PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES, A.A.

2024/2025
Laboratory 1
Objectives
• Solving basic I/O problems
Technical contents
• Definition and usage of integer, float, char variables
• I/O functions: (f)scanf and (f)printf, (f)gets and (f)puts, (f)getc/getchar and (f)putc
• Directive #define
• Format specifications (%d, %f, %c, %s)
• Read data from file/keyboard – Print data on file/video
• Use of cast operators
Solve the following during the laboratory

Exercise 1. Using the IDE create a new project and write/build the following program in C language.
Check that there are no errors when you run the program.

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
int x, y;
float z;

printf("Insert an integer number:");

scanf("%d", &x);
y = 3;
z = (float)(x)/y;

printf("%d/%d=%.3f\n", x, y, z);
return 0;
}

Try executing the program with different input values from keyboard: 0, 9, 15, 20. Using the
debugger, check the content of the variables x, y e z.

Exercise 2. Using the IDE create a new project and create a text file by the name of “Guide.txt” inside
the project folder. The content of the file may be the following:

"Quarantadue!" urlo' Loonquawl. "Questo e' tutto cio' che sai dire dopo un lavoro di sette
milioni e mezzo di anni?"
"Ho controllato molto approfonditamente," disse il computer, "e questa e' sicuramente la ri-
sposta. Ad essere sinceri, penso che il problema sia che voi non abbiate mai saputo veramente
qual e' la domanda."

Write/build the following program in C language. Check that there are no errors when you run
the program.
 #include <stdio.h>

int main() {
FILE *fp_read, *fp_write;
char file_char, choice;

if ((fp_read = fopen("../Guide.txt", "r")) == NULL) {

printf("Error opening file\n");
return 1;
}
if ((fp_write = fopen("../Output.txt", "w")) == NULL) {
printf("Error opening file\n");
return 2;
}

printf("Print on console (C) or on file (F):");

choice = getchar();

while (!feof(fp_read)) {
file_char = fgetc(fp_read);
if (!feof(fp_read)){
switch (choice) {
case 'C':
printf("\nChar printed on the console: %c", file_char);
break;
case 'F':
fputc(file_char, fp_write);
printf("\nChar saved on file: ");
putchar(file_char);
break;
default:
printf("Wrong choice\n");
return 3;
}
}
}

fclose(fp_read);
fclose(fp_write);

return 0;
}

After building the program, try to run it and test the different cases.
In depth: What happens if you omit the line if (!feof(fp_read))? Why?

Exercise 3. Using the IDE create a new project and create a text file by the name of “Bronte.txt” inside
the project folder. The content of the file may be the following:

Ho sognato nella mia vita,

sogni che son rimasti sempre con me,
e che hanno cambiato le mie idee;
son passati attraverso il tempo e attraverso di me,
come il vino attraverso l'acqua,
ed hanno alterato il colore della mia mente.
Write/build the following program in C language. Check that there are no errors when you run
the program.

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
FILE *fp_read, *fp_write_odd, *fp_write_even;
char file_string[100], name[20];
int counter = 0;

if ((fp_read = fopen("../Bronte.txt", "r")) == NULL) {

printf("Error opening file\n");
return 1;
}
if ((fp_write_odd = fopen("../Output_odd.txt", "w")) == NULL) {
printf("Error opening file\n");
return 2;
}

if ((fp_write_even = fopen("../Output_even.txt", "w")) == NULL) {

printf("Error opening file\n");
return 3;
}

printf("What's your name?");

gets(name);

while (!feof(fp_read)) {
counter++;
if (counter%2==0) {
fscanf(fp_read, "%s", file_string);
if (!feof(fp_read)) {
printf("%s\nI am reading:\n%s\n\n", name, file_string);
fprintf(fp_write_even, "%s", file_string);
}
}
else {
fgets(file_string, 100, fp_read);
if (!feof(fp_read)) {
puts(name);
puts("I am reading:");
puts(file_string);
fputs(file_string, fp_write_odd);
}
}
}

fclose(fp_read);
fclose(fp_write_even);
fclose(fp_write_odd);

return 0;
}

What happens when the counter is odd? What happens when the counter is even? Which is the
difference between fgets and fscanf?
Exercise 4. Write a C program to compute either the area of a circle or of a square, based on the choice
and inputs of the user. The user is requested to type a set of characters and numbers from
keyboard, in a specific order. The first character should be Q for square or I for circle. In case
it is a square, the user can decide whether the area should be computed given the value of the
diagonal or of the side of the square, by specifying its respective length after the character D
or S. In case it is a circle, the user can decide whether the area should be computed given the
value of the diameter or of the radius by specifying its respective length after the character D
or R, respectively. All the values inserted by the user should be integer, the computed area
should be a float.

For example, if the user types Q D10, the program should compute the area of a square with
diagonal equal to 10 and print the following on the screen:

The area of the square with diagonal 10 is 50.0

Suggestions:
a) Define a constant PI for the value 3.14 with #define. Remember: with #define there are
no ‘=’ and no ‘;’
b) Acquire the input of the user. Careful: you need to acquire single characters and numeric
values from keyboard...
c) Compute the value of the area (float) based on the acquired input.
d) Print the result on screen.
Remember:
Square: Area = S*S = D*D/2, Circle: Area = pi*R*R = pi*D*D/4

Exercise 5. Write a “calculator” in C, that performs basic arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction,
division and multiplication) on two given inputs op1 and op2.
Write a C program that:

a) Acquires a character from keyboard using getchar (either ‘+’, ‘-‘, ‘*’ or ‘/’) to decide
which should be the arithmetic operation to perform;
b) Acquires two float operands (ex. 21.0 and 2.0) from keyboard, using scanf.
c) Prints the selected operator on the screen, followed by the result of the operation (for
example: / 10.50).

Careful: What happens if op2 is 0? How do you handle the problem?

Exercise 6. Starting from the code of Exercise 5, write a C program that reads a set of operations from
a text file, reported one per line. The program should create a second file, reporting in each
line the operator and the result of the corresponding operation in the input file. The result
should be written with two digits after the decimal point, as in the example below.

Example
Input file: Operations.txt: Output file: Results.txt:
+ 15.225 30.51 + 45.74
- 42.1 10.01 - 32.09
* 0.62 2.4 * 1.49
/ 5.0 2.5 / 2.00