HW: Debugging, Input Validation, and

Integer Overflow
This is an individual assignment. Do not share your code with other students. Do not show
your code to other students. Do not look at the code of other students. Do not ask other
students how they solved a problem. HWs are individual practice assignments (LWs, on the
other hand, are collaborative practice assignments). If you have questions about this
assignment, talk to a TA or an instructor.

If you know about a student who is sharing their code with other students (or in any other way is
violating the Aggie Code of Honor), you should report them to the instructor or to the AHSO
(make an honor code violation report).

tl;dr (too long; didn't read)

Debug seven “simple” functions. Buggy code and tests are on Mimir.

Requirements
Debug the following seven functions1:
1. Largest which takes three integer inputs: a, b and c. The function should return the
largest of these three values.
a. Example: Largest(1, 2, 3) should return 3.
b. Largest should not throw an exception.
c. The function prototype is int Largest(int a, int b, int c).
2. SumIsEven which takes two integer inputs and returns true if and only if the sum of
the two values is an even number. If the sum of the input values is an odd number, then
the function must return false.
a. Example: SumIsEven(3, 5) should return true.
b. SumIsEven should not throw an exception.
c. The function prototype is bool SumIsEven(int a, int b).
3. BoxesNeeded which takes one input. The input value represents a number of apples
that need to be packed into boxes. Each box can store a maximum of 20 apples. The
function should return the minimum number of boxes needed to store the given number
of apples.
a. Examples:
i. BoxesNeeded(13) should return 1.

1
Problems sourced and adapted from Ettles, Andrew & Luxton-Reilly, Andrew & Denny, Paul. (2018).
Common logic errors made by novice programmers. 83-89. 10.1145/3160489.3160493.
 ii. BoxesNeeded(-13) should return 0.
b. BoxesNeeded should not throw an exception.
c. The function prototype is int BoxesNeeded(int apples).
4. SmarterSection which takes four inputs and determines which section performed
better on a particular exam question. The first input is the number of students in section
A that answer the question correctly, and the second input is the total number of
students in section A. Similarly, the third input is the number of students in section B that
answer the question correctly, and the fourth input is the total number of students in
section B. The performance of each section can be measured as the percentage of
students who answer the question correctly. The function should return true if section
A performs strictly better than section B and false otherwise.
a. Example: SmarterSection(40, 50, 75, 100) should return true.
b. SmarterSection should throw std::invalid_argument if the arguments
are invalid.
c. The function prototype is bool SmarterSection(int A_correct, int
A_total, int B_correct, int B_total).
5. GoodDinner which takes two inputs: the number of pizzas you have eaten, and a
Boolean which is true if it is the weekend and false otherwise. The function should
return true if you had a good dinner, and false if you didn’t. A good dinner is a
dinner where you eat between 10 and 20 pizzas (inclusive) unless it is a weekend, in
which case there is no upper bound on the number of pizzas.
a. Example: GoodDinner(13, false) should return true.
b. GoodDinner should not throw an exception.
c. The function prototype is bool GoodDinner(int pizzas, bool
is_weekend).
6. SumBetween which takes two integer inputs, low and high. This function should
calculate the sum of all integers between low and high, inclusive.
a. Example: SumBetween(1,10) should return 55.
b. SumBetween should throw std::invalid_argument if low and high are
out of order.
c. SumBetween should throw std::overflow_error if the sum exceeds the
maximum/minimum value of int.
i. INT32_MAX is the maximum value of a 32-bit integer.
ii. INT32_MIN is the minimum value of a 32-bit integer.
iii. See Integer Overflow for more explanation.
d. The function prototype is int SumBetween(int low, int high).
e. Try to only use int. Don't use a bigger type (it can work, but is not in the spirit of
the problem).

HINT 1: Suppose a and b are two positive integers such that (a + b) results in an
overflow. To form conditions for overflow_error, consider using subtraction
 expressions (INT32_MAX - a or INT32_MAX - b) instead of addition. Likewise,
think about forming conditions with INT32_MIN.
HINT 2: Consider how you could modify low and high so that you can avoid
overflow during calculating the sum. For example, if low = INT32_MIN (-
2147483648) and high = INT32_MAX (2147483647), there is no need to
sum at all (the “sum” is simply -2147483648).
7. Product which takes two integer inputs: a and b. The function should return the product
of these two values.
a. Example: Product(2, 2) should return 4.
b. Product should throw std::overflow_error if the product exceeds the
maximum/minimum value of int.
i. INT32_MAX is the maximum value of a 32-bit integer.
ii. INT32_MIN is the minimum value of a 32-bit integer.
iii. See Integer Overflow for more explanation.
c. The function prototype is int Product(int a, int b).
d. Try to only use int. Don't use a bigger type (it can work, but is not in the spirit of
the problem).

HINT: Consider forming conditions for std::overflow_error by using a, b, and

INT32_MAX using division expressions instead of multiplication. Likewise, use a,
b, and INT32_MIN in division expressions (for negative product values).

General Instructions
Each of the seven functions already has a buggy implementation provided on Mimir.

1. Get Starter Code

A convenient way to compile multiple source files (in this case the two files:
functions.cpp and debugging.cpp) is to put all the source and header files in a
directory (for example, hw_debugging) and run g++ on all source files in this directory:
● Download the starter code from Mimir.
● Make a directory named hw_debugging.
● Put the starter code in hw_debugging.
2. Remove Syntax Errors
In a terminal (assuming you are in the parent directory of hw_debugging):

$ cd hw_dubugging
$ ls
debugging.cpp functions.cpp functions.h
$ g++ -std=c++17 -Wall -Wextra -Weffc++ -pedantic -g *.cpp

The * symbol is a wildcard that matches any valid character in an identifier. So, *.cpp
means all files in the current directory whose name ends in .cpp (i.e. all C++ source
files).
● Correct the syntax error(s), if any. Don’t worry about warnings for now since
warnings don’t prevent successful compilation of the code. Most warnings should
be resolved as you debug each function
○ Note that a syntax error can get the compiler off track. So, it might end up
identifying things as errors that are not really errors. So sometimes when
you fix the first syntax error and recompile, many if not all of the
subsequent errors are resolved!
○ Fix the first compiler error and then re-compile.
i. Repeat until there are no syntax errors.
3. Debug Functions
Do not completely rewrite the functions. Try to make the fewest and smallest changes
possible to fix the errors. Only if it seems that the implementation is doomed to fail
should you consider trashing and rewriting the code.
● The problems generally get a little bit harder as you go from problem 1 to
problem 7. You don’t have to go in order, but you probably should.
● Go through each function and debug one function at a time using the
Requirements listed above.
○ You will have to think carefully about what the requirements are and
come up with test cases that you can use to debug.
○ We have provided a main function (in debugging.cpp) that you can use
to input test values for each function. You can use the provided main. You
are also free to edit and/or replace it with your own custom test code to
call the functions. None of the test cases rely on the provided main
function.
○ Do not try to read from standard input in the functions. Nothing will come.
Your program will starve and timeout. That will be sad. The input comes
from the function parameters. You can specify the input by writing test
cases in the main function or using the existing main function and
providing values by hand when you run it locally.
● When you feel you have a function working, submit your code to Mimir and see if
you pass the test cases for that function.
○ Click the tests for more details. Every test will give you useful information.
● If you don’t understand an error or get stuck, try searching for the error message
first, then contact your TA or instructor. Do not spend more than about 20
minutes stuck before asking for help.
 ○ Stuck means making no progress. You may have an idea of what to do
and need to read some documentation to figure out how to do it, which
might take several hours. That’s OK. You’re not stuck… yet.
i. For example, you’ll need to know how to detect arithmetic
overflows and throw exceptions. Learning this will take some
time. That time spent learning is not time spent being stuck.
However, if, once you are attempting to implement a fix, you
spend more than about 20 minutes attempting to debug the code
you wrote to fix the original error, you now are stuck. Get help.

Have Fun!

Appendix: Integer Overflow

Integers in C++ come in various sizes:
8 bits, e.g. char (int8_t)
16 bits, e.g. short (int16_t)
32 bits, e.g. int (int32_t)
64 bits, e.g. long (int64_t)

Each of these types of integers can store only a certain range of numbers, based on their size
and signed-ness (totally a word… I used it, you knew what I meant, it's a word.).
8-bit integers store integers in the range [-128, 127] or [0, 255] (unsigned)
16-bit integers store integers in the range [-32768, 32767] or [0, 65535] (unsigned)
32-bit integers store integers in the range [-2147483648, 2147483,647] or [0, 4294967295]
(unsigned).
64-bit integers store integers in the range [-9223372036854775808, 9223372036854775807] or
[0, 18446744073709551615] (unsigned).

For convenience, C++ has names for these constant limits; see them all at
en.cppreference.com. For example:
#define INT8_MIN -128
#define INT8_MAX 127

Signed integers have one bit reserved to encode the sign of the number, while the rest of the
bits are used to encode the magnitude. Unsigned integers use all the bits for the magnitude.
This is why unsigned numbers can represent “bigger” numbers: they sacrifice negative numbers
in exchange for bigger positive numbers.

This is an example of a 8-bit signed integer (i.e. char, this one is 65, or ‘A’,):
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
^ ^-----------^
| magnitude bits
sign bit

If we add 1 to 65 (‘A’), we get 66 (‘B’):

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
+ 1
-----------------
0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0

If we keep adding 1, we eventually reach 126 (‘~’) and then 127 (DEL, not printable).

0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 // 126
+ 1
-----------------
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 // 127

If we add 1 to 127, we get 128, right?

0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 // 127
+ 1
-----------------
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 // 128?

Actually… no. Since our integer is signed, we get -128.

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 // -128
^ ^-----------^
| magnitude
sign
That looks like -0, right? It’s not. Signed integers are represented using something called 2’s
complement. Don’t worry about how it works right now (it’s actually simple… but also out of
scope for this class).

The important thing to note is that the magnitude of the number overflowed into the sign bit. A
similar thing happens to unsigned numbers that get too big, except the overflow just falls off the
end and is lost:

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 // unsigned 255
+ 1
-----------------
1|0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 // unsigned 0
^
overflow is lost

This problem, where a mathematical operation on two integers results in a number which does
not fit into the data type (e.g. two 8-bit numbers added together can sometimes yield a 9-bit
number) is called Integer Overflow. It can be a serious problem in C++ programs.

Whenever we do math with integers where the result could be larger in magnitude than the data
type has room for, we must guard against integer overflow. The result of an operation which
overflows is undefined. Usually it’s whatever actually did fit (the part that overflowed is lost), but
it may not be. When the type is signed, the overflow sometimes flips the sign bit (but not
always). Because of this, detecting an overflow cannot be done by simply comparing the result
of the operation to the limit:

// this will NOT work!

char tilde = 126;
char three = 51;
if (tilde + three > INT8_MAX) {
// handle overflow
}

126 + 51 = -79 for signed 8-bit integers (e.g. char). And -79 is not > 127.

So, how can you do it?

That is left as an exercise for the student.