< CENG 205 – Computer Programming for Engineers />

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 Dept. of Computer & Electrical Eng.

CENG 205 – COMPUTER

PROGRAMMING FOR ENGINEERS

TWENEBOAH-KODUAH S.

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 Chapter 4 –
Functions and
File I/O
“All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is often better than overconfidence, for
it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to invention” – Hudson Maxim

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 Function Input and Output

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 Software engineering
 Software engineering is a discipline that is concerned with
the construction of robust and reliable computer programs.
 Just as civil engineers use tried and tested methods for the
construction of buildings, software engineers use accepted
methods for analysing a problem to be solved, a blueprint
or plan for the design of the solution and a construction
method that minimizes the risk of error
 One of the most important barriers to the development
of better computer software is the limited ability of human
beings to understand the programs that they write.
 Functions in C/C++ is a way of dividing programs into
modules, sub-task, sub-system, etc

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 Predefined functions

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 Predefined functions

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 Concept of function
 A function is a self-contained block of program statements that
performs a particular task
 Imagine a program wherein a set of operations has to be repeated
often, though not continuously, n times or so.
 If they had to be repeated continuously, loops could be used.
 Instead of inserting the program statements for these
operations at so many places, write a separate program
segment and compile it separately.
 As many times as it is needed, keep ‘calling’ the segment to get the
result.
 The separate program segment or block that perform a specific task is
called a function
 The program that calls the function is called the main program

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 Concept of function
 Some definition: A function is a named, independent section of
C/C++ code that performs a specific task and optionally returns
a value to the calling program or/and receives values(s) from
the calling program.
 Basically there are two categories of function:
◦ Predefined functions: available in C / C++ standard library such as
stdio.h, math.h, string.h etc.
◦ User-defined functions: functions that programmers create for
specialized tasks such as graphic and multimedia libraries,
implementation extensions or dependent etc.
 A function is a group of statements that together perform a task
 Functions allow a programmer to divide complex task among
several program modules  Divide and conquer approach

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 Function mechanism
 C/C++ program does not execute the statements in
a function until the function is called.
 When it is called, the program can send
information to the function in the form of one or
more arguments although it is not a mandatory.
 Argument is a program data needed by the function
to perform its task.
 When the function finished processing, program
returns to the same location which called the
function.

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 Function prototype declaration
 A function declaration tells the compiler about a
function's name, return type, and parameters
 General form of declaring function
 return_data_type function_name (para_dataType
paraVariable1, ...);
 OR
 return_data_type function_name
(para_dataType_list);

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 Parts of function declaration
 function_name
◦ This is the name given to the function and it follows the same
naming rules as that for any valid variable in C.
 return_data_type
◦ This specifies the type of data given back to the calling construct by
the function after it executes its specific task.
 data_type_list
◦ This list specifies the data type of each of the variables, the values
of which are expected to be transmitted by the calling construct to
the function.
 A function has a name that both identifies it.
 The name is used to call it for execution in a program.
◦ The name of a function is global.

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 Example of prototyping function
 float FtoC(float faren);
 double power(double, int);
 int isPrime(int x);
 void printMessage(void);
 void fibo_series(int y);

 A function that returns no value requires a “void”

as the function return data type, since the default is
“int”

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 Function declaration and prototype

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 Function definition
 The collection of program statements in C/C++ that describes the
specific task done by the function is called a function definition.
 Consists of the function header and a function body – block of
code enclosed in parentheses.
 return Statement
◦ Syntax: return expression; or
return (expression)
◦ if not constant or value of a variable, expression must evaluate to a
value of the type specified in the function header for the return value.
 The scope of variables declared within a function is limited to its
use in the function only.
◦ Any change made to these variables, internally in the function, is made
only to the local copies of the variables.

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 Function definition
Fucntion prototype  int isPrime(int x);
The general format for function definition:
return_dataType function_name ( para_type para1, ...,
para_type paraN ) Function definition
{
body of the function
}
 para_type just means the type for each argument or parameter --
for instance, an int, a float, or a char.
 It's exactly the same thing as what you would put if you were
declaring a variable.
Example Function declaration
int mult ( int x, int y );

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 Function definition
The general format of function definition:
return_dataType function_name ( para_type
para1, ..., para_type paraN )
{
body of the function
}
The function header in the definition is
return_data_type function name (data_type
variable1, data_type variable2,……)

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 C/C++ FUNCTIONS
The Function header
 The first line of every function definition is called function header. It has 3
components, as shown below,

1. Function return type - Specifies the data type that the function should
returns to the caller program. Can be any of C data types: char, float,
int, long, double, pointers etc. If there is no return value, specify a
return type of void. For example,
int calculate_yield(…) // returns an int type
float mark(…) // returns a float type
void calculate_interest(…) // returns nothing

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 C/C++ FUNCTIONS
 For each argument that is passed to the function, the
parameter list must contain one entry, which specifies the
type and the name.
 For example,
void myfunction(int x, float y, char z)
void yourfunction(float myfloat, char mychar)
int ourfunction(long size)

 The first line specifies a function with three arguments:

type int named x, type float named y and type char
named z.
 Some functions take no arguments, so the parameter list
should be void or empty such as,
long thefunction(void)
void testfunct(void)
int zerofunct()
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 C/C++ FUNCTIONS
 Parameter is an entry in a function header. It serves as a
placeholder for an argument. It is fixed, that is, do not change
during execution.
 The argument is an actual value passed to the function by the
caller program. Each time a function is called, it can be
passed with different arguments.
 A function must be passed with the same number and type of
arguments each time it is called, but the argument values can
be different.

Example a function such as z = half_of(x) Function example:

Where x = 3.5 and y = 65 parameter and
Passing argument x  z = 1.75 argument
Passing argument y  z = 32.5

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 C FUNCTIONS
For the first function call:

Then, the second function call:

 Each time a function is called, the different arguments are passed to

the function’s parameter.
 z = half_of(y) and z = half_of(x), each send a different
argument to half_of() through the k parameter.
 The first call send x, which is 3.5, then the second call send y,
which is 65.
 The value of x and y are passed (copied) into the parameter k of
half_of().
 Same effect as copying the values from x to k, and then y to k.
 half_of() then returns this value after dividing it by 2.

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 Function definition – example

Write a function that

computes xn, where
x is any valid number
and n an integer
value

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 Function call
A function call has the following syntax:
function_name(argument list)

Example: int distance = absolute(-5);

The result of a function call is a value of type
return_type

// Define a function to take absolute

value of an integer
int absolute(int x){
if (x >= 0)
return x;
else
return -x;
}
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 Functions samples

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 Function call: – call by value & call by
reference
 Call by value:
◦ In call by value method, the value of the variable is passed to
the function as parameter.
◦ The value of the actual parameter can not be modified by
formal parameter.
◦ Different Memory is allocated for both actual and formal
parameters. Because, value of actual parameter is copied to
formal parameter.
 Note:
◦ Actual parameter – This is the argument which is used in
function call.
◦ Formal parameter – This is the argument which is used in
function definition

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 Function call: – call by value & call by
reference
OUTPUT
 Call by value – Example:
◦ In call by value method, the value of the variable is passed to the
function as parameter.
values before swap m = 22
◦ The value of the actual parameter can not be modified by formal
and n = 44
parameter.
◦ Different Memory is allocated for both actual and formal
values after swap m = 44
parameters. Because, value of actual parameter is copied to formal
parameter.


and
Note:
n = 22
values after–calling
◦ Actual parameter swapwhich
This is the argument function:
is used in function
call.
M = 22parameter – This is the argument which is used in function
◦ Formal
definition
and n = 44

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 Function call: – call by value & call by
reference
 Call by reference:
◦ In call by reference method, the address of the
variable is passed to the function as parameter.
◦ The value of the actual parameter can be modified
by formal parameter.
◦ Same memory is used for both actual and formal
parameters since only address is used by both
parameters.
◦ The use of pointers is required

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 Function call: – call by value & call by
reference
 Call by reference – Example:
◦ In call by reference method, the address of the variable is
passed to the function as parameter.
◦ The value of the actual parameter can be modified by formal
parameter.
◦ Same memory is used for both actual and formal parameters
since only address is used by both parameters.
◦ The use of pointers is required

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 Animated function

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 Example
Write a c programming using
user defined function to calculate
for Simple interest requesting for
P, R, and T values.
Make your program interactive

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 Passing arrays as function arguments
 1D array can be pass as double getAverage(int arr[],
function argument. Function int size)
parameters must be formally {
declared first 
int i;
 void myFunc (int *param)
double avg;
{…}
double sum;
 void myFunc (int param[10])
{…}
for (i = 0; i < size; ++i)
{
 void myFunc (int param[ ])
{…} sum += arr[i];
}
 Example
avg = sum / size;
return avg;
}
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 return array from a function
 Complete or entire array return is not allowed in C
 One can however, return a pointer to an array by
specifying the array's name without an index
 Returning 1D array from function  declare a function a
pointer
 Example: int * myFunc ( ) { … }
 Local variable within a function must be declared as static
variable, WHY???
◦ A static variables have a property of preserving their value even
after they are out of their scope
 It is not possible or not allowed to return the address of a
local variable within a function
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 Function

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 Return array from a function
 Complete or entire array return is not allowed in C
Part 1
 One can however, return a pointer to an array by
specifying the array's name without an index
 Returning 1D array from function  declare a
function a pointer
 Example: int * myFunc ( ) { … }
 Local variable within a function must be declared as
static variable, WHY???
 It is not possible or not allowed to return the address
of a local variable within a function

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 Return array from a function
Part 2

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
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 Uses of function in a program
 Functions can be used in a program in various
ways:
◦ Function that perform operations on their parameters
and return a value.
◦ Function that manipulates information on their
parameters and returns a value that simply indicates
the success or failure of that manipulation.
◦ Function having no return type that is strictly
procedural

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