Download Modularity

Introduction to Programming
Using C
Modularity
Contents





2
Modularity
Functions
Preprocessor
Comments
Global variables
Modularity


As programs get bigger, they get harder to
manage
This happens with most things and we have
developed ways to handle it
–
–
–
3
Too many things – put them in baskets
Need to play several songs – put them in a
playlist
Got a tough problem – break it into a series of
simpler problems
Modularity




The C language lets us split our code into
parts called functions
A function is one way to create a module
A module is simply a part of a larger program
A module
–
–
4
Encapsulates part of a program
Can be invoked many times
Functions

A function
–
–
–
–
–
5
Is a block of code
Has a name
Has a series of parameters which can be passed
to it
Can return a value
Can be invoked by other code
The Function piTimes

A simple function to multiply a number times 
Type returned
Function Body
Function name
Parameter list
double piTimes(double n)
{
return n * 3.141592654;
}
Indicates value to return
6
Functions

Every function has
–
–
–
–
7
A name which is used to invoke it and must be unique
A parameter list of values passed to the function, which
might be empty
A return type, indicating the type of value returned
A body which performs some calculation using the values
from the parameter list and returns a result
An Interest Calculator

We want to calculate interest
–
–
–

We will show
–
–
8
On a give amount of money
At a specific interest rate
For a given number of years
How to write a function to do this
How to invoke this function
An Interest Calculator
double interest(double principal, double rate, int time)
{
int i;
for(i = 1; i <= time; i = i + 1)
principal = principal * (1 + rate / 100);
return principal;
}
9
An Interest Calculator

Points of interest
–
–
–
–
10
3 parameters are passed to the function
A local variable, i, is declared within the function
A loop is used to calculate the result
The result is returned via the return statement
Invoking the Calculator
main()
{
double start, end, rate;
int years;
printf(“Enter amount to invest or 0 to stop\n”);
scanf(“%lf”, &start);
while(start > 0) {
printf(“Enter rate\n”);
scanf(“%lf”, &rate);
printf(“Enter years to invest\n”);
scanf(“%d”, &years);
end = interest(start, rate, years);
printf(“Your investment will be worth %.1lf\n”, end);
printf(“Enter amount to invest or 0 to stop\n”);
scanf(“%lf”, &start);
}
}
11
Compilation

The C language uses a one-pass compiler
–
–

We can overcome this problem by
–
12
This means that it reads the code once only from
start to finish
If you call a function before it sees the function, it
will say the function does not exist
Using forward declarations for every function in
the program at the start of the program
Forward Declarations

Forward declarations
–
Use the prototype of the function to tell the
compiler




A prototype is
–
13
The name of the function
The types of the parameters for the function
The return type of the function
The function header without the body of the
function
Forward Declarations

The forward declaration for the interest
function would be
–
double interest(double principal, double rate, int time);
–
This is simply the function header without the
body
Notice the semi-colon at the end of the line
–
14
* See functiondemo.c
The Preprocessor


Before a C program is compiled it is run
through a preprocessor
The preprocessor
–
Looks for directives starting with # and



–
15
Textually includes other files
Remembers the definitions of macros
Conditionally includes or excludes code from
compilation
Expands defined macros to their real values
The Preprocessor
C
Source
File
C
Preprocessor
Modified
C
Source
File
C
Compiler
Object File
Executable
File
Linker
Library
16
The #include Directive


The first preprocessor directive we will
examine is the #include directive
It has the format
–
#include <filename>

–

17
Or
#include “filename”
These both textuall include another file into
your program, replacing the directive
The #include Directive

The first form
–
–
–

The second form
–
–
18
#include <filename>
Searches for the file name on the include path
Think of it as searching in the system libraries for
the file name you specified
#include “filename”
Searches for the file relative to the current
directory
The #include Directive



Both printf and scanf are just regular functions
Have you wondered how the compiler knows about
them?
We include their prototypes from what is called a
header file
–

19
#include <stdio.h>
This file contains the prototypes of many common
input and output functions
Comments


Comments are notes inserted into programs
to explain to humans what the code is doing
Comments are enclosed between /* and */
–



20
/* this is a comment */
Comments can cover several lines
Comments are removed by the preprocessor
and are never seen by the compiler
It is good practice to comment your programs
Typical Program Layout
Comment describing program and author
#include directives for standard functions
Prototypes of functions other than main()
Definition of the main() function
Defintion of remaining functions with a comment for each
21
Sample Program
/*****************************************************************/
/* Display table of investment profits at different rates. */
/*****************************************************************/
#include <stdio.h>
double interest(double principal, double rate, int time);
main()
{
double percent;
printf(“Comparison of 5 year returns at different rates\n”);
printf(“ Rate
Profit per thousand $\n”);
printf(“ ----------------------------------\n”);
for(percept = 3.5; percent < 9.6; percent = percent + 0.5)
printf(“ %.2lf %.2lf\n”, percent, interest(1000.0, percent, 5) – 1000);
}
/*************************************************************************/
/* Calculate value of principal after time years at rate percent */
/*************************************************************************/
double interest(double principal, double rate, int time)
{
int i;
22
for(i = 1; i <= time; i = i + 1)
principal = principal * (1 + rate / 100);
return principal;
}
Main

main is a function, but …
–
–
–
–

The full prototype for main is
–
–
–
23
It is the first function called in your program
It is called by the operating system
It can communicate with the operating system
It has a default return type and optional parameter list
int main(char *argv[])
Technically, we should return 0 from main
We won’t be using it to communicate with the O/S in this
course
Global Variables

We can declare variables in several places
–
At the top of the file, outside any function

–
At the start of a function

–
This is a local variable, visible only within the function
Within a set of curly brackets inside a function

24
This is a global variable, visible everywhere
This is a variable visible only within the curly brackets in
which it is declared
Global Variables


The scope of a variable is the amount of code which
can see the variable
Global variables
–

Local variables
–

Can be see throughout a function
Block variables
–
25
Can be seen by any code in the file
Can be see throughout the block in which they are declared
Global Variables

Many students think global variables are handy
because
–
–

You don’t have to pass parameters because they are visible
in every function
You only declare them once
However, this is not the case because
–
–
It is very hard to find the functions which modify the global
variables
This makes it


26
Harder to understand how the program works
Harder to find mistakes in the program