C++ Workshop Announcement from the NYLUG and NYLXS Mailing Lists

I'm considering working the C++ program in the following manner. I want
this to be a serious endeavor with commitment to learning. I hope to
initiate the first phase over 3 months. A full blown exploration of the
standard C++ language to include syntax, namespace, the standard
libraries, compilation, datatypes, memory management, Class structure and
Object design, scope, and a run down of the standard libraries, based
largely of the classic text, C++ Primer Stanley Lippman and Josee Lajoie,
The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup, as well as some C
programming as needed for supplementation, from Kings, C Programming: A
Modern Approach. Other books are welcome for additional materials as
needed as C++ texts tend to be wonderfully short on clarity on specific
language particulars.

I'm expecting to put out lecture size workshops 2 times a week, maybe
Mondays and Thursdays. They will be posted to the NYLUG mailing list,
NYLXS mailing list (hangout), to comp.lang.C++. I'll try to cross post
to all three mediums, and I'll be putting up edited versions of
everything at http://www.nylxs.com/docs/workshops/ . Sunday nights I
hope to meet with everyone on line on IRC on Freenode, #nylug during
normal Sunday night NYLXS technite events. Finally, I hope that we can
meet every two weeks in order to work together on code and
exercises...although admittedly, getting that done once a month might be
a more doable goal. Times and Places we will discuss and work out. We
might be able to dove tail this with the NYLUG workshop if they don't
view that as an invasion.

As a roadmap, after the first three months, I hope to move into studying
serious Unix based systems libraries, such as networking libraries, file
system libraries, unix sockets, and all that wonderful stuff many of us
know nothing about. Then I hope to spend a 6 months on the Linux Kernel
and Device drivers. I know that the Kernel is largely C and not C++ but
I think we can still pull this off, and after about 6 months of this, I
hope to move on to X11 libraries, and application building. Perhaps we
can touch GTK libraries, QT libraries after the core X11 set is
explored.


Its a lot of work and it takes a serous commitment. I tried to do this
once before and it failed on its face. So I'm hoping we can start this
up again with more success.

In my mind, it is very easy to get involved in one of the advanced
scripting languages in order to have fun, and even make a few bucks, but
everything always comes back to C and C++ for the kind of advanced work
and employment that separates the unemployed from the well employed in
times of recession.

Obviously, we will be using GCC, Make, Autoconf, and Tags and personally
I'll be using VIM, and I'll discuss it much at the beginning. No editor
wars. Use whatever editor you enjoy. I don't care. Just please don't
distract the program with a parallel track of study.

So who is still game? This kind of study could cost someone 10 grand at
NYU and you might never learn as much.

Ruben

In organizing the concepts of C++ which are being introduced we can view
each of them separately, but studying them it is essential to keep in
mind that they are designed to function together in the construction of
programs which are easier to debug, which allow for cleaner overall
syntax, and which encourage creation of reusable code.

We shall explore:

Data Types (build in and user created)

Pointers and References (and their subtle deference)

Manual Memory Allocation and the 'new' and delete keywords

Class Declaration

Class Definition

Private data

Public data

Object instantiation and access, Class typedef

Class Constructors

Class Destructor

Function or Method Overloading

Operator Overloading

External extension of definitions

Copy Constructors

at the end we'll try to actually make the example class, which is an
extended array.


1) Data Types: DATA DATA DATA, everything is DATA

As we know, C and C++ have built in data type which each variable and
object the language needs to be defined as. Both C and C++ are typed
language.

We have char, int, double, float, pointer, and so on, a complete list
of which is available around the net. A pointer stores an address of
another C++ object. Different hardware and software platforms also
have different sizes that it allocates for these data types, creating an
inconsistency which, as an aside, the Free Software community has tried
to address with the creation of the glib library, part of the GTK project.

What is less apparent is that with regard to a computer, everything is
data. We have the data that we create and manipulated with instructions,
but the instructions themselves are a form data which we can package
up and save for later use, and feed to the CPU at will. When the CPU
runs out instructions the resulting actions are further instructions
that can be packaged and saved as data. In a word, everything is data,
and how we package that data is what separates one programming language
from the next.

This concept is covered extensively in NYLXS “Introduction Programming
with Perl� class and since this is an advanced topic, we won't get
much further into this. But we will review the basics of data types and
then look at the new feature that C++ gives which C didn't have in such
a generous way, the ability to easily create new data types easily and
in a reusable fashion.

An integer in the C family on the 32 bit Intel clone architecture is
defined as a marked space in memory of 32 bits in size to represent both
positive and negitive numbers. On the new 64 bit architecture that many
of you might have, I don't know if this still holds true since the word
size of a those machines is 64 bits or 8 bytes.

when you use the declaration

int a = 3456;

The computer your program sets aside 32 bits, 4 bytes, of space in ram and
puts the binary representation of that value in that space. The leftmost
bit is usually the signed bit determining whether the number represented
within is either positive or negative. A signed integer can therefor
have a maximum value of 2,147,483,647 positive or negative. beyond that
you must use a long int, which on 32 bit architecture actually won't
help you, or to use external libraries with other data types defined.

By default, C allows certain syntax with a data type. It will
automatically translate it, for example, into a char that will print
its representation for functions such as printf or in C++ the cout object:

printf (“%d\n�, myint);
cout << myint;

It can be combined with operators it can be used with the assignment
operator to fill or initialize its space with data.

int myans,myx = 6,myy =12;

It can be combined with arithmetic operators and have results assigned
accordingly.

myans = myy + myx;

Two of them can be compared.

while (myy < myx){
.... ...
}

They can be auto incremented

myy++; ++myy;

and so on....

One data type is actually a serial arraignment of data, that is an array.

int myarray[100];

This defines an array of 100 elements indexed from zero to ninety-nine.

myy = myarray[4];

assigns the fifth element of our array to our integer variable myy.
One thing you can not do with an array data type is use an assignment
operator on the entire array object.







myarray[] = myarray2[]; //THIS IS AN ERROR

C++ allows up to define our own data types that have all the properties
of the built in ones. It uses the class mechanize, operator overloading,
and the “new� keyword to accomplish this.


2) Pointers and References – Where did I PUT THAT!

When we create data for our program, we ask the program to insert memory
into RAM and to retrieve or assign the data from that memory location
for use. Internally the program keeps track of the symbols and the
memory locations. In fact is you run the program “nm� on a C or C++
binary it will tell you all the symbols that it has in that binary.

ruben@www2:~/cplus> nm file3|less

0804a210 A __bss_start
08048a84 t call_gmon_start
0804a29c b completed.1
0804a0bc d __CTOR_END__
0804a0b4 d __CTOR_LIST__
U __cxa_atexit@@GLIBC_2.1.3
0804a204 D __data_start
0804a204 W data_start
08048ed0 t __do_global_ctors_aux
08048ab0 t __do_global_dtors_aux
0804a208 D __dso_handle
.......


But we can also create memory locations that are assignable, and store
a representation of that memory location directly into a variable that
only stores the memory location as data, not the data itself. In c
and C++ this is called pointers and we can use the following syntax to
create them.

int *pt = &myint;

This declares the pointer to an int variable called pt which stores the
address for myint. The syntax int * in a declaration (and ONLY in a
declaration) says make a pointer to an int. The & syntax in front of a
variable myint says don't return the value of the variable, but return
the address of the data stored in the variable itself.

There are functions that return only pointer data. Those functions make
it possible to access memory without the declaration of variables at all.
There are also declarations that can be made in C and C++ which can
create variables without variable names either.

int (*pt)[10];

This declares a pointer (pt) to an array of 10 integers.

char (*p)[10][100]

This is a pointer which addresses an array of 10 pointers (implied)
to arrays of 100 chars each. Commonly this is know as a point to an
array of 10 strings. The symbolic variable name for an array often
gets automatically cast as a point type.

Most string functions in C return a char pointer for example

char * strtok(char *s1, const char *s2);

This would return an address of a char, which in theory would represent
an array of chars. In use it would look like this


char * spt; char wd1[100] = 'hello world', wd2[100] = ' ';

spt = strtok(wd1,wd2); printf(“%s\n�, spt);





Manual Memory Allocation and the 'new' and delete keywords

C++ makes it very convent to create dynamically allocated memory which
is accessed by pointers. We might call these anonymous pointers because
they do not point to any variables, just defined memory. We do this
with the key word “new�.

int *pt = new int(124);

This creates a new int pointer called pt and assigns to the memory
pointed to by pt with the integer value 124.

delete pt;

deletes the anonymous pointer pt.

int *pt = new int[100];

This declaration creates a new int pointer to an array of 100 integers,
with no data assigned yet to that block of memory.

delete [] pt;

deletes the entire array pointed to by pt and then undefines pt.



Ruben
--
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software

C++ Syntax

Before exploring how we actually represent data in our C++ programs, I
want to introduce a formal discussion of basic C++ syntax, which, like
data types, doesn't get enough attention in most standardized texts.

All programming languages require syntax rules in order for the
compilers, to parse and create working machine code. These syntax rules
require basic understanding of core components. These components include
files, structure, statements, data and operators.

Starting from the top, first you have files, and files usually have naming
rules. C++ inherits from C nearly all the file structures, and actually
requires a greater knowledge in more detail and at an earlier level of
expertise. C++, because of its object oriented design depends heavely on
library creation. In fact, even for beginners, most of your work happens
on the library level.

All C programs inherit from the Unix enviroment, which co-developed with
C, the need for an initiation of the main function definition. All C
programs start with main, and main will then absorb and use all other
parts of the systems libraries and programming to produce your completed
program. Main is located in your upper most programming file.

Standard Programming Files: A standard programming file is when the top
most programming will take place. In the C language, most of your code,
espeically as a beginner takes place in this file. Most commonly these
files have a suffix of either .cc oro .C. file.C for example is a
standard C++ File name.

A standard programming file will have several components:

1) Include Prepocessor Directives - These import header files and define
the definitions of the symbols which your not spontaneously creating,
that your program will use.

And include directive might look like this:

#include <iostream>

Which tells the compiler to load up the defintions of all the functions
and objects defined in the iostream library.

Standard C++ libraries are included using the angle blacket notions as
above.They are search for by your compiler in a set of standard locations
which are defined by your compiler and programming enviroment (something
I wouldn't mind understanding better on modern Linux and GNU enviroments).

If you use the syntax

#include "myheader"

with double quotes, the compiler will look for these headers in the local
directory.

C libraries are accessable in C++ and can either have a standard C
language notion

#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>
***Note the .h suffix being included***
or use the C++ version

#include <casset>
#include <cstdio>


2) Macro and other Prepocessor Compiler Directives - Help set up
conditions in which libraries and header files are brought into your
program to help prevent duplication and to create different versions of
a program as might be needed for differing architecture or conditions.

The list of Preprocessor Directives are as follows:
#define
#endif
#ifdef
#ifndef
#include (as discussed above)

A Macro directive might look like this:

#ifndef HEAD
#define HEAD
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

#endif

Development of skills using these directives, which is a language in a
language,is one of the skills that advanced C and C++ coders have that
separate them from amateurs.


This Macro is telling the compiler to include the libraries and symbols
for iostream and string from the core C++ library if and ONLY IF, the
symbol
HEAD, in the compiler instructions, haven't been already defined.

There are also constants that your program has which the compiler adds
to your code which include

__cplusplus
__DATE__
__FILE__
__LINE__
__STDC__
__TIME__

__DATE__ and __TIME__ are the date and time the program is compiled.



3) Original Code and runtime directives starting with main.

C++ has added a new programming directive called the "using" directive
which is used to create namespace. Namespace gives a finer grain control
of which symbols your code recognizes in a specified space. Its really
important and in many ways was a long time coming to the C family of
languages. Most importantly it prevents you from accidentally stepping on
library symbols or words that you might not have been aware of or that
programmers after you might not be aware of. It also allows to define
the same symbol in multiple locations of your code without stepping on
your own toes.

So todays modern C++ main program files might look something look
something
like this:
#ifndef TOP_H
#include <iostream>
#define TOP_H
#endif

#ifndef INTARRAY_H
#include "intarray.h"
#define INTARRAY_H
#endif

using namespace std;
int main( int argc, const char* argv[] )
{
//YOUR PROGRAMMIGN CODE
}


There is a catch to the namespace usage though. It might very well be
that your library files, especially if you are creating them yourself,
which you will in C++, have the using directive. If so, you will likely
depend on them.

Header Files:
Header files normally have a .h suffix. file1.h would be an exampe of a
header file for C or C++. These are the files that are being included in
you
#include preprocessor directive.

On Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:10:57 +0000, Ruben Safir wrote:


> There is a catch to the namespace usage though. It might very well be
> that your library files, especially if you are creating them yourself,
> which you will in C++, have the using directive. If so, you will likely
> depend on them.
>
> Header Files:
> Header files normally have a .h suffix. file1.h would be an exampe of a
> header file for C or C++. These are the files that are being included
> in you
> #include preprocessor directive.
>
>

3) Original Code and runtime directives starting with main.

C++ has added a new programming directive called the "using" directive
which is used to create namespace. Namespace gives a finer grain
control of which symbols your code recognizes in a specified space.
Its really important and in many ways was a long time coming to the C
family of languages. Most importantly it prevents you from accidently
stepping on library symbols or words that you might not have been aware
of or that programmers after you might not be aware of. It also allows
to define the same symbol in multiple locations of your code without
stepping on your own toes.

So todays modern C++ main program files might look something look
something like this: #ifndef TOP_H #include <iostream> #define TOP_H
#endif

#ifndef INTARRAY_H
#include "intarray.h"
#define INTARRAY_H
#endif

using namespace std;
int main( int argc, const char* argv[] )
{ //YOUR PROGRAMMING CODE
}


There is a catch to the namespace usage though. It might very well be
that your library files, especially if you are creating them yourself,
which you will in C++, have the using directive. If so, you will likely
depend on them.

Header Files: Header files normally have a .h suffix. file1.h would
be an exampe of a header file for C or C++. These are the files that
are being included in you #include preprocessor directive. These files
are often distributed with a program and you can examine them. They are
useful for discovering the definitions of programing objects in libraries
are used and often programmers will point them out to you as a form of
documentation, which itself is a practice I'm not happy about because
many programmers mistake them as a sunstitute for real documentation.


Library Files: After researching this, it has occured to me that there
is an abiguity about the structure of C and C++ Programming files.
Professional programs generally have header files that are described
above, but don't have a proper name for the coding files that associate
with the headers and which produce object binary files and static or
linked libraries. For a beginner this is all confusing and the lack of
proper nomenclature makes this all the more harder to learn. I little
bit of compiler theory is needed to understand the files structure
and binary construction of your program. For now, I just want to
point out that programming objects defined in your header file for use
in your programming has to have source code to produce the actually
machine code that is represented by the symbols in your header file.
Those library source files will not have the main function. But the
compiler can be asked to create what is called object files, which are
partially processed C binary code for later inclusion in your program.
When we look closer at the gcc compiler we will examine these object
files and learn why they are so important.

What is important to say, however, is that in C++, because of its
object orientation and its emphasis on creating Application Programming
Interfaces (API), most of the C++ coding you will do is taking place in
these library C++ source files (which I will refere to as Library Code
from here on out).

There are two kinds of Library code files that you will work with,
that which you create, and that which you borrow from your system for
inclusion in your programs.

User defined:

User defined library files define the code to create working programming
objects that are normally declared in your matching header files.
These programming source code files look just like your main programming
file except they don't have the main function. Your top most main
programming file is dependent on these library code files. The code
they produce has to be linked into your program by your compiler.


Standard C++ or Packaged third party: These are the standard libraries,
either in source or in object files, that define standard language needs
and are usually found somewhere in /lib or /usr/lib on your system.

Standard C++ File Creation:

All our C++ programs has to be created in with a standard text editor.
The code that the compiler works on, also known as translation units for
the compiler at straight ASCII text. You can NOT use a word processor.
My prefered text editor is VIM or GVIM, which is a derivitive of VI.
VI is the standard text editor on Unix like systems and there are many
tutorials for it around the internet. Other editors include EMACS, and
then there are C++ working environments like Anjuta, which I strongly
discourage. I discourage the Programming Integrated Programming
enviroments because with GNU and Unix like systems, your OS is your
integrated enviroment, and I believe one should learn to use the standard
tools that are on your GNU/Linux system.

A standard C++ file needs to have at least one function defined.
We will look at functions (also called methods, more closely later,
but a new programmer should get use to looking at them from the start,
since everything in C++ is encapsulated in a function called main.
Functions are defined by following structure


"return type" "function name (the symbol)" ( Arguement list) {

Statements that end in semi-colon;

}

Functions do not that semi-colons after the closing curly brace.

The main function looks like this

int main(int argc, char * argv[]){
return 0;
}


A realistic C++ main program file, including prepocessor directives
would look as follows


#include <iostream> using namespace std;


int main(int argc, char * argv[]){

return 0;
}



The curly braces forms a block in which the coder can add really as
many instructions as they choose to. These blocks of statements are
seen in many C++ syntax structures including functions, if statements,
for loops and other structures. While the above is a minimal C++ source
file structure, generally most of the heavey lifting of your code takes
place outside of main in user defined functions which you create, as
well as objects. A more realistic first program skeletan might well
look something like this:


#include <iostream> using namespace std;

void oxygen(){ cout << "oxygen()\n";}
void hydrogen(){ cout << "hydrogen()\n";}
void helium(){ cout << "helium()\n";}
void neon(){ cout << "neon()\n";}

int main(int argc, char * argv[]){
oxygen();
hydrogen();
helium();
neon();

return 0;
}



Here we can see the declaring and defining for 4 user defined functions
that are outside of our program, and get instantated only when called.
the for functions are called read, sort, compact and write.

And notice that we are using the standard namespace called std.

On 31 jan, 02:46, Ruben Safir <ru...@mrbrklyn.com> wrote:
> I'm considering working the C++ program in the following manner. *I want
> this to be a serious endeavor with commitment to learning.

Given the number of errors you teach, it is not really a gift you are
making.

[snip]
> I'm expecting to put out lecture size workshops 2 times a week, maybe
> Mondays and Thursdays. *They will be posted to the NYLUG mailing list,
> NYLXS mailing list (hangout), to comp.lang.C++. *I'll try to cross post
> to all three mediums,

Please, don't. This is as bad as spam.

[snip]

--
Michael

Statement Structure:


All C and C++ statements (although not all syntax) ends with a semi-colon.
You can even put two semi-colons on a single line, seperated by a
semicolon, but in general this isn't recommend.

Statements are constructed with Data, Operators and Keywords. C++ has
an exented set of Keywords than C.


Keywords:

Keywords are any symbols that the Standard C++ recognizes as having
instructional meaning, that is the tell the compiler to do something.
The Key Words in C++ are as follows, and learning the exact meaning of
all the keywords is essential to learning C++.

These are inhereted from C:

auto const double float int short struct unsigned
break continue else for long signed switch void
case default enum goto register sizeof typedef volatile
char do extern if return static union while


These are the extended set added to C++

asm dynamic_cast namespace reinterpret_cast try
bool explicit new static_cast typeid
catch false operator template typename
class friend private this using
const_cast inline public throw virtual
delete mutable protected true wchar_t

and most C++ Compilers also recognize the follow Keywords

and bitand compl not_eq or_eq xor_eq
and_eq bitor not or xor


Keywords are completely reserved and can not be used as symbols by any
user defined variables in your program. They are exclusive to the
language and compilers.

There are other important predefined symbols that C++ uses as well.
These are not strictly exclusive to the Language, however, overloading
them or using them as symbols for variables is a very bad idea.

There is a lot of them, but some of them might include

cin
endl
INT_MIN
iomanip
main
npos
std
cout
include
INT_MAX
iostream
MAX_RAND
NULL
string
not to mention the Macros like __DATE__ and __TIME__



Operators:

Operators, are very much like functions or methods in that they define
processes, taking in arguments and returning outputs (and having side
affects). In the C Language, Operators are immutable. You can't change
their meaning. In C++ many of them can be overloaded, that is that you
can create, and change their meaning. A lot of C++ study involves
discussing the overloading of Operators.

All Operators, as they do in Mathematics, have precedence and
associativity. For example, in arithmetic:

4 x 3 - 10 = 22

and not -28 or 2. That is because multiplication has a higher
precedence that subtraction and the associativity is left to right. A
complete list of C++ operators is considerable and as follows:

┌───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¬â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¬â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”�
│ Operator │ Type │ Associativity │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ :: │ binary scope resolution │ │
│ :: │ unary scope resolution │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ () │ parentheses │ │
│ [] │ array subscript │ │
│ . │ member selection via object │ │
│ -> │ member selection via pointer │ left to right │
│ ++ │ unary postincrement │ │
│ -- │ unary postdecrement │ │
│ typeid │ run-time type information │ │
│ dynamic_cast< type > │ run-time type-checked cast │ │
│ static_cast │ compile-time type-checked cast │ │
│ reinterpret_cast │ cast for non-standard conversions │ │
│ const_cast │ cast away const-ness │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ ++ │ unary preincrement │ │
│ -- │ unary predecrement │ │
│ + │ unary plus │ │
│ - │ unary minus │ │
│ ! │ unary logical negation │ │
│ ~ │ unary bitwise complement │ │
│ ( type ) │ C-style unary cast │ right to left │
│ sizeof │ determine size in bytes │ │
│ & │ address │ │
│ * │ dereference │ │
│ new │ dynamic memory allocation │ │
│ new[] │ dynamic array allocation │ │
│ delete │ dynamic memory deallocation │ │
│ delete[] │ dynamic array deallocation │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ .* │ pointer to member via object │ │
│ ->* │ pointer to member via pointer │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ * │ multiplication │ │
│ / │ division │ │
│ % │ modulus │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ + │ addition │ │
│ - │ subtraction │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ << │ bitwise left shift │ │
│ >> │ bitwise right shift │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ < │ relational less than │ │
│ <= │ relational less than or equal to │ left to right │
│ > │ relational greater than │ │
│ >= │ relational greater than or equal to │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ == │ relational is equal to │ │
│ != │ relational is not equal to │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ & │ bitwise AND │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ ^ │ bitwise exclusive OR │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ | │ bitwise inclusive OR │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ && │ logical AND │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ || │ logical OR │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ ?: │ ternary conditional │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ = │ assignment │ │
│ += │ addition assignment │ │
│ -= │ subtraction assignment │ │
│ *= │ multiplication assignment │ │
│ /= │ division assignment │ right to left │
│ %= │ modulus assignment │ │
│ &= │ bitwise AND assignment │ │
│ ^= │ bitwise exclusive OR assignment │ │
│ |= │ bitwise inclusive OR assignment │ │
│ >>= │ bitwise left shift assignment │ │
│ <<= │ bitwise right shift with assignment │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ , │ comma │ left to right │
└───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”´â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”´â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”˜


We will walk through this complete list of operators later.

Statement Structure:


All C and C++ statements (although not all syntax) ends with a semi-colon.
You can even put two semi-colons on a single line, seperated by a
semicolon, but in general this isn't recommend.

Statements are constructed with Data, Operators and Keywords. C++ has
an exented set of Keywords than C.


Keywords:

Keywords are any symbols that the Standard C++ recognizes as having
instructional meaning, that is the tell the compiler to do something.
The Key Words in C++ are as follows, and learning the exact meaning of
all the keywords is essential to learning C++.

These are inhereted from C:

auto const double float int short struct unsigned
break continue else for long signed switch void
case default enum goto register sizeof typedef volatile
char do extern if return static union while


These are the extended set added to C++

asm dynamic_cast namespace reinterpret_cast try
bool explicit new static_cast typeid
catch false operator template typename
class friend private this using
const_cast inline public throw virtual
delete mutable protected true wchar_t

and most C++ Compilers also recognize the follow Keywords

and bitand compl not_eq or_eq xor_eq
and_eq bitor not or xor


Keywords are completely reserved and can not be used as symbols by any
user defined variables in your program. They are exclusive to the
language and compilers.

There are other important predefined symbols that C++ uses as well.
These are not strictly exclusive to the Language, however, overloading
them or using them as symbols for variables is a very bad idea.

There is a lot of them, but some of them might include

cin
endl
INT_MIN
iomanip
main
npos
std
cout
include
INT_MAX
iostream
MAX_RAND
NULL
string
not to mention the Macros like __DATE__ and __TIME__



Operators:

Operators, are very much like functions or methods in that they define
processes, taking in arguments and returning outputs (and having side
affects). In the C Language, Operators are immutable. You can't change
their meaning. In C++ many of them can be overloaded, that is that you
can create, and change their meaning. A lot of C++ study involves
discussing the overloading of Operators.

All Operators, as they do in Mathematics, have precedence and
associativity. For example, in arithmetic:

4 x 3 - 10 = 22

and not -28 or 2. That is because multiplication has a higher
precedence that subtraction and the associativity is left to right. A
complete list of C++ operators is considerable and as follows:

┌───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¬â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¬â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”�
│ Operator │ Type │ Associativity │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ :: │ binary scope resolution │ │
│ :: │ unary scope resolution │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ () │ parentheses │ │
│ [] │ array subscript │ │
│ . │ member selection via object │ │
│ -> │ member selection via pointer │ left to right │
│ ++ │ unary postincrement │ │
│ -- │ unary postdecrement │ │
│ typeid │ run-time type information │ │
│ dynamic_cast< type > │ run-time type-checked cast │ │
│ static_cast │ compile-time type-checked cast │ │
│ reinterpret_cast │ cast for non-standard conversions │ │
│ const_cast │ cast away const-ness │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ ++ │ unary preincrement │ │
│ -- │ unary predecrement │ │
│ + │ unary plus │ │
│ - │ unary minus │ │
│ ! │ unary logical negation │ │
│ ~ │ unary bitwise complement │ │
│ ( type ) │ C-style unary cast │ right to left │
│ sizeof │ determine size in bytes │ │
│ & │ address │ │
│ * │ dereference │ │
│ new │ dynamic memory allocation │ │
│ new[] │ dynamic array allocation │ │
│ delete │ dynamic memory deallocation │ │
│ delete[] │ dynamic array deallocation │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ .* │ pointer to member via object │ │
│ ->* │ pointer to member via pointer │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ * │ multiplication │ │
│ / │ division │ │
│ % │ modulus │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ + │ addition │ │
│ - │ subtraction │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ << │ bitwise left shift │ │
│ >> │ bitwise right shift │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ < │ relational less than │ │
│ <= │ relational less than or equal to │ left to right │
│ > │ relational greater than │ │
│ >= │ relational greater than or equal to │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ == │ relational is equal to │ │
│ != │ relational is not equal to │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ & │ bitwise AND │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ ^ │ bitwise exclusive OR │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ | │ bitwise inclusive OR │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ && │ logical AND │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ || │ logical OR │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ ?: │ ternary conditional │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¤ │
│ = │ assignment │ │
│ += │ addition assignment │ │
│ -= │ subtraction assignment │ │
│ *= │ multiplication assignment │ │
│ /= │ division assignment │ right to left │
│ %= │ modulus assignment │ │
│ &= │ bitwise AND assignment │ │
│ ^= │ bitwise exclusive OR assignment │ │
│ |= │ bitwise inclusive OR assignment │ │
│ >>= │ bitwise left shift assignment │ │
│ <<= │ bitwise right shift with assignment │ │
├───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”¼â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”¤
│ , │ comma │ left to right │
└───────────────┠€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”´â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€ ────────────────┠€â”´â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â”€â ”€â”˜


We will walk through this complete list of operators later.

On Feb 2, 11:07*pm, Ruben Safir <ru...@mrbrklyn.com> wrote:
> Integer data types can be defined as extended types with different sizes
> as follows:
>
> short int: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -32,768 - 32768
> unsigned short int: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *0 - 65535
> int * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -2,147,483.648 - 2,147,483,648
> unsigned int * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 0 - 4,294,967,295
> long int * * * * * * * * * * * * *-2,147,483.648 - 2,147,483,648
> unsigned long int * * * * * * * * * * * * * **0 - 4,294,967,295
>
> These numbers are byte sizes (65535 is the largest number representable
> in 4 bytes).

Are you in the process of learning this stuff yourself, or is this a
rough draft you expect us to help you to correct? Knowing how many
bits are in things like a byte and how binary numbers are represents
in computers is pretty basic programming knowledge. Are those numbers
really the ones that are given in the book? From inspection and
without working out what 2^31 or 2^32 actually is I can see that the
signed ranges are all wrong for 16 and 32 bits.

65535 is the largest number representable in 2 bytes (16 bits, and
65535 is 2^16-1 so 16 bit number can store from 0 to 65535 which is
65536 numbers which 2^16) using an unsigned integral type. Which of
the unsigned integer types is 2 bytes is implementation defined, and
in fact there is no requirement that one even be present.

> Computers has a special chip to work with factional numbers in decimal
> notation (not an easy piece of engineering IMO)

Presumably you mean binary notation here? And not all computers have
an FPU. Floating numbers and fractional numbers aren't really the same
thing at all either.

> float * * * * * * * *1.17 x 10^-39 - 3.40x10^38 and 6 digit precision
> double * * * * * * * 2.22 x10^-308 - 1.19x10^308 and 15 digit precision
> long double * * * * *very hardware specific
>
> As I understand it, the numbers are actually stored in scientific
> notation

You should probably actually know and understand this if you plan on
teaching it.

> C++ adds one additional data type calls a Boolean type to store true or
> false. *In C (and in C++), processes that need to test for a true or
> false view 0 as false and anything else as true. *But there are issues
> with that. *int's are 4 bytes and signed, chars can actually be singed
> and unsigned as well....so C++ adds
>
> bool * * * * * * *true or false
>
> which is really like some kind of enum operator (which hasn't been
> introduced).

Ummm.... no comment


I've not read the rest of it, but if this part is any guide it looks
like it still needs a lot of work to get it into any sort of shape
where it will be a good resource for other people to learn from.

As it stands I'm sure you will learn a lot in getting this stuff
correct and to a standard where other people can make use of it.


K

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:22:22 -0800, Kirit Sælensminde wrote:


> Are you in the process of learning this stuff yourself, or is this a
> rough draft you expect us to help you to correct? Knowing how many bits
> are in things like a byte and how binary numbers are represents in
> computers is pretty basic programming knowledge.

Not for beginners. For beginners it is a complete mystery, especially in
adult education.

> Are those numbers
> really the ones that are given in the book? From inspection and without
> working out what 2^31 or 2^32 actually is I can see that the signed
> ranges are all wrong for 16 and 32 bits.


That is from King, C Programming: A Modern Approach ISBN 0393969452
page 111, one of about 8 resources I'm using.

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:22:22 -0800, Kirit Sælensminde wrote:


>> Computers has a special chip to work with factional numbers in decimal
>> notation (not an easy piece of engineering IMO)
>
> Presumably you mean binary notation here? And not all computers have an
> FPU. Floating numbers and fractional numbers aren't really the same
> thing at all either.


BTW - I couldn't find much with regard to understandable information on
float point processors around. I know that in the old days hackers
literally ripped them out of calculators and installed them on main
boards. There is an IEEE Floating Point standard which I did some
searching on but I couldn't find at least one resource I was looking for
by David Goldberg. As I understand the representation, the exponent by
the standard for single precision is 8 bits long and the fraction
occupies 23 bits. But my general understanding of floating points
representation isn't as clear as I'd like and if you have a reference for
more background I'd be interested in reading it.

Ruben

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:22:22 -0800, Kirit Sælensminde wrote:

> As it stands I'm sure you will learn a lot in getting this stuff correct
> and to a standard where other people can make use of it.

Its really an informal workshop, but I am trying to edit it to be a more
permanent reference and constructive criticism, and even nonconstructive
criticism is read and reviewed.

FWIW, I'm really unhappy with the level of education on Programming in
the University level and otherwise. What my kids learn is really useless
and the students I've had are not being given a broad enough
understanding of programming and Comp Sci. I can tell you some stories,
but I'm sure everyone has run into this. I'm hoping to just try to work
with people to hammer out a better overall learning construction and to
help a few people along the way.

Ruben

On 11 fév, 17:30, Ruben Safir <ru...@mrbrklyn.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:22:22 -0800, Kirit Sælensminde wrote:
> > Are you in the process of learning this stuff yourself, or is this a
> > rough draft you expect us to help you to correct? Knowing how many bits
> > are in things like a byte and how binary numbers are represents in
> > computers is pretty basic programming knowledge.
>
> Not for beginners. *For beginners it is a complete mystery, especially in
> adult education.
>
> > Are those numbers
> > really the ones that are given in the book? From inspection and without
> > working out what 2^31 or 2^32 actually is I can see that the signed
> > ranges are all wrong for 16 and 32 bits.
>
> That is from King, C Programming: A Modern Approach ISBN 0393969452
> page 111, one of about 8 resources I'm using.

From which source did you get ?
<quote - your post 08 Feb 2010>
C++ has added a new programming directive called the "using" directive
which is used to create namespace.[..]
</quote>

--
Michael

Ruben Safir <ruben@mrbrklyn.com> wrote in
news:hl1bp8$mv0$5@reader2.panix.com:

> As I understand the representation, the
> exponent by the standard for single precision is 8 bits long and the
> fraction occupies 23 bits. But my general understanding of floating
> points representation isn't as clear as I'd like and if you have a
> reference for more background I'd be interested in reading it.


http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wikipedia+floating+point&l=1

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:44:39 -0800, Michael Doubez wrote:

> On 11 fév, 17:30, Ruben Safir <ru...@mrbrklyn.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:22:22 -0800, Kirit Sælensminde wrote:
>> > Are you in the process of learning this stuff yourself, or is this a
>> > rough draft you expect us to help you to correct? Knowing how many
>> > bits are in things like a byte and how binary numbers are represents
>> > in computers is pretty basic programming knowledge.
>>
>> Not for beginners. Â*For beginners it is a complete mystery, especially
>> in adult education.
>>
>> > Are those numbers
>> > really the ones that are given in the book? From inspection and
>> > without working out what 2^31 or 2^32 actually is I can see that the
>> > signed ranges are all wrong for 16 and 32 bits.
>>
>> That is from King, C Programming: A Modern Approach ISBN 0393969452
>> page 111, one of about 8 resources I'm using.
>
> From which source did you get ?
> <quote - your post 08 Feb 2010>
> C++ has added a new programming directive called the "using" directive
> which is used to create namespace.[..] </quote>

Lippman, Lajoie: C++ Primer 437-440 ISBN 0201824701

Would you like a complete bibiography? I was thinking of writing one up
anyway.

Ruben

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:40:41 -0600, Paavo Helde wrote:

> Ruben Safir <ruben@mrbrklyn.com> wrote in
> news:hl1bp8$mv0$5@reader2.panix.com:
>
>> As I understand the representation, the exponent by the standard for
>> single precision is 8 bits long and the fraction occupies 23 bits. But
>> my general understanding of floating points representation isn't as
>> clear as I'd like and if you have a reference for more background I'd
>> be interested in reading it.
>
>
> http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wikipedia+floating+point&l=1

Thanks. I was looking for something more credible at this point than
wikipedia. Just my own opinion, but I really really finished with
Wikipedia.

Ruben