C++ Basics

Data Types & Expressions

Dr. Dana Dghaym

[email protected]
Spring 2024
Learning Objectives
• C++ Data Types
• Numeric & non-numeric types
• Aritmetic Expressions
• Type compatibility

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Data Types and Expressions
• 2 and 2.0 are not the same number
• A whole number such as 2 is of type int
• A real number such as 2.0 is of type double

• Numbers of type int are stored as exact values

• Numbers of type double may be stored as approximate values due to limitations

on number of significant digits that can be represented

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Writing Integer & Double Constants
• Type int does not contain decimal points
• Examples: 34 45 1 89
• Type double can be written in two ways
• Simple form must include a decimal point (We will use the simple form)
• Examples: 34.1 23.0034 1.0 89.9

• Floating Point Notation (Scientific Notation)

• Examples: 3.41e1 means 34.1
3.67e17 means 367000000000000000.0
5.89e-6 means 0.00000589

• The e stands for exponent and means “multiply by 10 to the power that follows.”
• Number left of e does not require a decimal point
• Exponent cannot contain a decimal point 4
Type Compatibilities
• In general store values in variables of the same type
• This is a type mismatch:

int intVariable;
intVariable = 2.99;

• If your compiler allows this, intVariable will most likely contain the value 2,
not 2.99

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int  double (part 1)
• Variables of type double should not be assigned to variables of type
int

int intVariable;
double doubleVariable;
doubleVariable = 2.00;
intVariable = doubleVariable;

• If allowed, intVariable contains 2, not 2.00

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int  double (part 2)
• Integer values can normally be stored in variables of type double

double doubleVariable;
doubleVariable = 2;

• doubleVariable will contain 2.0

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Arithmetic
• Arithmetic is performed with operators
• + for addition
• - for subtraction
• * for multiplication
• / for division

• Example: storing a product in the variable totalWeight

totalWeight = oneWeight * numberOfBars;

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Results of Operators
• Arithmetic operators can be used with any numeric type
• An operand is a number or variable used by the operator
• Result of an operator depends on the types of operands
• If both operands are int, the result is int
• If one or both operands are double, the result is double

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Division of Doubles
• Division with at least one operator of type double produces the expected results.

double divisor, dividend, quotient;

divisor = 3;
dividend = 5;
quotient = dividend / divisor;

• quotient = 1.6666…
• Result is the same if either dividend or divisor is of type int

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Division of Integers
• Be careful with the division operator!
• int / int produces an integer result
(true for variables or numeric constants)

int dividend, divisor, quotient;

dividend = 5;
divisor = 3;
quotient = dividend / divisor;

• The value of quotient is 1, not 1.666…

• Integer division does not round the result, the fractional part is discarded!
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Showing Decimal Places
• cout includes tools to specify the output of type double

• To specify fixed point notation

• setf(ios::fixed)
• To specify that the decimal point will always be shown
• setf(ios::showpoint)
• To specify that two decimal places will always be shown
• precision(2)

• Example: cout.setf(ios::fixed);
cout.setf(ios::showpoint);
cout.precision(2);
cout << "The price is "
<< price << endl;
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Try: Printing decimal numbers nicely
Task: Modify the program so that the number is printed as 78.83838
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
//To specify fixed point notation
cout.setf(ios::fixed);

//To specify that the decimal point will always be shown

cout.setf(ios::showpoint);

//To specify that two decimal places will always be shown

cout.precision(2);
cout << 78.838383838 << endl;

return 0;
}
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Integer Remainders
• % operator gives the remainder from integer division

• int dividend, divisor, remainder;

dividend = 5;
divisor = 3;
remainder = dividend % divisor;

• The value of remainder is 2

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Arithmetic Expressions
• Use spacing to make expressions readable
• Which is easier to read?

x+y*z or x + y * z

• Precedence rules for operators are the same as used in your algebra classes
• Use parentheses to alter the order of operations
x + y * z ( y is multiplied by z first)
(x + y) * z ( x and y are added first)

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Task
• Write a program that reads a, b, c and calculates and prints the
discriminant.

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Operator Shorthand
• Some expressions occur so often that C++ contains to shorthand operators for
them
• All arithmetic operators can be used this way
• += count = count + 2; becomes
count += 2;
• *= bonus = bonus * 2; becomes
bonus *= 2;
• /= time = time / rushFactor; becomes
time /= rushFactor;
• %= remainder = remainder % (cnt1+ cnt2); becomes
remainder %= (cnt1 + cnt2);

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Other Number Types
• Various number types have different memory requirements
• More precision requires more bytes of memory

Floating Point types

Integer types
• long double (often 10 bytes)
• long or long int (often 4 bytes)
• Declares floating point numbers with up to
long bigTotal;
19 significant digits
long int bigTotal;
long double bigNumber;

• short or short int (often 2 bytes) • float (often 4 bytes)

short smallTotal; • Declares floating point numbers with up to 7
short int smallTtotal; significant digits

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float notSoBigNumber;
Type char
• Computers process character data too
• char short for character
• Can be any single character from the keyboard

• To declare a variable of type char: char letter;

• Character constants are enclosed in single quotes
char letter = 'a';
• Strings of characters, even if only one character is enclosed in double quotes
• "a" is a string of characters containing one character
• 'a' is a value of type character
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Reading Character Data
• cin skips blanks and line breaks looking for data
• The following reads two characters but skips
any space that might be between

char symbol1, symbol2;

cin >> symbol1 >> symbol2;

• User normally separate data items by spaces

J D
• Results are the same if the data is not
separated by spaces
JD

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char   int
• The following actions are possible but generally not recommended!
• It is possible to store char values in integer variables
int value = 'A';
value will contain an integer representing 'A'

• It is possible to store int values in char variables

char letter = 65;

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 Type string
• string is a class, different from the
primitive data types discussed so far
• Use double quotes around the text
to store into the string variable
• Requires the following be added
to the top of your program:
#include <string>
• To declare a variable of type string:
string name = "Dana Dghaym”;

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Type bool
• Boolean expressions evaluate to one of the two values: true or false
• Boolean expressions are used in branching and looping statements
• Example: bool b = true
• The following actions are possible but generally not recommended!
• Values of type bool can be assigned to int variables
• True is stored as 1
• False is stored as 0
• Values of type int can be assigned to bool variables
• Any non-zero integer is stored as true
• Zero is stored as false
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References
• Problem Solving with C++ - Walter Savitch
• Ch 2 - Introduction to Computers and C++
Programming
• Section: 2.3

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