CS 106X, Lecture 2

C++ Functions and Strings

reading:
Programming Abstractions in C++, Chapters 2-3

This document is copyright (C) Stanford Computer Science and Nick Troccoli, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. All rights reserved.
Based on slides created by Keith Schwarz, Julie Zelenski, Marty Stepp, Ashley Taylor, Jerry Cain, Eric Roberts, Mehran Sahami, Stuart Reges, Cynthia Lee, and others.
 Plan for Today
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

2
 Plan for Today
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

3
 Defining a function (2.3)
• A C++ function is like a Java method.
return type parameters (arguments)

type functionName(type name, type name, ..., type name) {

statement;
statement;
...
statement;
return expression; // if return type is not void
}

parameters (arguments)
• Calling a function:

functionName(value, value, ..., value);

4
 Defining a function
#include <iostream>
#include "console.h"
using namespace std;

// Prints out the lyrics for the popular “bottle song”

void bottlesOfPop(int count) {
cout << count << " bottles of pop on the wall." << endl;
cout << count << " bottles of pop." << endl;
cout << "Take one down, pass it around, " << (count-1) <<
" bottles of pop on the wall." << endl << endl;
}

int main() {
for (int i = 99; i > 0; i--) {
bottlesOfPop(i);
}
return 0;
} 5
 Lots of Pop
99 bottles of pop on the wall.
99 bottles of pop.
Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of pop on the wall.
98 bottles of pop on the wall.
98 bottles of pop.
Take one down, pass it around, 97 bottles of pop on the wall.
97 bottles of pop on the wall.
97 bottles of pop.
Take one down, pass it around, 96 bottles of pop on the wall.
...
3 bottles of pop on the wall.
3 bottles of pop.
Take one down, pass it around, 2 bottles of pop on the wall.
2 bottles of pop on the wall.
2 bottles of pop.
Take one down, pass it around, 1 bottles of pop on the wall.
1 bottles of pop on the wall.
1 bottles of pop.
Take one down, pass it around, 0 bottles of pop on the wall.
6
 Defining a function
// Returns the area of a circle with the given radius.
double circleArea(int r) {
return 3.14 * r * r;
}

int main() {
double a1 = circleArea(1); // call the function
double a2 = circleArea(3); // call it again
cout << "The area is " << a1 << "!!" << endl;
return 0;
}

7
 Defining a function
// Returns the area of a circle with the given radius.
double circleArea(int r) {
return 3.14 * r * r;
}

int main() {
double a1 = circleArea(1); // call the function
double a2 = circleArea(3); // call it again
double a3 = circleArea(3.1); // truncates!
cout << "The area is " << a1 << "!!" << endl;
return 0;
}

8
 Overloading
// Returns the area of a circle with the given radius.
double circleArea(int r) {
return 3.14 * r * r;
}

// Functions can share names as long as the arguments differ

double circleArea(double r) {
return 3.14 * r * r;
}

int main() {
double a1 = circleArea(1); // call the function
double a2 = circleArea(3); // call it again
double a3 = circleArea(3.1); // ok!
cout << "The area is " << a1 << "!!" << endl;
return 0;
}
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 Default parameters
• You can make a parameter optional by supplying a default value:
– All parameters with default values must appear last in the list.

// Prints a line of characters of the given width.

void printLine(int width = 10, char letter = '*') {
for (int i = 0; i < width; i++) {
cout << letter;
}
cout << endl;
}
...
printLine(7, '?'); // ???????
printLine(5); // *****
printLine(); // **********
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 Plan for Today
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

11
 Declaration order
• Compiler error: unable to find the circleArea function (!)
– C++ reads the file from top to bottom (unlike some other languages)

int main() {
double a = circleArea(2.5); // call the function
return 0;
}

double circleArea(double r) {
return 3.14159265359 * r * r;
}

12
 Function prototypes (1.4)
type name(type name, type name, ..., type name);
– Declare the function (without writing its body) at top of program.

double circleArea(double r); // function prototype

int main() {
double a = circleArea(2.5); // call the function
return 0;
}
double circleArea(double r) {
...
}

With prototype, only declare default values in prototype.

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 Math functions (2.1)
• #include <cmath>
Function name Description (returns)
abs(value) absolute value
ceil(value) rounds up
floor(value) rounds down
log10(value) logarithm, base 10
max(value1, value2) larger of two values
min(value1, value2) smaller of two values
pow(base, exp) base to the exp power
round(value) nearest whole number
sqrt(value) square root
sin(value) sine/cosine/tangent of
cos(value) an angle in radians
tan(value)

– unlike in Java, you don't write Math. in front of the function name
– see Stanford "gmath.h" library for additional math functionality
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 Plan for Today
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

15
 Pass by Value

void swap(int a, int b) {

int temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}

int main() {
int x = 17;
int y = 35;
swap(x, y);
cout << x << "," << y << endl; // 17,35
return 0;
}
By default, C++ parameters are copies.
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 Pass by Reference

void swap(int& a, int& b) {

int temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}

int main() {
int x = 17;
int y = 35;
swap(x, y);
cout << x << "," << y << endl; // 35,17
return 0;
}
Use “&” to pass the same version.
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 Pass by Reference
int main() {
int x = 17;
int y = 35;
swap(x, y);
cout << x << "," << y << endl; // 35,17
return 0;
}

– ‘&’ just in function definition, no change when calling function

(hard to read)
– Can’t pass in literals (e.g. swap(1, 3) doesn’t work)
– Fast for large data types (e.g. Vector) – no copies made
– Allows for multiple changes to persist from a function

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 Quadratic exercise quadratic

• Write a function quadratic to find roots of quadratic equations.

a x2 + b x + c = 0, for some numbers a, b, and c.

– Find roots using the quadratic formula.

– Example: x2 - 3 x - 4 = 0 - b ± b - 4ac
2

roots: x = 4 , x = -1
2a

– What parameters should our function accept? What should it return?

• Which parameters should be passed by value, and which by reference?

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 Quadratic solution
#include <math.h>
...
/*
* Solves a quadratic equation ax^2 + bx + c = 0,
* storing the results in output parameters root1 and root2.
* Assumes that the given equation has two real roots.
*/
void quadratic(double a, double b, double c,
double& root1, double& root2) {
double d = sqrt(b * b - 4 * a * c);
root1 = (-b + d) / (2 * a);

- ± - 4ac
root2 = (-b - d) / (2 * a); 2
} b b
2a

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 Decomposition
• When solving a large problem, break down the task into functions.

• Properties of a good function:

– Fully performs a single coherent task.
– Does not do too large a share of the work.
– Is not unnecessarily connected to other functions.
– Stores data at the narrowest scope possible.

• The main function should be a concise

summary of the overall program.
– Most calls to other functions
should be made by main.

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 Decomposition Example
int main() {
double a, b, c, root1, root2;
getCoefficients(a, b, c);
solveQuadratic(a, b, c, root1, root2);
printRoots(root1, root2);
return 0;
}

• main() is a clear program summary

• Each function completes a discrete subtask
• Each function handles a subset of data
• Functions and variables are well named
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 Decomposition Example
int main() {
double a, b, c, x, y;
quadratic(a, b, c, x, y);
return 0;
}

• main() is a poor program summary

• This function completes all program tasks
• This function handles all the data
• Functions and variables are poorly named
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 Plan for Today
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

24
 Announcements
• Assignment 0 due Friday 9/28 11AM
– If you don’t have your own computer, use library or cluster!
• Qt Creator Troubleshooting Session tonight (Wed) 7-9PM @ LaIR
• Required lecture feedback
• Discussion Section signups open 9/27 5PM – 9/30 5PM
• CodeStepByStep

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CURIS Poster Session

Friday 9/28 3-5PM on Packard Lawn

See awesome summer research projects

and get a taste of what CS research is like!

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WiCS Frosh Interns

WiCS gr a m
t e r n P r o
Frosh In
{ Curious about CS? Looking for a community
on campus? Excited about the WiCS mission?
}
Apply for the WiCS Frosh Intern
Program at bit.ly/wics-frosh-intern-1819

{ Frosh interns rotate through different WiCS

teams, work on meaningful projects, and join
a community of lifelong friends and mentors }

Applications are due Friday, Oct. 5 at

11:59 PM

Stanford Women in Computer Science

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CS 581: Media Innovation
CS: 581
MEDIA INNOVATION

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 Stanford Local
Programming Contest

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 Plan for Today
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

30
 Strings (3.1)
#include <string>
...
string s = "hello";

• A string is a (possibly empty) sequence of characters.

• Strings are mutable (can be changed) in C++.
• There are two types of strings in C++. :-/

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 Characters
• Characters are values of type char, with 0-based indexes:
string s = "Hi 106X!";
index 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
character 'H' 'i' ' ' '1' '0' '6' 'X' '!'

• Individual characters can be accessed using [index] or at:

char c1 = s[3]; // '1'
char c2 = s.at(1); // 'i'

• Characters have ASCII encodings (integer mappings):

cout << (int) s[0] << endl; // 72

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 Char and cctype (3.3)
• #include <cctype>
– Useful functions to process char values (not entire strings):
Function name Description
isalpha(c) isalnum(c) returns true if the given character is an alphabetic
isdigit(c) isspace(c) character from a-z or A-Z, a digit from 0-9, an
isupper(c) ispunct(c) alphanumeric character (a-z, A-Z, or 0-9), an uppercase
letter (A-Z), a space character (space, \t, \n, etc.), or a
islower(c) punctuation character (. , ; !), respectively
tolower(c) toupper(c) returns lower/uppercase equivalent of a character

// index 012345678901234567890
string s = "Grace Hopper Bot v2.0";
if (isalpha(s[6]) && isnumer(s[18])
&& isspace(s[5]) && ispunct(s[19])) {
cout << "Grace Hopper Smash!!" << endl;
}
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 Operators (3.2)
• Concatenate using + or += :
string s1 = "Dai";
s1 += "sy"; // "Daisy"

• Compare using relational operators (ASCII ordering):

string s2 = "Nick"; // == != < <= > >=
if (s1 < s2 && s2 != "Joe") { // true
...
}

• Strings are mutable and can be changed (!):

s2.append(" Troccoli"); // "Nick Troccoli"
s2.erase(6, 7); // "Nick T"
s2[2] = '<'; // "Ni<k T"

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 Member functions (3.2)
Member function name Description
s.append(str) add text to the end of a string
s.compare(str) return -1, 0, or 1 depending on relative ordering
s.erase(index, length) delete text from a string starting at given index
s.find(str) first or last index where the start of str appears in
s.rfind(str) this string (returns string::npos if not found)
s.insert(index, str) add text into a string at a given index
s.length() or s.size() number of characters in this string
s.replace(index, len, str) replaces len chars at given index with new text
s.substr(start, length) or the next length characters beginning at start
s.substr(start) (inclusive); if length omitted, grabs till end of string

string name = "Nick Troccoli";

if (name.find("Troccoli") != string::npos) {
name.erase(6, 7); // Nick T
}
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 Stanford library (3.7)
• #include "strlib.h"
Function name Description
endsWith(str, suffix) true if string begins or ends with the given text
startsWith(str, prefix)
integerToString(int) convert between numbers and strings
realToString(double)
stringToInteger(str)
stringToReal(str)
equalsIgnoreCase(s1, s2) true if s1 and s2 have same chars, ignoring casing
toLowerCase(str) returns an upper/lowercase version of a string
toUpperCase(str)
trim(str) returns string with surrounding whitespace removed

if (startsWith(name, "Professor")) {
name += " " + integerToString(workYears) + " years teaching";
}
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 String exercise nameDiamond

• Write a function nameDiamond that accepts a string parameter and

prints its letters in a "diamond" format as shown below.
– For example, nameDiamond("DAISY") should print:
D
DA
DAI
DAIS
DAISY
AISY
ISY
SY
Y

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 Exercise solution
void nameDiamond(string& name) {
D
// print top half of diamond DA
for (int i = 1; i <= name.length(); i++) { DAI
cout << name.substr(0, i) << endl; DAIS
DAISY
}

// print bottom half of diamond

for (int i = 1; i < name.length(); i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < i; j++) { // indent
cout << " "; // with spaces
}
cout << name.substr(i) << endl;
}
}
AISY
ISY
SY
Y

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 String user input (3.1)
• cin reads string input, but only a word at a time:
cout << "Type your name: ";
string name; // Type your name: John Doe
cin >> name; // Hello, John
cout << "Hello, " << name << endl;

• Stanford library getLine function reads an entire line:

string name = getLine("Type your name: ");
cout << "Hello, " << name << endl; // Hello, John Doe

• C++ standard lib getline function is similar:

string name;
cout << "Type your name: ";
getline(cin, name);
cout << "Hello, " << name << endl;
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 Plan for Today
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

40
 C vs. C++ strings (3.5)
• C++ has two kinds of strings:
– C strings (char arrays) and C++ strings (string objects)

• A string literal such as "hi there" is a C string.

– C strings don't include any methods/behavior shown previously.
• No member functions like length, find, or operators.

• Converting between the two types:

– string("text") C string to C++ string
– string.c_str() C++ string to C string

41
 C string bugs
• string s = "hi" + "there"; // C-string + C-string
• string s = "hi" + '?'; // C-string + char
• string s = "hi" + 41; // C-string + int
– C strings can't be concatenated with +.
– C-string + char/int produces garbage, not "hi?" or "hi41".
– This bug usually appears in print statements, and you’ll see partial
strings.

• string s = "hi";
s += 41; // "hi)"
– Adds character with ASCII value 41, ')', doesn't produce "hi41".

• int n = (int) "42"; // n = 0x7ffdcb08

– Bug; sets n to the memory address of the C string "42" (ack!). 42
 C string bugs fixed
• string s = string("hi") + "there";
• string s = "hi"; // convert to C++ string
s += "there";
– These both compile and work properly.

• string s = "hi"; // C++ string + char

s += '?'; // "hi?"
– Works, because of auto-conversion.

• s += integerToString(41); // "hi?41"
• int n = stringToInteger("42"); // 42
– Explicit string <-> int conversion using Stanford library.

43
 Recap
• C++ Functions
– Syntax
– Prototypes
– Pass by reference
• Announcements
• Strings
– Common functions and patterns
– C strings vs. C++ strings

Next time: C++ file reading and Grids

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 Overflow (extra) slides

This document is copyright (C) Stanford Computer Science and Nick Troccoli, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. All rights reserved.
Based on slides created by Keith Schwarz, Julie Zelenski, Marty Stepp, Ashley Taylor, Jerry Cain, Eric Roberts, Mehran Sahami, Stuart Reges, Cynthia Lee, and others.
 Const parameters
• What if you want to avoid copying a large variable but don't want to
change it?
• Use the const keyword to indicate that the parameter won't be
changed
- Usually used with strings and collections
- Passing in a non-variable (e.g. printString("hello")) does work
void printString(const string& str) {
cout << "I will print this string" << endl;
cout << str << endl;
}

int main() {
printString("This could be a really really long
string");
}
46
 Ref param mystery parameterMysteryBCA

• What is the output of this code?

void mystery(int& b, int c, int& a) {

a++;
b--;
c += a; // A. 5 2 8
} // B. 5 3 7
// C. 6 1 8
int main() { // D. 6 1 13
int a = 5; // E. other
int b = 2;
int c = 8;
mystery(c, a, b);
cout << a << " " << b << " " << c << endl;
return 0;
}
47
 Return mystery returnMystery1

• What is the output of the following program?

int mystery(int b, int c) {
return c + 2 * b;
}

int main() {
int a = 4;
int b = 2;
int c = 5;
a = mystery(c, b);
c = mystery(b, a);
cout << a << " " << b << " " << c << endl;
return 0;
}
// A. B. C. D. E.
// 12 2 16 9 2 10 12 2 8 9 2 12 N/A

48
 Exercise: BMI BMI

• Write code to calculate 2 people's body mass index (BMI):

weight
BMI = 2
´ 703 BMI Category
height below 18.5 class 1
18.5 - 24.9 class 2
• Match the following example output: 25.0 - 29.9 class 3
This program reads data for two people 30.0 and up class 4
and computes their Body Mass Index (BMI).

Enter Person 1's information:

height (in inches)? 70.0
weight (in pounds)? 194.25
BMI = 27.8689, class 3
Enter Person 2's information:
height (in inches)? 62.5
weight (in pounds)? 130.5
BMI = 23.4858, class 2
BMI difference = 4.3831
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 BMI solution
/* Prints a welcome message explaining the program. */
void introduction() {
cout << "This program reads data for two people" << endl;
cout << "and computes their body mass index (BMI)." << endl << endl;
}

/* Computes/returns a person's BMI based on their height and weight. */

double computeBMI(double height, double weight) {
return weight * 703 / height / height;
}

/* Outputs information about a person's BMI and weight status. */

int bmiClass(double bmi) {
if (bmi < 18.5) {
return 1;
} else if (bmi < 25) {
return 2;
} else if (bmi < 30) {
return 3;
} else {
return 4;
}
}
50
 BMI solution, cont'd
/* Reads information for one person, computes their BMI, and returns it. */
double person(int number) {
cout << "Enter person " << number << "'s information:" << endl;
double height = getReal("height (in inches)? ");
double weight = getReal("weight (in pounds)? ");
double bmi = computeBMI(height, weight);
cout << "BMI = " << bmi << ", class " << bmiClass(bmi) << endl << endl;
return bmi;
}

/* Main function to run the overall program. */

int main() {
introduction();
double bmi1 = person(1);
double bmi2 = person(2);
cout << "BMI difference = " << abs(bmi1 - bmi2) << endl;
return 0;
}

51
 What's the output? stringMysteryAB

void mystery(string a, string& b) {

a.erase(0, 1); // erase 1 from index 0
b += a[0];
b.insert(3, "FOO"); // insert at index 3
}
// A. nick troFOOccolii
int main() { // B. nick troccoli
string a = "nick"; // C. nick troccoliFOO
string b = "troccoli"; // D. nickFOO troccoli
mystery(a, b); // E. nick troFOOccoli
cout << a << " " << b << endl;
return 0;
}

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