Lecture 2

Department of Mathematics & Computer Science

CSC2311

Computer Programming I

(C++ Programming Language)

PROGRAM SYNTAX

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PROGRAM SYNTAX
 How To Write And Run Programs

 Syntax of C++ Program

 The output operator

 Character and literals

 The input operator

 Variable and declations

 Exercise

 References

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HOW TO WRITE AND RUN PROGRAMS

A program is a sequence of instructions that can be executed by a computer. Every program is written in
some programming language.

To write and run C++ programs, you need to have a text editor and a C++ compiler installed on your
computer.

A text editor is a software system that allows you to create and edit text files on your computer.
Programmers use text editors to write programs in a programming language such as C++.

A compiler is a software system that translates programs in to a machine language (called binary code)
that the computer’s operating system can then run. That translation process is called compiling the
program. A C++ compiler compiles C++ programs in to machine language.

After successful installation, now you have a text editor for writing C++ programs and a C++ compiler for
compiling them. If you are using an IDE such as Borland C++ builder on a PC, then you can compile and
run your program by clicking on the appropriate buttons. Other system may require you to use the
command line to run your programs. In that case, you do so by entering the file name as a command.
For example, if your source code is in a file named Aminu.cpp, type: Aminu, at the command line to run
the program after it has been compiled.

When writing C++ programs, remember that, is case sensitive. That means, the main () is different from
Main (). The safest policy is to type everything in lower case except when you have compelling reasons
to capitalize some things.

PROGRAM SYNTAX
SYNTAX OF C++ PROGRAM

Consider the structure of simple C++ program below:

#include<headerfile>
return – type main( )
{
executable – statements;
}
The first line is a preprocessor directive that tells the C++ compiler where to find the definition of
objects that are used in executable statements section. The identifier headerfile is the name of a file in
the standard C++ library. The pound sign # is required to indicate that the word “include” is a
preprocessor directive; the angle brackets < > are required to indicate that the word “headerfile” is the
name of a standard C++ library file.
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The second line is also required in every C++ program; it tells where the program begins. The identifier
main is the name of a function, called main function of the program. Every C++ program must have one
and only one main function. The required parentheses that follow the word “main” indicate that it is a
function. The return – type is a keyword that indicate the type of data to be return by the main ( )
function.
The last three lines constitute the actual body of the program. A program body is a sequence of program
statements enclose in braces { }. Finally, note that every program statement must end with a
semicolon(;)

THE FIRST C++ PROGRAM

Example 1: this program simply prints “welcome to Computer Science Department”.

#include<iostream>
int main ( )
{ //prints “Welcome to Computer science Department!”
cout<< “Welcome to Computer Science Department!\n”;
}

The first line of this source code is a preprocessor directive that tells the C++ compiler where to find the
definition of the cout object that is used on the third line. The identifier iostream is the name of a file in
the standard C++ library. Every C++ program that has standard input and output must include this
preprocessor directive. The expression <iosteam> is called a standard header.
The second line is also required in every C++ program. It tells where the program begins. The identifier
main is the name of a function, called main function of the program. The keyword int is the name of the
data – type in C++. It stands for “integer”. It is used here to indicate the return – type for the main
function, when the program has finished running, it can return an integer value to the operating system
to signal some resulting status.
The program statements are enclosed in braces { }. In this example there is only one statement:

cout<< “Welcome to Computer Science Department!\n”;

It says to send the string “Welcome to Computer Science Department!\n” to the standard output stream
object cout. The symbol << represents the C++ output operator. When this statement executes, the
characters enclosed in quotation marks “ “ are sent to the standard output device which is usually the
computer screen. Finally, note that every program statement must end with a semicolon (;).
Notice how the program is formatted in two lines of source code. That formatting makes the code easier
for humans to read. The C++ compiler ignores such formatting. It reads the program the same as if it
were written all on one line, like this:
#include<iostream>
int main ( ) { cout<< “welcome to computer science department!\n”; }

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The last two characters \n represent the newline character. When the output device encounters that
character, it advances to the beginning of the nextline of the text on the screen.

Example 2: this program has same output as that in example 1 above:

#include<iostream>
int main ( )
{ //prints “Welcome to Computer Science Department!”:
cout<< “Welcome to Computer Science Department!\n”;
return 0;
}
The third line,
{//prints “Welcome to Computer Science Department!\n”;
Includes the comment “prints “Welcome to Computer Science Department!”. A comment in a program
is a string of characters that the preprocessor removes before the compiler compiles the programs. It is
included to add explanation for human readers. In C++ any text that follows the double slash symbol //,
up to the end of the line, is a comment. You can also use c – style comment like this:
{ /* prints “Welcome to Computer Science Department”*/
A C – style comment is any string of characters between the symbol/* and the symbol*/, this comment
can be over several lines.
The fifth line,
return 0;
Is optional for the main ( ) function in standard C++. We include it here only because some compilers
expect it to be included as the last line of the main function.

THE OUTPUT OPERATOR

The symbol << is called the output operator in C++. (It is also called the put operator or the stream
insertion operator.) It inserts values in to the output stream that is named on its left.
We usually use the cout output stream. This ordinarily refers to the computer screen so the statement,
cout<<43;
Would display the number 43 on the screen.
An operator is something that performs an action on one or more objects. The output operator <<
performs the action of sending the value of the expression listed on its right to the output stream listed
on its left. Since the direction of this action appears to be from right to left, the symbol was chosen to
represent it. It should remind you of an arrow pointing to the left.

The cout object is called a “stream” because output sent to it flows like a stream. If several things are
inserted in to the cout stream, they fall in line, one after the other as they dropped in to the stream, like
leaves falling from a tree in to a natural stream of water. The values that are inserted in to the cout
stream are display on the screen in that order.

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Example: 3 the program has the same output as that of example 2.

#include<iostream>
int main()
{//prints “welcome to computer science department!”
cout<<”Welcome”<< “ to”<< “ Computer Science”<<” Department!”<<endl;
}
The output operator is used five times here, dropping the four objects “Welcome”, “to”, “Computer
Science”,”Department” and endl in to the output stream. The first four strings that are concatenated
together to form single string “welcome to computer science department”, the fifth object is the string
manipulator object endl (end of line) it does the same as appending the endline character ‘\n’ to the
string itself. It sends to point cursor to the beginning of the nextline.

CHARACTERS AND LITERALS

A character is an elementary symbol used collectively to form meaningful writing. Characters are stored
in computer as integers.
The nextline character ‘\n’ is one of the nonprinting characters. It is a single character formed using the
backslash \ and the letter n. there are several other characters form this way, including the horizontal
tab character ‘\t’ and the alert character ‘\a’.

THE INPUT OPERATOR

In C++, input is almost as simple as output. The input operator >> (also called the get operator or the
extraction operator) works like the output operator <<
Example:
#include<iostream>
int main()
{ //test the input of integer, float and characters
int m, n;
cout<<”enter the two integers:”;
cin>>m>>n;
cout<<”m=”<<m<<” “<<”n=”<<n<<endl;
}

VARIABLES AND DECLARATIONS

A variable is a symbol that represents a storage location in the computer’s memory. The information
that is stored in that location is called the value of the variable. One common way for a variable to
obtain a value is by an assignment. This has the syntax
data_type var_name;
Examples: int num;
char letter;
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The data_type must be specified to inform the compiler to what kind of entity the var_name refers. The
variable name can be virtually any combination of letters, but cannot contain spaces. Legal variable
names include x, J23qrsnf, and myAge but using good names makes it easier to understand the flow of
your program. The following statement defines an integer variable called myAge
int myAge;
Then the semicolon (;) defined the end of a statement. It is possible to declare several variables in a
single declaration. For example, we can declare two integers like this:
Int x , y;

Initializing a variable

Initialization is the process of assigning value to a variable after declaration. One common way for a
variable to obtain a value is by an assignment. This has the syntax
Variable = expression;
Example1: numb=12;
letter=‘F’;
First, the expression is evaluated and then the resulting value is assigned to the variable. The equals sign
“=” is the assignment operator in C++.

Example2: in this example, the integer 32 is assigned to the variable x, and the value of the expression
x+23 is assigned to the variable y.
#include<iostream>
int main()
{ //prints “x=32 and y=55”:
int x,y;
x = 32;
cout<<”x =”<<x;
y =x+23;
cout<<”y =”<<y<<endl;
}
The output from the program is shown below
x =32 y =55
Every variable in a C++ program must be declared before it is used. The syntax is,
Specifier type name initializer;
Where specifier is an optional keyword such as const. type is one of the C++ data types such as int,
name is the name of variable, and initialization clause such as =32.

The purpose of a declaration is to introduce a name to the variable; i.e, to explain to the compiler what
the name means. The type tells the compiler what range of values the variable may have and what
operations can be perform on the variable.

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The location of declaration within the program determines the scope of the variable: the part of the
program where variable may be used. In general, the scope of the variable extends from its point of
declaration to the end of the immediate block which it is declared or which it controls.

EXERCISE

Q1. Write a program that will prints the following shape:

* *
* *
**
*
* *
* *
* *

Q2. Write a program that will prints the following shape:

* * * * * * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *

REFERENCES

Perry, G. (1992) C++ by Example, lloyed short.

Hubbard, J.R. (2000) Programming with C++, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi, India (Second Edition)

C++ for Dummies (2004), 5th Edition

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