.a comparison) operators evaluate to a boolean value: <, >, <= (for ≤), >= (for
≥), == (for equality, not assignment), != (for ̸=).

3
 Semantics (meaning) of comparison operators: 1. Like in math for numerical operands. 2. Lexico-
graphic (dictionary) order for string type operands.

[16]: // try some relational operators here:

cout << boolalpha;
cout << (2 < 3) << endl;
cout << (2 <= 3) << endl;
cout << (3 < 3) << endl; // false because 3 is equal to 3, not less
cout << (3 <= 3) << endl; // true because 3 equals 3
cout << (2 == 3) << endl;
cout << (2 != 3) << endl;
cout << (2 = 3) << endl; // error

input_line_32:10:12: error: expression is not

assignable
cout << (2 = 3) << endl; // error
~ ^

Interpreter Error:

Note please be careful about not confusing = (assignment) with == (comparison) operator.

[ ]: int a = 2;
cout << boolalpha;
cout << (a == 3) << endl;
cout << (a = 3) << endl; // interpreted as true because 3 is not zero.

Comparison can be used with string expressions. In this case, a string A is less than another string
B if A appears before B in dictionary order (lexicographic order).
Exception: Unlike in a dictionary, there is a distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters.
Uppercase letters appear before all of the lowercase letters!
[ ]: cout << boolalpha;
cout << (string("cat") < "dog") << endl;
cout << (string("cat") < "Dog") << endl;

Exception 2: we can compare text expressions of the type string. We cannot compare, for example,
two string literals, because a string literal is not of type string actually. A string literal has type
called “c-string” (more about this later).

[ ]: cout << ("cat" < "Dog") << endl;

4
 3 Simple if statements

Statement: use block statements: { one or more statements separated by ; }.

Example: Write code to read the GPA and output the eligible scholarship(s).

Scholarship A

Min GPA 3.5

[ ]: double gpa;
cin >> gpa;

Simple ifs: use sequentially, when branches do not depend on each other. For example, one is
eligible for any number of scholarships.

Scholarship A Scholarship B Scholarship C

Min GPA 3.5 3.65 3.80

[ ]: double gpa;
cin >> gpa;

5
 4 If Else statements

Use: 1. When EITHER the true branch OR the false branch must be executed. Ex: print if eligible
for Scholarship A, otherwise print “not eligible”. 2. Nesting if statements on the else branch is very
useful. Ex: test for ranges.
[ ]: // read GPA and print Eligible for Schlarship A / Not eligible.
double gpa;
cin >> gpa;

Example for testing ranges: read a temperature in C. Print:

Temperature (C) below 0 between 0 and 20 between 20 and 25 higher than 25

Cold Pleasant Warm Hot

Strategy 1. List boundary values in order: 0, 20, 25. 2. Start from one end, ex low to high (also
high to low possible) 3. Nest if-else statements on the else branch. Do not use {} on the else
nested branches (improves readability of the code). 4. Test boundary values with ≤ if coming low
to high (≥ if coming high to low).
Strategy: identify a simple test that could tell, without a doubt, the outcome of at least one of
the branches (true or false). Here, there are 2 test, test with 0 and with 25.

[ ]: // design code coming low to high (I mean, start with 0)

float temp;
cin >> temp;
if (temp < 0) {
cout << "cold";
}
else if (temp < 20) {
cout << "pleasant";
}
else if (temp < 25) {
cout << "warm";
} else {
cout << "hot";

6
 }

[ ]: // design code coming high to low

4.1 Logical operators

Operator AND OR NOT

C++ operator && || !

Practice: given integer variable a which you read from input. Test if a is between 10 and 100
(including the boundary values).

[ ]: cout << true << " " << ! true << endl;
cout << (true && false) << endl;
cout << (true || false);

Practice: given integer variable a which you read from input. Test if a is not between 10 and 100
(including the boundary values). Translate 10 ≤ a ≤ 100 in English using AND, OR, NOT, greater
and equal to, etc… a is greater or equal to 10 AND a is less than or equal to 100.
[21]: int a;
cin >> a;
cout << boolalpha << ((a >= 10) && (a <= 100));

134
false

4.2 Logical operators and shortcut

If the outcome of a logical operator is determined by the value of its first argument, ten the second
argument is not evaluated (any side effects will not happen for the second argument).

[22]: int a=0;

bool orex = true || (a=-1);
cout << a;

[23]: int a=0;

bool orex = false || (a=-1);
cout << a;

-1
Homework: How would this code be revised to test the AND operator shortcup property?
[ ]: