Chapters 1 & 2 Programming and Programs

Bjarne Stroustrup
www.stroustrup.com/Programming

Abstract
Today, well outline the aims for this course and present a rough course plan. Well introduce the basic notion of programming and give examples of areas in which software is critical to our civilization. Finally, well present the simplest possible C++ program and outline how it can be made into running code.
Stroustrup/Programming 2

Overview

Course aims and outline Programming Hello, world! Compilation

Stroustrup/Programming

This is a course

In Programming For beginners

who want to become professionals

i.e., people who can produce systems that others will use Though not (necessarily) geniuses Though do need sleep occasionally, and take a normal course load

who are assumed to be bright

who are willing to work hard

Using the C++ programming language

Stroustrup/Programming

Not!

A Washout course

if you can get into the science/engineering parts of a university, you can handle this course
The C++ programming language who want to become language lawyers

A course in

For students

We try not to get bogged down in technical obscurities

who are assumed to be a bit dim and fairly lazy

We try not to spoon feed

Using

Some untested software development methodologies and a lot of unnecessarily long words
Stroustrup/Programming 5

The Aims

Teach/learn

Fundamental programming concepts Key useful techniques Basic Standard C++ facilities Write small colloquial C++ programs Read much larger programs Learn the basics of many other languages by yourself Proceed with an advanced C++ programming course

After the course, youll be able to

After the course, you will not (yet) be

An expert programmer A C++ language expert An expert user of advanced libraries

Stroustrup/Programming 6

The Means

Lectures

Attend every one Read a chapter ahead (about one per lecture) Read the chapter again after each lecture Feedback is welcome (typos, suggestions, etc.)

Notes/Chapters

Stroustrup/Programming

The Means (Cont.)

Work

Review questions in chapters Review Terms in Chapters Drills

Always do the drills Always do the drills before the exercises

Exercises Course specific

Projects

Thats where the most fun and the best learning takes place

Quizzes Exams

Stroustrup/Programming

Cooperate on Learning

Except for the work you hand in as individual contributions, we strongly encourage you to collaborate and help each other If in doubt if a collaboration is legitimate: ask!

Dont claim to have written code that you copied from others Dont give anyone else your code (to hand in for a grade) When you rely on the work of others, explicitly list all of your sources i.e. give credit to those who did the work

Dont study alone when you dont have to

Form study groups Do help each other (without plagiarizing)

Go to your TA's office hours

Go prepared with questions The only stupid questions are the ones you wanted to ask but didnt
Stroustrup/Programming 9

Why C++ ?

You cant learn to program without a programming language The purpose of a programming language is to allow you to express your ideas in code C++ is the language that most directly allows you to express ideas from the largest number of application areas C++ is the most widely used language in engineering areas
http://www.research.att.com/~bs/applications.html

Stroustrup/Programming

10

Why C++ ?

C++ is precisely and comprehensively defined by an ISO standard

And that standard is almost universally accepted

C++ is available on almost all kinds of computers Programming concepts that you learn using C++ can be used fairly directly in other languages

Including C, Java, C#, and (less directly) Fortran

Stroustrup/Programming

11

Rough course outline

Part I: The basics

Types, variables, strings, console I/O, computations, errors, vectors functions, source files, classes File I/O, I/O streams Graphical output Graphical User Interface Free store, pointers, and arrays Lists, maps, sorting and searching, vectors, templates The STL Software ideals and history Text processing, numerics, embedded systems programming, testing, C, etc.
Stroustrup/Programming 12

Part II: Input and Output

Part III: Data structures and algorithms

Part IV: Broadening the view

Rough course outline (Cont.)

Throughout

Program design and development techniques C++ language features Background and related fields, topics, and languages

Note: Appendices

C++ language summary C++ standard library summary Index (extensive) Glossary (short)

Stroustrup/Programming

13

Promises

Detail: We will try to explain every construct used in this course in sufficient detail for real understanding

There is no magic

Utility: We will try to explain only useful concepts, constructs, and techniques

We will not try to explain every obscure detail

Completeness: The concepts, constructs, and techniques can be used in combination to construct useful programs

There are, of course, many useful concepts, constructs, and techniques beyond what is taught here

Stroustrup/Programming

14

More Promises

Realism: the concepts, constructs, and techniques can be used to build industrial strength programs

i.e., they have been used to

Simplicity: The examples used are among the simplest realistic ones that illustrate the concepts, constructs, and techniques

Your exercises and projects will provide more complex examples

Scalability: The concepts, constructs, and techniques can be used to construct large, reliable, and efficient programs

i.e., they have been used to

Stroustrup/Programming

15

Feedback request

Please mail questions and constructive comments to your_teacher@your_institution Your feedback will be most appreciated

On style, contents, detail, examples, clarity, conceptual problems, exercises, missing information, depth, etc.

Book support website (www.stroustrup.com/Programming) Local course support website

Stroustrup/Programming

16

Why programming?

Our civilization runs on software

Most engineering activities involve software

Note: most programs do not run on things that look like a PC

a screen, a keyboard, a box under the table

Stroustrup/Programming

17

Ships

Design Construction Management

Monitoring Engine Hull design Pumps

18

Stroustrup/Programming

Aircraft

Communication Control Display

Signal processing Gadget control Monitoring

Stroustrup/Programming

19

Phones

Voice quality User interfaces Billing Mobility

Stroustrup/Programming

Switching Reliability Provisioning Images

20

Energy

Control Monitoring Analysis Design

Communications Visualization Manufacturing

Stroustrup/Programming

21

PC/workstation

Theres a lot more to computing than games, word processing, browsing, and spreadsheets!

Stroustrup/Programming

22

Where is C++ Used?

Just about everywhere

Mars rovers, animation, graphics, Photoshop, GUI, OS, compilers, slides, chip design, chip manufacturing, semiconductor tools, etc. See www.research.att/~bs/applications.html
Stroustrup/Programming 23

A first program just the guts

// int main() { cout << "Hello, world!\n"; // main() is where a C++ program starts // output the 13 characters Hello, world! // followed by a new line // return a value indicating success

return 0;
}

// quotes delimit a string literal // NOTE: smart quotes will cause compiler problems. // so make sure your quotes are of the style " " // \n is a notation for a new line

Stroustrup/Programming

24

A first program complete

// a first program: #include "../../std_lib_facilities.h" // get the library facilities needed for now int main() { cout << "Hello, world!\n"; return 0; } // note the semicolons; they terminate statements // curly brackets { } group statements into a block // main( ) is a function that takes no arguments ( ) // and returns an int (integer value) to indicate success or failure
Stroustrup/Programming 25

// main() is where a C++ program starts // output the 13 characters Hello, world! // followed by a new line // return a value indicating success

A second program
// modified for Windows console mode: #include "../../std_lib_facilities.h" // get the facilities for this course int main() { cout << "Hello, world\n"; // main() is where a C++ program starts // output the 13 characters hello, world! // followed by a new line // wait for a keystroke // return a value indicating success

keep_window_open(); return 0;
}

// without keep_window_open() the output window will be closed immediately // before you have a chance to read the output (on Visual C++ 2003)

Stroustrup/Programming

26

Hello, world!

Hello world is a very important program

Its purpose is to help you get used to your tools

Compiler Program development environment Program execution environment After you get it to work, please make a few mistakes to see how the tools respond; for example

Type in the program carefully

Forget the header Forget to terminate the string Misspell return (e.g. retrun) Forget a semicolon Forget { or }
Stroustrup/Programming 27

Hello world

Its almost all boiler plate

Only cout << "Hello, world!\n" directly does anything Most of our code, and most of the systems we use simply exist to make some other code elegant and/or efficient real world non-software analogies abound

Thats normal

Boiler plate, that is, notation, libraries, and other support is what makes our code simple, comprehensible, trustworthy, and efficient.

Would you rather write 1,000,000 lines of machine code?

This implies that we should not just get things done; we should take great care that things are done elegantly, correctly, and in ways that ease the creation of more/other software:

Style Matters!
Stroustrup/Programming 28

Compilation and linking

C++ source code C++ compiler Object code Executable program linker

You write C++ source code

Library Object code

Source code is (in principle) human readable Object code is simple enough for a computer to understand E.g. input/output libraries, operating system code, and windowing code E.g. a .exe file on windows or an a.out file on Unix
Stroustrup/Programming 29

The compiler translates what you wrote into object code (sometimes called machine code)

The linker links your code to system code needed to execute

The result is an executable program

So what is programming?

Conventional definitions

Telling a very fast moron exactly what to do A plan for solving a problem on a computer Specifying the order of a program execution

But modern programs often involve millions of lines of code And manipulation of data is central

Definition from another domain (academia)

A program is an organized and directed accumulation of resources to accomplish specific objectives

Good, but no mention of actually doing anything

The definition well use

Specifying the structure and behavior of a program, and testing that the program performs its task correctly and with acceptable performance

Never forget to check that it works

Software == one or more programs

Stroustrup/Programming 30

Programming

Programming is fundamentally simple

Just state what the machine is to do We want the machine to do complex things

So why is programming hard?

And computers are nitpicking, unforgiving, dumb beasts

The world is more complex than wed like to believe

So we dont always know the implications of what we want

When you can program a task, you understand it When you program, you spend significant time trying to understand the task you want to automate If you are just practical, you produce non-scalable unmaintainable hacks If you are just theoretical, you produce toys
Stroustrup/Programming 31

Programming is understanding

Programming is part practical, part theory

The next lecture

Will talk about types, values, variables, declarations, simple input and output, very simple computations, and type safety.

Stroustrup/Programming

32