Programming Fundamentals

Every week in COMP1511 you will need to complete "exercises" to get marks.

This is your first exercise -- exciting!

Exercises also have a "level of complexity indicator". Read the course outline for more details, but in general, the more filled in circles, the more complex the exercise.

Each week, a maximum of two marks will be available. To get full marks in the "lab exercises" component of this course, you need to get ten marks.

We expect most students will complete all the ●◌◌ and ●●◌ exercises. You can miss one week's lab, and still get full marks by completing all those exercises. Marks in ●●● exercises can make up for missed exercises elsewhere.

You are done if: you have read the above introduction.

Now it's time to create a file. We are going to use the text editor VScode.

To create a file using VScode, type:

code bad_pun.c

This will open up a graphical editor where you can manipulate text.

Here's an example of a simple C program. Copy it into the VScode window, and save it.

// A simple C program that attempts to be punny
// Written 23/2/2017
// by Angela Finlayson (angf@cse.unsw.edu.au)
// for COMP1511 Lab 01 Exercise 1

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {

    printf("Hello, it is good to C you!\n");

    return 0;
}

When you save, it will place the contents of the editor into the file bad_pun.c.

Handy Tip: On many linux systems copying can be achieved by simply highlighting with the left mouse button and pasting can be achieved by simply clicking with the middle button.

You are done if: you have copied and saved the text of bad_pun.c.

Once you have pressed save, click on the Terminal window again and type this command to compile your program:

dcc -o bad_pun bad_pun.c

The -o bad_pun option tells the compiler to give toe newly compiled program the name bad_pun.

If dcc does not print out any error messages, then your program has been successfully compiled. Otherwise you will need to find the errors in your code, fix them, save the file and compile again.

Run the program to test that it works. Type:

./bad_pun

The ./ before the program name specifies that the program is found in the current directory. Note that Unix executable (program) names do not require the .exe extension that you might have have seen under Windows.

You are done if: You have run ./bad_pun successfully.

The COMP1511 class account contains a script that automatically checks your solution to lab exercises.

While it is not important this week, let's run the autotest script so you can see what it does.

You can check bad_pun.c like this:

1511 autotest bad_pun bad_pun.c
Test 0 (./bad_pun) - passed
1 tests passed  0 tests failed

Don't worry if you fail the check and you can't see why.

There are no marks for this week's lab but practice submitting your work electronically.

You submit your work with the give command like this:

give cs1511 lab01_bad_pun bad_pun.c

You are done if: The give command says it has accepted your submission.

Copy the program about_me.c from the course account to your directory by typing (make sure you type the dot at the end):

cp ~cs1511/public_html/23T1/tlb/01/about_me.c .

The dot '.' is a shorthand for the current directory and there is a space between about_me.c and the next dot. You can check that the file has been copied by typing:

ls
bad_pun bad_pun.c about_me.c

Now try to compile about_me.c. You should see a list of confusing error messages.

dcc -o about_me about_me.c
about_me.c:2:1: error: expected identifier or '('
/ about_me.c
^
...

Your job is to first fix all the errors.

You'll need to use an editor to change the file about_me.c

Run VScode like this:

code about_me.c

When you have fixed all the errors you should be able to do this.

dcc -o about_me about_me.c
./about_me
My favourite food is: ...
I'm doing COMP1511 because: ...
I hope to have achieved: ... by the time I finish COMP1511.
Something I'm passionate about is: ...
My question about COMP1511 that hasn't been answered is: ...

Once you've fixed all the errors, you should personalise the information printed out, by replacing the ... with your responses.

(You're also welcome to add additional printf statements afterwards if you have even more to say!)

Now try the automatic checking script in the class account.

  1511 autotest about_me about_me.c
  1511 c_check about_me.c
[✓] Favourite food provided
--------------------------------------------------
[✓] COMP1511 reason provided
--------------------------------------------------
[✓] Achievment provided
--------------------------------------------------
[✓] Passion provided
--------------------------------------------------
[✓] Question provided
--------------------------------------------------
dcc -o about_me about_me.c
Test 0 (./about_me) - passed
1 tests passed 0 tests failed

Submit your work with the give command like this:

give cs1511 lab01_about_me about_me.c

You are done if: The give command says it has accepted your submission.