Programming in C

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 Looping Subtasks
▪ We will examine some basic algorithms that use the
while and if constructs. These subtasks include
⚫ Reading unknown quantity of data
⚫ Counting things
⚫ Accumulating (summing) totals
⚫ Searching for specific values
⚫ Finding extreme values

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 Looping Subtasks
▪ Examples will be based upon common models:
Priming Read or Input Count
Initialize program state Initialize program state
Read the first value (priming read) While (input count OK)
While (data exists) update program state as needed
update program state as needed Output final state
read next value(s)
Output final state

▪ The type of state that must be maintained by the program

depends on the nature of the problem and can include:
⚫ indicator (true/false) variables
⚫ counter variables
⚫ sum variables
⚫ previous input value variables

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 Counter-Controlled Repetition
▪ Number of items is known before loop

▪ Suppose the problem becomes:

Develop a class-averaging program that will process an
arbitrary number of grade scores each time the program
is run.

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 Sentinel-Controlled Repetition
▪ One way to handle an arbitrary number of
input values is to have the user enter a
special value to indicate the end of input.
▪ Such a value is a sentinel value.
⚫ Indicates end of valid input
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⚫ Loop ends when sentinel value is read 43
⚫ Must choose a sentinel value that cannot be 67
confused with a regular input value. 96
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 Sentinel-Controlled Priming Read
▪ For sentinel-controlled loops
1. Read before the loop (priming read)
2. Test input to make sure it is not the sentinel value
3. Process
4. Read again at the bottom of the loop
▪ Use the following model:
read before entering the loop
while (value_read != SENTINEL)
{
// process
…
read at bottom of loop
(before entering loop again)
}
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 Sentinel-Controlled Loop
using Priming Read
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 Sentinel-Controlled Loop
using Input Count
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 Example of sentinel-controlled loop
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 Processing an arbitrary number of pairs
▪ Sometimes it is not possible
to find a sentinel value
▪ We can use
⚫ End-of-input controlled loops
➢ Uses return from scanf
➢ Can be fooled by invalid data
⚫ End-of-file controlled loops
➢ Uses function feof

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 End of Data
▪ Hardware & Software
End-Of-File
⚫ Keyboard
➢ Ctrl-d (Does not work on Mac!)

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67 96
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Ctrl-d The End Is Here!

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 Example: End-of-input controlled loop
using items read & priming read
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 Example: End-of-input controlled loop
using just items read

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 Example: End-of-input controlled loop
using number of items read
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67 96
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 Detecting End-of-File
▪ Function: feof
⚫ Syntax: feof(file-pointer)
➢ Returns true or false
➢ Standard input: feof(stdin)
⚫ Use in a while loop -
while (!feof(stdin))

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 Example: End-of-file controlled loop
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 Example: end-of-file controlled loop
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67 96
12 58 End of File
44 99

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 Looping Subtask: Counting
▪ Example: Find the number of scores in a file
⚫Here the program state that must be maintained
is a counter that maintains the number of scores
that have been read so far.
▪ Steps
⚫Declare an int variable for the count
⚫Initialize the count to zero
⚫Increment the count
in the body of the loop

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 Looping Subtask: Counting

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 Looping Subtask: Counting

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 Looping Subtask: Counting

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 Looping Subtask: Counting

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 Counting Example
▪ What if we want to print the number of passing scores
(scores >= 70)?
⚫ We need a mechanism that allows us to count only if the
score is greater than or equal to 70
⚫ Use if stmt

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 Looping Subtask: Counting

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 Counting Example
▪ What if we want to print the number of passing scores
(scores >= 70) and the number of failing scores?
⚫ Use if -else

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 Looping Subtask: Counting

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 Looping Subtask:
Accumulation (Summing)

▪ The state that must be maintained is the sum of all

values that have been seen so far.
⚫ Declare a variable to hold the sum (accumulator)
⚫ Initialize the sum to zero
⚫ In the body of the loop, add the new value to the sum

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 Accumulating Example

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 Counting & Accumulating Example
▪ Problem
⚫ A class of ten students took a quiz.
⚫ The grades (integers in the range 0 to 100) for this quiz
are available to you.
⚫ Determine the class average on the quiz.

▪ Hint: Requirements for an average

⚫ Count of number of items
⚫ Sum of the items

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 Counting & Accumulating Example
▪ Pseudocode:
Set total to zero
Set grade counter to one
While grade counter is less than or equal to ten
Input the next grade
Add the grade into the total
Add one to the grade counter
Set the class average to the total divided by ten
Print the class average

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 Looping Subtasks: Searching

▪ Need a variable to indicate whether or not the program

has encountered the target value, call it found
▪ Initialize found to 0 (false)
▪ Each time through the loop, check to see if the current
value equals the target value
⚫ If so, assign 1 to found

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 Searching Exercise
Write a C program that
1. Reads a target score at the beginning of the file
2. Reads a set of scores and determines if the target
score is in the set of scores
3. If found prints
Target ## was found
otherwise prints
Target ## was not found

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 Looping Subtasks: Searching

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 Searching Improvement
▪ Stop searching if target has been found

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 Looping Subtasks: Finding Extremes
▪ Finding Extreme Values (e.g. maximum, minimum)
⚫ Need a variable (such as maxValue) to remember the
most extreme value encountered so far

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43 96 is the max
67 12 is the min
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 Looping Subtasks: Finding Extremes
▪ Finding Extreme Values (e.g. maximum, minimum)
⚫ Initialize the maxValue (minValue) to some value
➢ maxValue: Lower value than any data
➢ minValue: Higher value than any data
➢ Or for both: The first data value
⚫ For each data item
➢ Compare the current value to maxValue (or minValue)
➢ If the current value is > maxValue (< minValue), replace maxValue
(minValue) with the current value.

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 Extremes Exercise
Write a C program that
1. Reads a set of scores from a file
2. Determines and prints the maximum score

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 Looping Subtasks: Finding Extremes

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 Programming in C

THE EN D

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