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General Information for CGS2423

C programs can be run on the minicomputers at school which run the UNIX operating system. You can also use the personal computers in the JCCL and the labs in the PC building to run C programs using MS Visual C++. This page contains basic information on how to run C programs on these systems.

• C Compilers
  • Pausing output so that results can be seen
  • Microsoft Visual C++
  • Gnu gcc on solix
    • Compiling, linking and running C on UNIX
  • Getting a free C++ compiler
• Handing in assignments
  • Creating the header to be included in all programs
  • Program guidelines
  • Submit Homework On-Line. Do not upload the .exe files, only upload the .cpp files.
• General Information
  • Review Topics for the Final
  • Syllabus. Please note that I originally had the wrong date for the final exam. Please check the syllabus for the correct date.
  • Figures from the book
  • Run an example from the book.
• Assignments will be posted here
  • Submit Homework On-Line. Do not upload the .exe files, only upload the .c or .cpp files.
  • Assignment 1
    • Run an example of the homework.
  • Assignment 2
    • You might find this site useful for testing your program: http://www.vsv.slu.se/johnb/java/lat-long.htm
    • In the formula, there is a reference to sin^-1. This refers to the arcsin function in trigonometry. This function is called asin in the math.h include file.
  • Assignment 3
  • Assignment 4
    • Run an example of the homework. Select proj4.cpp from the list of programs.
    • For option 2 of the menu, the user will enter the absolute value of the smallest term. Terms in the series are negative and positive. To make it easier for the user to indicate when to stop, the user will always enter a positive number - the absolute value. Use the absolute value to determine when to stop your loop.
  • Assignment 5

Creating the header to be included in all C programs

In every program that you hand in, you will include the following header at the beginning of the code. To save time later, put this into a file now. Name the file HEADER.INC

/*
      ********************************************************************
         Name: (enter your name here)

         Instructor: Tim Downey

         Program Description: (you will type in a description here)

         Oath: I attest that this program was done entirely by me
         without any outside assistance, except possibly from Tim Downey.

                                  Signed: (sign name here)
      ********************************************************************
*/

The opening /* and closing */ are very important. Keep the width of this box less than 65 characters. You will include this in every program you write.

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Program Guidelines

Each program must follow these rules.

• Include the header.
• Include comments. For each program, there are 3 points for comments.
• Create meaningful user-defined names. You lose 1 point for each bad name.
• One statement per line. You lose 1 point if there are multiple statements on a line.
• When you define your own functions, they must be shorter than 25 lines.
• No global variables. You lose 1 point every time a global variable is referenced.

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Compiling, linking and running C on UNIX

These are the steps you would follow to execute a C program:

1. In order to do this, you must first create the source file using an editor. Be sure that all your C files have an extension of .c.
2. Assuming that your file is stored in prog.c, you then issue the command

   	gcc -o prog prog.c
   

3. To run the program, issue the command

   	prog
   

4. Use the cat command to have the contents of the file displayed on the screen.

   	cat prog.c
   

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Getting a free C++ compiler

There is a free C++ compiler that can be obtained from http://gcc.gnu.org/

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Pausing output so that results can be seen

In MS Visual C++, the output screen is paused so that you can view the results. In some development environments this is not done. Here is some code to insert in your program to pause the output so that results can be viewed. You do not need to include this code if you are using MS Visual C++.

Declare an extra variable in your program:

  char ch;

Before the return (0) statement, insert these statements

  printf("Please hit a non-blank key and press enter ");
  scanf(" %c", &ch);

Please notice that there is a space before the %c in the placeholder.

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