Course Description
This course provides an introduction to computing science and programming, and is intended for students with little or no programming background. Students will learn how to analyze problems and design algorithms as well as implement their solutions using a high-level programming language such as C++. Topics include structured programming fundamentals, control structures, procedural programming, recursion, arrays, basic sorting and searching algorithms, strings, pointers, dynamic memory allocation, files, and exceptions.
Course Content
- Introduction to computing systems and programming
- Hardware and software
- Programming languages, compilers, and interpreters
- Introduction to pseudocode and flowcharts
- Programming errors and code debugging
- Integrated Development Environments
- Programming fundamentals
- Basic data encoding and numeral systems including binary, octal, and hexadecimal systems
- Primitive data types
- Variables, literals, constants, and identifier naming conventions
- Assignment operator
- Console I/O and output formatting
- Expressions and arithmetic operators
- Static type casting
- Comments and code documentation
- Conditional and iterative constructs
- Decision-making structures
- Relational and logical operators
- Repetition structures and loop design strategies
- Nested constructs
- Procedural programming and functions
- Problem solving and code modularization
- Defining and calling a function
- Local, global, and static local variables
- Reference and constant reference variables
- Passing parameters by value and by reference
- Default arguments
- Inline functions
- Function overloading
- Recursive functions
- Standard library functions including mathematical functions and random number generators
- Arrays, C-strings, and string objects
- Array basics
- Arrays and static memory allocation
- Passing and returning arrays to/from functions
- Multi-dimensional arrays
- Arrays of characters and C-strings
- String objects and character manipulation library functions
- Introduction to algorithm efficiency analysis and basic sorting and searching algorithms
- Bubble sort
- Selection sort
- Linear search
- Binary search
- Structured data
- Using structures to create records of data
- Arrays of structures
- Passing and returning structures to/from functions
- Pointers and dynamic memory management
- Pointer basics
- Constant pointers and pointers to constant data
- Arrays of pointers
- Pointers as function parameters and return values
- Dynamic memory allocation
- File input and output
- Basic file operations: reading from, writing and appending to text files
- Sequential file processing using loops
- Exceptions
- Throwing an exception
- Exception propagation
- Rethrowing exceptions
- Catching and handling exceptions
Learning Activities
Lectures, labs, and self-directed learning (programming assignments)
Means of Assessment
Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. The instructor will present a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria at the beginning of the semester. Evaluation will be based on the following:
|
Labs
|
10% - 20% |
| Assignments |
10% - 20% |
| Quizzes |
0% - 10% |
| Term Test(s) |
25% - 35% |
| Final Examination |
30% - 40% |
| Total |
100% |
** In order to pass the course, in addition to receiving an overall course grade of 50%, students must achieve a grade of at least 50% on the combined weighted examination components (including quizzes, term tests and final examination.)
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Identify the major components of a computer system, different types of programming languages, and related terminology;
- Employ numeral systems and data representation in memory;
- Design algorithms for small problems and describe the program development process;
- Develop programs involving fundamental programming constructs: literals, variables, expressions, constants, operators, console I/O, and text file I/O;
- Apply flow-control structures to write programs including decision making and loops;
- Analyze, test, and debug programs for syntax, logic, and run-time errors;
- Utilize consistent documentation and coding style standards to create readable and maintainable programs;
- Apply procedural programming to break down a program into functions;
- Compare different methods of passing parameters to a function;
- Utilize advanced data structures such as arrays, structs, string objects, and C-strings;
- Outline basic sorting and searching algorithms and compare their efficiency;
- Implement and trace recursive functions and compare them with iterative implementations;
- Compare dynamic and static memory allocation techniques and utilize them to write efficient programs;
- Explain the concept of pointers and use them to manage dynamic data structures in a program;
- Identify runtime errors to throw and handle exceptions appropriately.
Textbook Materials
Consult the Douglas College Bookstore for the latest required textbooks and materials.
Example textbooks and materials may include:
- Starting Out with C++ from Control Structures to Objects (current edition), Tony Gaddis, Pearson
- Introduction to C++ Programming and Data Structures (current edition), Daniel Liang, Pearson