A preliminary study guide for the CISC181h final,
Fall 2005.

(Finalized on Wednesday)

(1) First, make sure you understand the programming projects.

    I may ask some questions about those.


(2) Pass by reference, 
    pass by value, 
    "simulated pass by reference" using pointers (C style pass by reference)

(3) Functions:

    formal vs. actual parameters
    function call, prototype, definition

(4) Arrays:

    know that arrays are always passed by reference
    the name of the array is a pointer to the 0th element

    you can put [] in a function prototype or definition, but
    NOT in a function call,

    e.g. 

      void sortArray(int array[], int count); // good
      ...
      cout << "I'm about to sort" << endl;
      sortArray(array[], count); // BAD BAD BAD

      it should be:

      cout << "I'm about to sort" << endl;
      sortArray(array, count); // good


(5) Pointers:

     know how to use pointers with regular types such as int
     as well as with structs and objects of classes

     i.e. know that   (*a).b   is equivalent to a->b


(6) Unix commands:

   Know that .. means "parent directory"
   Know that . means "current directory"
   Know that * is a wildcard that matches any character
   Know that ~/ means "MY" home directory
    but ~jsmith/ means jsmith's home directory

Know these commands at least:

   cp 
   mv 
   ls 
   ls -l
   rm
   pwd
   cd
   mkdir
   rmdir        
   chmod mode file
   chmod -R mode file 
     know the symbolic modes such as a+rx
     as well as the numeric such as 755
   rm -rf foo   (dangerous!!! but effective when rmdir says "dir not empty")
                   -r means recursive (remove all files under this directory)
                   -f means "force it"... even if file permissions would
                         deny you access
   
   man 




(7) Know preprocessor vs. compiling phase vs. linking phase


 "Undefined symbol" errors come from the linker and 
   mean you have a function call with no matching function definition
 The linker errors refer only to the .o file in which the function
 call appears, with no line number.


 (Missing function prototypes give you "undefined"
  at the compiling phase with a line number)


(8) Know how to declare a class definition for a simple class
    with public member functions and private data members.

basic functions
   constructor
   setters and getters
   print function

advanced functions

   copy constructor
   overloaded = operator
   destructor   

remember the ; at the end!

(9) Know how to set up a .h file with 
    #ifndef FOO_H
    #define FOO_H
    
    ...

    #endif

(10) Review your binary, decimal, hex, octal


http://copland.udel.edu/~pconrad/cisc105/05F/examInfo/E03_practiceQuiz/quiz2.html

(11) Makefiles


Know how to write a basic makefile to compile a simple program
e.g. a main program that uses a class and so has to be linked together
with that class's member functions.

Know how to interpret the rules in a simple makefile

Know how to change the C++ compiler from g++ to CC

(12) Know the steps for dealing with a seg fault:


unlimit core
compile with -g file
re-run the program to make a "Segmentation Fault (core dumped)" message
dbx a.out core


(Use gdb instead of dbx if compiling with g++)
(Use ./myprog instead of ./a.out if your binary is called ./myprog)

When done, remove the core file, since it will take up lots of disk space.


(13) Practice some "what is the output" type of questions....
I'll try to put some up on line by Wednesday for you to practice from.


(14) Review sorting...     

Sorting in ascending (descending) order:

for (i = n down to 2)
{
  find the largest (smallest) in 1 elements 
  put that at the end of the array (i.e. in position i - 1
}

Remember that if you are sorting parallel arrays,
you have to swap both arrays

If you are sorting an array of structs, you need to swap
all the fields

If you are sorting an array of pointers, you can just
swap the pointers.