Chapter 3.

C++ Program Basics

3. C++ Program Basics

A program = data + instructions

Data:

 there are several data types (numbers, text, etc.)

 each individual data item must be declared and named
 each individual data item must have a value before use
 initial values come from
o program instructions
o user input
 program instructions can alter these values
 original or newly computed values can go to
o screen
o disk

Instructions:

 computation of new values

 for data input (from keyboard, disk)
 for data output (to screen, disk, etc)
 program control (decisions, repetition)

A Second program

#include <iostream> // a.

using namespace std; // b.

int main(){ // c.

int num, square; // d.

num = 10; // e.

square = num * num; // f.

cout << "The Square is : " << square; // g.

return 0; // h.

Notes:

a. so we can use cin and cout for input and output

b. so we can use the shortcut name cout instead of the full name std.cout
c. the main body is the function main with int as a return value

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d. num , square are the data items (which we often call variables)
e. they get initial values from instructions via assignment (the = is the assignment command)
f. multiplying value num by itself and putting the result in square
g. the result is displayed via cout: "The square is: 100"
h. return an integer: the function main "promised" to provide an integer "answer". In this program
(and usually) the "answer" doesn't matter. But to keep the promise, we just
return 0.
i. on any line, typing // turns the rest of the line into a comment. A comment is not "seen" by the
computer ‐ it is not part of the program. It is used by human readers of the
program to explain something in the program.
j. every statement shall end with a semicolon, except what?

Program Error Types

1. Compile error ‐ invalid C++ statements; so your code cannot be translated to machine language.
Examples:

a) integer x, y;
b) num1 = num1 + num2

In a) use int, not integer; while in b) the “;” at the end of the line is missing.

2. Link error: one of the functions used in the program is not found when it's time to run the program.

3. Run‐time error ‐ program does not run to completion. Example:

 divide by zero: set x = 10 and y = 0 and then trying to compute x/y

 calculations resulting in a very large/very small numbers (out of bound errors)

4. Logic error ‐ program runs to completion, but the results are wrong. Example:

 you really wanted x ‐ y but coded x + y

 in calculating an average, you use the wrong number to divide

Fixing 3 and 4 is called debugging; the computer does what you said, not necessarily what you meant!

Language Basics

The C++ Language is made up of

 keywords/reserved words (if, while, int, etc.)

 symbols: { } = | <= ! [ ] * & (and more )
 programmer‐defined names for variables and functions

These programmer‐defined names are also called identifiers, such that they:

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 have no limit on their length;

 use letters, digits, _ (underscore)
 start with a letter or _
 are case‐sensitive: Num is different than num
 should be meaningful: studentCount is better than s or sc

C++ Data Types

Each data item has a type and a name chosen by the programmer. The type determines the range (set) of
possible values it can hold as well as the operations that can be used on it. For example, you can add a
number to a numeric data type, but you cannot add a number to a character or string.

Commonly‐used data types

1. int (integer numbers)

 no decimal point, comma, or $

 leading + ‐ allowed
 range (on our system): about plus or minus 2 billion
 int constants are written as: 1234 ‐3 43

To create an integer variable that your program can use, you must declare it, like:

int x; // gives type and name; no value yet

int x, y; // declares 2 ints; no values yet

int population = 16000; // declares & sets init value

So you could picture the results of the last two lines as:

Note: It is critically important that variables have values before they are used in a program. In the
examples above, x and y have no values even though they have been declared. More accurately, they do
have values but those values could be anything between ‐2 billion and +2 billion. Before you use x or y
you would have to give them values.

2 and 3. float and double (floating point or real numbers). These data types are also commonly referred
to as real variables (following mathematics usage) when it is not important which one we mean and we
don't want to always have to say "float or double".

 has decimal point

 leading + ‐ allowed
 no comma, $
 range (float) about plus or minus 10 raised to 38 (limited to ~ 7 significant digits)
 range (double) about plus or minus 10 raised to 308 (limited to ~15 significant digits)
 values are rarely exact

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 floating point constants are written as 3.08 ‐32.0 0.15 9.3e7 (9.3 times 10 raised to 7)

Declaration Examples:

float pi = 3.1416; //declares, names, sets init value

double x = 3.5, //note comma here

y = 1245.6543; //can use > 6 digits

float big = 5.28e3; // exponential notation: 5280

4. char (single characters)

 can hold just one character

 char constants are written with single quotes: 'a'

char ch;

char choice = 'q';

5. string (character "strings" or sequences)

 can hold 0 to many characters

 string constants are written with double quotes: "Hello, world"

string s;

string MyDepartment = "Civil Engineering";

Arithmetic Operators

Operator Name Example

+ Addition 12 + 4.9 // gives 16.9
- Subtraction 3.98 - 4 // gives -0.02
* Multiplication 2 * 3.4 // gives 6.8
/ Division 9 / 2.0 // gives 4.5; but note that
9 / 2 // gives 4!
% Remainder 13 % 3 // gives 1

Note: there is no exponentiation operator.

Arithmetic Expressions are formed by operands and operators. Operands are the values used, operators
are the things done to the numbers. Parts of arithmetic expressions are often grouped by () for clarity or
to affect the meaning of the expression:

// declaration

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int x, y;

double realnum;

// initialization

x = 11;

y = 2;

realnum = 2.0;

Also ‐ the spaces written between operands and operators are not required by C++, but do improve
legibility. More complex expressions are evaluated by C++ using Rules of Precedence (like algebra)

1. sub‐expressions in ()
2. unary ‐
3. * and / ‐ left to right
4. + and ‐ ‐ left to right

In the examples below, the red numbers show what operation is done as C++ evaluates and expression:

3 + 5 * 4 / 2 = 3 + 20 / 2 = 3 + 10 = 13

But () can be used to change this (or to make expression more readable)

(3 + 5) * 4 / 2 = 8 * 4 / 2 = 32 / 2 = 16

You must use a type cast ‐ to tell C++ that it should temporarily use the variable as if it were some other
data type. To do this, put the name of the data type you want in parenthesis before the variable name. It
will not change the variable type or value permanently, but it will force C++ to temporarily treat the
variable as a different type:

Int sum, count;

sum = 385, count = 4;

double average;

average = (double) sum/count // or

average = sum /(double)count

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You cannot do just any type cast: (char) sum would not make sense and would not compile.

Assignment Statement/Operation

The symbol "=" is a command.

It means: "evaluate the expression on the right and store this value in the variable on the left"

someVariable = some expression;

Notice that there is always exactly one variable on the left to receive the value of the expression on the
left.

Notes:
1. All variables in expressions on the right must have defined values to avoid unpredictable results. This is
an example of what I meant before when I said variables must have values before they are used.

int x, y; // declared; no init values

x = y + 1; // ??? in x

Inadvertent use of uninitialized variables is one of the most common causes of program errors. Learn to
be very careful about this.

2. You can do multiple assignments on one line:

x = y = z = 3; //all get value 3

3. Naming Variables: use meaningful names that explain themselves to reader of the program.

Relational Operators

Operator Name Example

== Equal 5 == 5 // gives true
!= Not Equal 5 != 5 // gives false
< Less Than 5 < 5.5 // gives true
<= Less Than or Equal 5 <= 5 // gives true
> Greater Than 5 > 5.5 // gives false
>= Greater Than or Equal 6.3 >= 5 // gives true
To be covered in Chapter 5 (decisions).

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Logical Operators

Operator Name Example

! Logical Negation !(5 == 5) // gives false
&& Logical And 5 < 6 && 6 < 7 // gives true
|| Logical Or 5 < 6 || 6 < 5 // gives true

Precedence of Operators – Part I

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Precedence of Operators – Part II

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