Advanced Programming Techniques

Offered during Fall and Spring Semesters each year.

1. Credits and contact hours: 3 credits, 3 contact hours
2. Instructor’s or course coordinator’s name: James Lathrop
3. Text book, title, author, and year: None required
4. Other supplemental materials: The C++ Programming Language, Bjarne Stroustrup; The C++ Standard Library, Nicolai M. Josuttis; The C Programming Language, Kernighan and Ritchie

Specific course information

1. Brief description of the content of the course: Object-oriented programming experience using a language suitable for exploring advanced topics in programming. Topics include memory management, parameter passing, inheritance, compiling, debugging, and maintaining programs. Significant programming projects.
2. Prerequisites or co-requisites: Minimum of C- in COM S 228 and MATH 165
3. Required, elective, or selected elective? Required

Specific goals for the course

1. Specific outcomes of instruction: By the end of the course students should...

• Be able to produce efficient and correct C/C++ programs of significant lengths from specifications.
• Be able to understand and use advanced C/C++ features in software development and maintenance. (1)
• Be able to write and debug large C/C++ programs based on English description or pseudo code. (2)

Brief list of topics to be covered

• Unix
• Comparison of C/C++ with Java
• Stages of the compiler, source code organization
• Using libraries
• Writing header and make files
• Types, operators
• Local and Global variables
• Type modifiers
• File input/output
• Project 1
• Pointers and Arrays
• C structs, functions, prototypes
• Parameter passing by value and by reference
• Strings
• Memory management with malloc, realloc, free
• Debugging with Valgrind and gdb
• Preprocessor
• C++ references and consts
• C++ inline functions and overloading
• C++ classes
• Namespaces
• Project 2
• C++ exception handling
• Inheritance and polymorphism in C++
• C++ templates
• Memory management
• C++ standard template library