Introduction

Machine Code, Assembly Code, High-level languages

Compiler & Interpreter

Compiler: Program Code -> Machine Code

• (C/C++ Compiler): Translate + Generate Executable File

Interpreter: special compiler

• Reads and executes program directly
• Do not generate executable file

C/C++ Code VS Assembly Code

Compilers

Popular C/C++ compilers:

• GCC (GNU Compiler Collection)
• MSVC (Microsoft Visual C compiler)
• Clang
• ICC (Intel C/C++ Compiler

Why C and C++?

• C is a high-level language that is closest to assembly.
• C++ "is as close to C as possible, but no closer".
• C++ is a language that
  • is a better C,
  • supports data abstraction,
  • and supports object oriented programming.
• C and C++ are popular, powerful, general-purpose and efficient, and play an essential role in areas like systems programming, game engines development, high frequency trading, ...

Standarlization of C and C++

👍 CS100 is based on C17 and C++17.

cppreference

Useful resources of C and C++

cppreference

The standard documentations are not friendly for learning:

• They aim to provide a precise definition of the language, instead of teaching the language.
• The chapters are not organized in a way suitable for learning.
• Changes between different standards are not shown in-place.

Cppreference is a complete online reference for the C and C++ languages and standard libraries.

• A more convenient and friendly version of the standards.

Class Information

Assessment

Homework 72% + Midterm Exam 22% + Quiz 4% + Recitation attendance checks 2%.

• No final exams
• No projects
• Homework assignments make up a large proportion!

Recitations

• About 15 recitations
• 2 hours every week
• Include review of important contents, some extensions, homework/quiz/exam solutions, and some coding examples.
• Attendance mandatory! ( 2 % in total)
• Videos will be available on Bilibili.

Homework assignments

• 8 homework assignments:
  • 7 %+7 %+7 %+11 %+7 %+11 %+11 %+11 %= 72% (may be adjusted)
• Submit through Online Judge!!!
  • Any other forms of submissions are not accepted, unless with special reasons.
  • For every problem, the score of the last submission will be taken as the final score.
• No plagiarism!!! The penalty will be heavy.
  • The TAs are really experienced. Don't take any chances.

Quizzes

• 1 or 2 quizzes, 4 % in total.
• During regular classes
• Time will not be announced in advance!

Midterm exam

• 22%
• Will be held in the 13^th ~ 15^th week
• Covers everything in regular classes and recitations, unless otherwise stated.
  • Ranging from the beginning to operator overloading (C++).
• Will not be too difficult. Don't worry.

Textbooks and References

Recommended textbooks:

• C++ Primer (5^th edition) (NOT C + + Primer Plus!) (based on C++11)
• Effective C++ (based on C++98), Effective Modern C++ (based on C++14)
• The C++ Programming Language (4^th edition) (based on C++11), written by Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of C++

All of the course materials conform to the C17 and C++17 standards, based on cppreference and the standard committee's papers.

Environment Setup

• VSCode + GCC (MinGW on Windows)
• Advanced tools may needed