Introduction

Lecture Slides

University of Messina
Computer Science (Data Analysis)

Programming
 Lecture 1: Outline
• Introduction
• Course Logistics and Syllabus
– Learning Objectives
– Textbooks
– Labs
– Grading
• Some Fundamentals
• Compiling and running your first C
program
 Course organization
• Francesco La Rosa, PhD
• Lessons (classroom A-S-1):
– Monday (16-18),
– Tuesday (14-16),
– Wednesday (14-16)
• LAB Session: SBA-2-1 (II Floor SBA)
• https://moodle2.unime.it/course/view.php?id=49094
– Course info, Lecture slides
• Email: [email protected]
 Learning Objectives
•First course in Computer Science
– No previous knowledge is assumed!
•By the end of the course, students will:
– Understand fundamental concepts of
computer programming/imperative structured
programming languages
– Design algorithms to solve (simple) problems
– Use the C programming language
 Textbooks
• Al Kelley, Ira Pohl, A Book on C: Programming in C, 4th
Edition, Pearson Education Limited, 1998
– Main (first) textbook for this course
– Teaches you how to program (in C)
– Follows an approach suited for a first programming language

• Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, The C Programming

Language, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall
– Is considered “THE” book on C : coauthor belongs to the creators of
the C programming language
– The book is not an introductory programming manual; it assumes
some familiarity with basic programming concepts
• Lesson slides available into the e-learning site: https://moodle2.unime.it/
 Policies and Grading
• Lecturse can be interactive
• Labs:
– Each lab session has a practical programming
assignment to be done individually in class
– Read lecture slides and corresponding textbook
chapters before attending the lab session!
• Final exam:
– 2 theoretical tests (2 MCQ - Multiple Choice Questions)
– 3 practical tests (write C code)
 Course chapters [Kelley]
• Some Fundamentals
• Compiling and Running your First C Program
• The Fundamental Data Types
• Flow of Control
• Functions
• Arrays
• Pointers
• Strings
• Bitwise Operators and Enumeration Types
• Structures and Unions
• Input and Output Operations in C
• The Standard Library
 Fundamentals
• Classical model for computing machines
• Programming
• Programming languages
• Compiling
• Operating system

Setting the basic

concepts and
terminology …
 Model of a computing machine
• Computing machine (Computer): “a machine
that stores and manipulates information under
the control of a changeable program that is
stored in its memory.”

– Pocket calculator: not a computer! Manipulates information, but

is built to do a specific task (no changeable stored program)
• This model is named the “von Neumann architecture” (John von
Neumann – 1945; EDVAC - Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic
Computer – the first stored-program computer)
• Stored-program concept: earlier ideas in theoretical articles of Alan
Turing (1936) and Konrad Zuse (1936)
The von Neumann architecture

CPU
Input Device ALU CU Output Device

Main memory Secondary

(RAM) storage
 The von Neumann architecture
• Central Processing Unit (CPU): the “brain” of the machine.
– CU: Control Unit
– ALU: Arithmetic and Logic Unit
• Carries out all basic operations of the computer
• Examples of basic operation: adding two numbers, testing to see if two
numbers are equal.
• Main memory (called RAM for Random Access Memory): stores
programs and data
– Fast but volatile
• Secondary memory: provides permanent storage
• Human-computer interaction: through input and output devices.
– keyboard, mouse, monitor
– Information from input devices is processed by the CPU and may be
sent to the main or secondary memory. When information needs to be
displayed, the CPU sends it to the output device(s).
 Languages
• Language is way of communication between two
persons.
• Computer Languages are communication
between computer and person.
• Computers can understand only machine
instructions. Instructions are to be given in
machine understandable language.
 Programming languages
• A programming language is defined by a set of
rules. It is a language designed to communicating
instructions to a computer.
• Programming languages can be used to create
programs to control the behavior of the
machine.
• A program is a list of instructions for directing the
computer to perform a required data-processing
task.
 How it works
• How does a computer execute a program?

• The instructions that comprise the program are copied

from the permanent secondary memory into the main
memory.
• After the instructions are loaded, the CPU starts
executing the program.
• The instruction is retrieved from memory, decoded to
figure out what it represents, and the appropriate action
carried out. (the fetch-execute cycle)
• Then the next instruction is fetched, decoded and
executed.
 Machine level programming
• Example: suppose we want the computer to add
two numbers, and if the preliminary result is less
than 10, then add 10 to the result

• The instructions that the CPU carries out might be :

[INSTR1] Load into ALU the number from mem location 15
[INSTR2] Load into ALU the number from mem location 7
[INSTR3] Add the two numbers in the ALU
[INSTR4] If result is bigger than 10 jump to [INSTR6]
[INSTR5] Add 10 to the number in the ALU
[INSTR6] Store the result from ALU into mem location 3

• The processors instruction set: all basic operations that

can be carried out by a certain type of processor
 Machine level programming
• The instructions and operands are represented in binary notation
(sequences of 0s and 1s).
– Why binary? Because computer hardware relies on electric/electronic
circuits that have/can switch between 2 states
– bit (binary digit)
– Byte: 8 bits
• The program carried out by the CPU, on a hypothetical processor
type, could be:
1010 1111
1011 0111
0111
…
• This way had to be programmed the first computers!
• The job of the first programmers was to code directly in machine
language and to enter their programs using switches
 Higher level languages
• Assembly language
– First step from machine language
– Uses symbolic names for operations

– Example: a hypothetical assembly language program

sequence:

1010 1111 LD1 15

1011 0111 LD2 7
0111 ADD
0011 1010 CMP 10
0010 1100 JGE 12
0110 1010 ADD 10
… …
 Higher level languages
• Assembly language (cont)
– Translation of assembly language into machine
language: in the beginning done manually, later done
by a special computer program – the assembler
– Disadvantages Low-level language:
• programmer must learn the instruction set of the particular
processor
• program must be rewritten in order to run on a different
processor type – program is not portable
 Higher level languages
• High level languages
– Using more abstract instructions
– portable programs result

– Example: a hypothetical program sequence:

DEFVAR a,b,c;
BEGIN
READ a
READ b
READ c
c := a+b
IF (c <10) THEN c:=c+10
PRINT c
END …
 Higher level languages
• High level languages
– Writing portable programs, using more abstract
instructions
– A high level instruction (statement) is translated into
many machine instructions
– Translation of high level language into machine
instructions: done by special computer programs –
compilers or interpreters
 Compilers/Interpreters

Source
Source Machine Code
Compiler
Code Code

Interpreter

Input Output
Input Executable Output data data
data Program data

Compiler: analyzes program and Interpreter: analyzes and executes

translates it into machine language program statements at the same
Executable program: can be run time
independently from compiler as Execution is slower
many times => fast execution Easier to debug program
 Operating Systems
• Operating system: a program that controls the
entire operation of a computer system:
– Handles all input and output (I/O) operations that are
performed on a computer
– manages the computer system’s resources
– handles the execution of programs (including
multitasking or multiuser facilities)
• Most famous OS families:
– Windows
– Unix
 Higher Level Languages
• Programming Paradigms:
– Imperative Programming: describes the exact
sequences of commands to be executed
• Structured programming, procedural programming
– FORTRAN, C, PASCAL, …
• Object oriented programming
– C++, Java, C#, …
– Declarative programming: program describes what it
should do, not how
• Functional programming
– Lisp, ML, …
• Logic Programming
– Prolog
 The C Programming Language
• Developed by Dennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Laboratories
in the early 1970s
• Growth of C tightly coupled with growth of Unix: Unix
was written mostly in C
• Success of PCs: need of porting C on MS-DOS
• Many providers of C compilers for many different
platforms => need for standardization of the C language
• 1990: ANSI C (American National Standards Institute)
• International Standard Organization: ISO/IEC 9899:1990
• 1999: standard updated: C99, or ISO/IEC 9899:1999
 The first C program
uses standard library
input and output functions
(printf)
#include <stdio.h>
the program
int main (void)
begin of program {
printf ("Programming is fun.\n");
statements return 0;
end of program }

main: a special name that indicates where the program must begin execution. It is
a special function.
first statement: calls a routine named printf, with argument the string of characters
“Programming is fun \n”
last statement: finishes execution of main and returns to the system a status
value of 0 (conventional value for OK)
 The format in C
• Statements are terminated with semicolons
• Indentation is nice to be used for increased readability.
• Free format: white spaces and indentation is ignored by
compiler
• C is case sensitive – pay attention to lower and upper
case letters when typing!
– All C keywords and standard functions are lower case
– Typing INT, Int, etc instead of int is a compiler error
• Strings are placed in double quotes
• New line is represented by \n (Escape sequence)
Compiling and running C programs

Editor
Source code
file.c

Compiler
Object code
file.obj

Libraries Linker
Executable code
file.exe
IDE (Integrated
Development
Environment)
 C Compilers and IDE’s
• One can:
– use a text editor to edit source code, and then use independent
command-line compilers and linkers
– use an IDE: everything together + facilities to debug, develop
and organize large projects
• There are several C compilers and IDE’s that support
various C compilers
• Lab: Free Software (under the GNU General Public License)
– Works with gcc (GNU C Compiler)
• supports the C99 standard
• available on Windows and Unix
– The GNU Project (http://www.gnu.org/): launched in 1984 in
order to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is
free software - the GNU system.
 Debugging program errors

Syntactic Editor
Source code
Errors file.c

Compiler
Object code
file.obj

Libraries Linker
Executable code
file.exe

Semantic
Errors
 Syntax and Semantics
• Syntax errors: violation of programming
language rules (grammar)
– "Me speak English good."
– Use valid C symbols in wrong places
– Detected by the compiler
• Semantics errors (errors in meaning):
– "This sentence is excellent Italian."
– Programs are syntactically correct but don’t produce
the expected output
– User observes output of running program
 Second program

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
printf ("Programming is fun.\n");
printf ("And programming in C is even more fun.\n");
return 0;
}
Displaying multiple lines of text

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
printf ("Testing...\n..1\n...2\n....3\n");
return 0;
}

Output:
It is not necessary
to make a separate Testing...
call to printf for ..1
each line of output ! ...2
....3
 Variables
• Programs can use symbolic names for
storing computation data and results
• Variable: a symbolic name for a memory
location
– programmer doesn’t has to worry about
specifying (or even knowing) the value of the
location’s address
• In C, variables have to be declared before
they are used
 Using and Displaying Variables
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int sum;
sum = 50 + 25;
printf ("The sum of 50 and 25 is %i\n", sum);
return 0;
}

Variable sum declared of type int

Variable sum assigned expression 50+25

Value of variable sum is printed in place of %i

The printf routine call has now 2 arguments: first argument a string containing also a
format specifier (%i), that holds place for an integer value to be inserted here
 Displaying multiple values

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int value1, value2, sum;
value1 = 50;
value2 = 25;
sum = value1 + value2;
printf ("The sum of %i and %i is %i\n",value1, value2, sum);
return 0;
}

The format string must contain as many placeholders as expressions to be printed

 Using comments in a program
• Comment statements are used in a program to
document it and to enhance its readability.
• Useful for human readers of the program – compiler
ignores comments
• Ways to insert comments in C:
– When comments span several lines: start marked with /*, end
marked with */
– Comments at the end of a line: start marked with //
Using comments in a program
/* This program adds two integer values
and displays the results */

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
// Declare variables
int value1, value2, sum;
// Assign values and calculate their sum
value1 = 50;
value2 = 25;
sum = value1 + value2;
// Display the result
printf ("The sum of %i and %i is %i\n",
value1, value2, sum);
return 0;
}