#

C Development

Rob Miles

2008-2009

Department of Computer Science

University of Hull
Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 11
Welcome ............................................................................................................. 11
Reading the notes................................................................................................ 11
Getting a copy of the notes ................................................................................. 11

Computers 12
An Introduction to Computers .......................................................................................... 12
Hardware and Software ...................................................................................... 12
Data and Information ........................................................................................................ 13
Data Processing .................................................................................................. 13
Programmer’s Point:At the bottom there is always hardware ............................. 14

Programming Languages 15
What is Programming? ..................................................................................................... 15
From Problem to Program .................................................................................. 15
Programmer’s Point:The specification must always be there ............................. 16
A Simple Problem ............................................................................................................. 16
Specifying the Problem....................................................................................... 16
Programmer’s Point:metadata is important ......................................................... 17
Programmer’s Point:Good programmers are good communicators .................... 19
Programming Languages .................................................................................................. 19
Programmer’s Point:The language is not that important..................................... 20

C# 20
A look at C# ...................................................................................................................... 20
Dangerous C ....................................................................................................... 20
Programmer’s Point:Computers are always stupid ............................................. 21
Safe C# ............................................................................................................... 21
C# and Objects ................................................................................................... 21
Making C# Run .................................................................................................. 21
Creating C# Programs ........................................................................................ 22
The Human Computer ........................................................................................ 22
Programmer’s Point:Great programmers debug less .......................................... 22
What Comprises a C# Program? ....................................................................................... 22
Controlling the Compiler .................................................................................... 23
Storing the Data .................................................................................................. 23
Describing the Solution ...................................................................................... 23
Identifiers and Keywords .................................................................................... 23

A First C# Program 24
The Program Example ...................................................................................................... 24
using System; ............................................................................................. 24
class GlazerCalc ...................................................................................... 25
static.............................................................................................................. 25
void .................................................................................................................. 25
Main .................................................................................................................. 25
() ....................................................................................................................... 25

i
 { .......................................................................................................................... 26
double.............................................................................................................. 26
width, height, woodLength, glassArea ...................................... 26
Programmer’s Point:Know where your data comes from ................................... 26
; ......................................................................................................................... 26
string widthString, heightString; ............................................. 27
widthString = ............................................................................................. 27
Console. ......................................................................................................... 27
ReadLine ......................................................................................................... 27
() ....................................................................................................................... 27
; ......................................................................................................................... 28
width = ........................................................................................................... 28
double. ........................................................................................................... 28
Parse ................................................................................................................ 28
(widthString); .......................................................................................... 28
heightString = Console.ReadLine(); height =
double.Parse(heightString);............................................................ 29
woodLength = 2*(width + height)*3.25 ; ................................. 29
glassArea = 2 * ( width * height ) ; ...................................... 29
Console.WriteLine ................................................................................... 29
( ......................................................................................................................... 29
"The length of the wood is " ......................................................... 29
+ ......................................................................................................................... 29
woodLength .................................................................................................... 30
+ " feet" ...................................................................................................... 30
) ......................................................................................................................... 30
; ......................................................................................................................... 31
} ......................................................................................................................... 31
} ......................................................................................................................... 31
Programmer’s Point:Program layout is very important ...................................... 31
Punctuation ......................................................................................................... 31

Manipulating Data 32
Variables and Data ............................................................................................................ 32
Types of Variables ............................................................................................................ 32
Storing Numbers ................................................................................................. 32
Storing integer values ......................................................................................... 33
Programmer’s Point:Check your own maths....................................................... 33
integer literal values............................................................................................ 34
Storing real values .............................................................................................. 34
real literal values................................................................................................. 34
Programmer’s Point:Simple variables are probably best .................................... 35
Storing Text ........................................................................................................ 35
char variables ...................................................................................................... 35
char literal values ................................................................................................ 35
string variables.................................................................................................... 36
string literal values.............................................................................................. 37
bool variables ..................................................................................................... 37
bool literal values ............................................................................................... 37
Programmer’s Point:Think about the type of your variables .............................. 37
Identifiers .......................................................................................................................... 38
Programmer’s Point:Think about the names of your variables ........................... 38
Giving Values to Variables ............................................................................................... 39
Expressions ......................................................................................................... 39
Changing the Type of Data ............................................................................................... 40
Widening and Narrowing ................................................................................... 40
Casting ................................................................................................................ 41

ii
 Types of Data in Expressions............................................................................................ 42
Programmer’s Point:Casts can add clarity .......................................................... 43
Programs and Patterns ...................................................................................................... 43

Writing a Program 44
Software as a story ............................................................................................................ 44
Comments ........................................................................................................... 45
Programmer’s Point:Don't add too much detail .................................................. 45
Program Flow ................................................................................................................... 45
Conditional Execution - if .................................................................................. 46
Conditions and Relational Operators .................................................................. 46
Combining Logical Operators ............................................................................ 48
Programmer’s Point:Break down your conditions .............................................. 48
Lumping Code Together ..................................................................................... 48
Metadata, Magic Numbers and const ................................................................. 49
Loops ................................................................................................................................ 50
Programmer’s Point:Don't be clever/stupid ........................................................ 53
Breaking Out of Loops ....................................................................................... 53
Programmer’s Point:Be careful with your breaks ............................................... 53
Going back to the top of a loop .......................................................................... 54
More Complicated Decisions ............................................................................. 54
Programmer’s Point:Get used to flipping conditions .......................................... 54
Complete Glazing Program ................................................................................ 54
Operator Shorthand ........................................................................................................... 55
Statements and Values ........................................................................................ 56
Programmer’s Point:Always strive for simplicity ............................................... 57
Neater Printing .................................................................................................................. 57
Using Placeholders in Print Strings .................................................................... 57

Methods 59
Methods So Far ................................................................................................................. 59
Method and Laziness .......................................................................................... 59
Parameters .......................................................................................................... 60
Return values ...................................................................................................... 60
A Useful Method ................................................................................................ 60
Programmer’s Point:Design with methods ......................................................... 61
Method Limitations ............................................................................................ 61
Programmer’s Point:Document your side-effects ............................................... 63
Programmer’s Point:Languages can help programmers...................................... 63
Method Libraries ................................................................................................ 64
Programmer’s Point:Always consider the failure behaviours ............................. 64
Variables and Scope ......................................................................................................... 64
Scope and blocks ................................................................................................ 65
Nested Blocks ..................................................................................................... 65
For loop local variables ...................................................................................... 66
Programmer’s Point:Plan your variable use........................................................ 66

Arrays 66
Why We Need Arrays ....................................................................................................... 66
Array Elements ................................................................................................... 67
Array Element Numbering .................................................................................. 68
Large Arrays ....................................................................................................... 68
Managing Array Sizes ........................................................................................ 68
Creating a Two Dimensional Array .................................................................... 69
More than Two Dimensions ............................................................................... 69
Programmer’s Point:Keep your dimensions low ................................................ 69

iii
Switching 70
Making Multiple Decisions ............................................................................................... 70
Selecting using the if construction.................................................................... 70
The switch construction .................................................................................. 71
Programmer’s Point:switches are a good idea .................................................... 72

Our Case Study: Friendly Bank 72

Bank System Scope........................................................................................................... 72
Bank Notes........................................................................................................................ 72

Enumerated Types 72
Enumeration and states ..................................................................................................... 73
Sample states ...................................................................................................... 73
Creating an enum type ...................................................................................................... 74
Programmer’s Point:Use enumerated types ........................................................ 74

Structures 75
What is a Structure? .......................................................................................................... 75
A sample structure .............................................................................................. 75
Creating a Structure .......................................................................................................... 76
Using a Structure .............................................................................................................. 76
Initial values in structures ................................................................................... 77
Programmer’s Point:Structures are crucial ......................................................... 77
Enumerated Types in Structures ......................................................................... 77

Objects, Structures and References 78

Objects and Structures ...................................................................................................... 79
Creating and Using a Structure ........................................................................... 79
Creating and Using an Instance of a Class .......................................................... 79
References......................................................................................................................... 81
Multiple References to an Instance ..................................................................... 81
No References to an Instance ............................................................................. 82
Programmer’s Point:Try to avoid the Garbage Collector ................................... 83
Why Bother with References? .......................................................................................... 83
References and Data Structures .......................................................................... 84
Programmer’s Point:Data Structures are Important ............................................ 84
Reference Importance ......................................................................................... 84
Bank Notes: References and Accounts ............................................................................. 84

Designing With Objects 85

Programmer’s Point:Not Everything Should Be Possible................................... 86
Data in Objects ................................................................................................................. 86
Member Protection inside objects ...................................................................... 86
Changing private members............................................................................ 87
Programmer’s Point:Metadata makes Members and Methods ............................ 88
public Methods ............................................................................................... 88
Programmer’s Point:private data and public methods ........................................ 88
A Complete Account Class ............................................................................................... 88
Programmer’s Point:Test Driven Development – the only way.......................... 90
Bank Notes: Protecting Account Members ....................................................................... 90

Static Items 90
Static class members ......................................................................................................... 90
Using a static data member of a class ................................................................. 91

iv
 Programmer’s Point:Static Data Members are Useful and Dangerous ............... 92
Using a static method in a class .................................................................... 92
Using member data in static methods ................................................................. 93
Programmer’s Point:Static Method Members can be used to make Libraries .... 94
Bank Notes: Static Bank Information ............................................................................... 94

The Construction of Objects 94

The Default Constructor ................................................................................................... 95
Our Own Constructor ........................................................................................................ 95
Feeding the Constructor Information .................................................................. 96
Overloading Constructors ................................................................................................. 96
Overloading a method name ............................................................................... 97
Constructor Management .................................................................................................. 97
Programmer’s Point:Object Construction Should Be Planned ........................... 98
A constructor cannot fail ................................................................................................... 98
Programmer’s Point:Managing Failure is Hard Work ........................................ 99
Constructors and Exceptions .............................................................................. 99
Programmer’s Point:Consider the International Issues ..................................... 100
Bank Notes: Constructing an Account ............................................................................ 100

From Object to Component 100

Components and Hardware ............................................................................................. 101
Why we Need Software Components? ............................................................................ 101
Components and Interfaces ............................................................................................. 101
Interfaces and Design ....................................................................................... 102
Implementing an Interface in C# ..................................................................................... 102
References to Interfaces .................................................................................................. 103
Using interfaces .............................................................................................................. 103
Implementing Multiple Interfaces ................................................................................... 104
Designing with Interfaces ............................................................................................... 105
Programmer’s Point:Interfaces are just promises ............................................. 105
Bank Notes: Account Interfaces...................................................................................... 105

Inheritance 106
Extending a parent class.................................................................................................. 106
Programmer’s Point:Block Copy is Evil ........................................................... 107
Overriding methods ........................................................................................................ 107
Virtual Methods ................................................................................................ 108
Protection of data in class hierarchies............................................................... 108
Bank Notes: Overriding for Fun and Profit ..................................................................... 109
Using the base method .................................................................................................... 109
Making a Replacement Method ...................................................................................... 110
Programmer’s Point:Don’t Replace Methods ................................................... 110
Stopping Overriding ....................................................................................................... 110
Bank Notes: Protect Your Code ...................................................................................... 111
Constructors and Hierarchies .......................................................................................... 111
Constructor Chaining ........................................................................................ 112
Programmer’s Point:Design your class construction process ........................... 112
Abstract methods and classes .......................................................................................... 112
Abstract classes and interfaces ......................................................................... 113
References to abstract classes ........................................................................... 115
Bank Notes: Designing with interface and abstract......................................................... 115
Don’t Panic ..................................................................................................................... 115

Object Etiquette 116

Objects and ToString ................................................................................................. 116

v
 The Object class ............................................................................................... 116
The ToString method ................................................................................... 117
Getting the string description of a parent object ............................................... 117
Objects and testing for equals ......................................................................................... 118
Adding an Equals method ................................................................................. 118
Programmer’s Point:Make sure you use the right equals .................................. 119
Objects and this ........................................................................................................... 119
this as a reference to the current instance...................................................... 120
Passing a reference to yourself to other classes ................................................ 120
Confusion with this ....................................................................................... 120
Bank Notes: Good Manners are a Good Idea ................................................................. 120
Programmer’s Point:Always provide an equals behaviour ............................... 121

The power of strings and chars 121

String Manipulation ........................................................................................................ 121
String Transformation....................................................................................... 121
Immutable strings ............................................................................................. 122
String Comparison ............................................................................................ 122
String Editing.................................................................................................... 122
String Length .................................................................................................... 123
Character case................................................................................................... 123
Trimming and empty strings ............................................................................. 123
Character Commands........................................................................................ 123
String Twiddling with StringBuilder ....................................................... 124

Properties 124
Properties as class members ............................................................................................ 124
Creating Get and Set methods ......................................................................................... 124
Using Properties.............................................................................................................. 125
Properties and interfaces ................................................................................................. 126
Property problems ........................................................................................................... 126
Property Assignment Failure ............................................................................ 126
Properties Run Code ......................................................................................... 127
Programmer’s Point:Don’t use new fangled stuff just because it is there ......... 127

Building a Bank 127

Storing Accounts in an array ............................................................................ 128
Searching and Performance .............................................................................. 129
Storing Accounts using a Hash Table ............................................................... 130
Using the C# Hashtable collection.................................................................... 130
Bank Notes: Key properties are important ...................................................................... 131

Storing Business Objects 131

Saving an Account .......................................................................................................... 132
Loading an Account ........................................................................................................ 133
Programmer’s Point:There is only so much you can do ................................... 134
Multiple Accounts........................................................................................................... 134
Using streams ................................................................................................... 134
Programmer’s Point:Streams are wonderful ..................................................... 135
Saving and loading bank accounts .................................................................... 135
Bank Notes: Large Scale Data Storage ........................................................................... 136
Handling different kinds of accounts .............................................................................. 136
Health Warning ................................................................................................ 136
Banks and Flexibility ........................................................................................ 137
Saving a child class........................................................................................... 138
Loading a child class ........................................................................................ 138

vi
 Interfaces and the save operation ...................................................................... 139
Loading and factories ....................................................................................... 139
Factory Dependencies....................................................................................... 141
Bank Notes: Messy Code ................................................................................................ 141

Business Objects and Editing 141

Programmer’s Point:Production Code .............................................................. 141
The role of the Business Object ...................................................................................... 142
Managing a bank account name ........................................................................ 142
Testing Name Handling .................................................................................... 143
Programmer’s Point:Use Numbers Not Messages ............................................ 144
Editing the Name .............................................................................................. 144
Creating an Editor class .................................................................................... 144
Programmer’s Point:Get used to passing references around ............................. 145
A Text Based Edit System .............................................................................................. 146
Programmer’s Point:Every Message Counts .................................................... 147
Bank Notes: More Than One User Interface ................................................................... 147

A Graphical User Interface 147

Creating a Form ............................................................................................................. 147
Adding Components to a Form ......................................................................... 148
Editing Text with a TextBox Component ...................................................... 149
The Button Component ................................................................................. 150
Events and Delegates ...................................................................................................... 151
Events and method calls ................................................................................... 152
Button Events ................................................................................................... 152
An Account Edit Form .................................................................................................... 153
Extending the Windows Form class.................................................................. 153
Disposing of forms ........................................................................................... 155
Using the Edit form .......................................................................................... 155
Modal Editing ................................................................................................... 155
Visual Studio and Form Editing ....................................................................... 155
Programmer’s Point:Customers really care about the user interface ................ 156

Using Delegates 156

Type safe delegates ......................................................................................................... 156
Using a Delegate............................................................................................... 156
Programmer’s Point:Delegates are strong magic .............................................. 158

Structured Error Handling 158

The Exception class ........................................................................................................ 158
Creating your own exception type .................................................................................. 158
Throwing an Exception ................................................................................................... 159
Programmer’s Point:Design your error exceptions yourself ............................. 160
Multiple Exception Types ............................................................................................... 160
Programmer’s Point:Programs often fail in the error handlers ......................... 161

Program Organisation 161

Using Separate Source Files ........................................................................................... 161
Creating a Library............................................................................................. 162
Using a Library ................................................................................................. 163
Library References at Runtime ......................................................................... 163
Programmer’s Point:Use Version Control and Change Management ............... 164
Namespaces .................................................................................................................... 164
Putting a Class in a Namespace ........................................................................ 165

vii
 Using a Class from a Namespace...................................................................... 165
Using a namespace ........................................................................................... 166
Nesting Namespaces ......................................................................................... 166
Namespaces in Separate Files ......................................................................................... 167
Programmer’s Point:Fully Qualified Names are Good ..................................... 167

Debugging 167
Fault Reporting ............................................................................................................... 167
Programmer’s Point:Design Your Fault Reporting Process ............................. 168
The two types of Fault ...................................................................................... 168
Bugswatting .................................................................................................................... 168
Rip it up and start again .................................................................................... 169
Programmer’s Point:Bug Fixes Cause Bugs ..................................................... 170
Making Perfect Software ................................................................................................ 170

The End? 170

Continuous Development ................................................................................................ 171
Further Reading .............................................................................................................. 171
Code Complete Second Edition: Steve McConnell .......................................... 171
How to be a programmer .................................................................................. 171

Glossary of Terms 172

Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 172
Accessor .......................................................................................................................... 172
Base ................................................................................................................................ 172
Call.................................................................................................................................. 172
Class................................................................................................................................ 172
Code Reuse ..................................................................................................................... 173
Cohesion ......................................................................................................................... 173
Collection........................................................................................................................ 173
Compiler ......................................................................................................................... 173
Component ...................................................................................................................... 173
Constructor ..................................................................................................................... 174
Coupling ......................................................................................................................... 174
Creative Laziness ............................................................................................................ 174
Delegate .......................................................................................................................... 174
Dependency .................................................................................................................... 174
Event ............................................................................................................................... 175
Functional Design Specification ..................................................................................... 175
Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) ................................................................................ 175
Hierarchy ........................................................................................................................ 175
Immutable ....................................................................................................................... 175
Inheritance ...................................................................................................................... 175
Interface .......................................................................................................................... 175
Library ............................................................................................................................ 176
Machine code .................................................................................................................. 176
Member ........................................................................................................................... 176
Metadata ......................................................................................................................... 176
Method ............................................................................................................................ 176
Mutator ........................................................................................................................... 176
Namespace ...................................................................................................................... 177
Overload ......................................................................................................................... 177
Override .......................................................................................................................... 177
Portable ........................................................................................................................... 177
Private ............................................................................................................................. 177
Property .......................................................................................................................... 177
Protected ......................................................................................................................... 178

viii
 Public .............................................................................................................................. 178
Reference ........................................................................................................................ 178
Signature ......................................................................................................................... 178
Source file ....................................................................................................................... 178
Static ............................................................................................................................... 178
Stream ............................................................................................................................. 179
Structure.......................................................................................................................... 179
Subscript ......................................................................................................................... 179
Test harness .................................................................................................................... 179
This ................................................................................................................................. 179
Unit test........................................................................................................................... 179
Value type ....................................................................................................................... 180
Virtual Method................................................................................................................ 180

Index 181

© Rob Miles 2008 Department of Computer Science, The University of Hull.

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written
permission. The author can be contacted at:

The Department of Computer Science,

Robert Blackburn Building
The University of Hull,
Cottingham Road
HULL
HU6 7RX
UK

Email: rob@robmiles.com
Blog: www.robmiles.com

Monday, 20 October 2008

ix
Computers Introduction

Introduction

Welcome
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Rob Miles™. This is a world of bad jokes, puns,
and programming. In this book I'm going to give you a smattering of the C#
programming language. If you have programmed before I'd be grateful if you'd still
read the text. It is worth it just for the jokes and you may actually learn something.
If you have not programmed before, do not worry. Programming is not rocket science it
is, well, programming. The bad news about learning to program is that you get hit with
a lot of ideas and concepts at around the same time when you start, and this can be
confusing. The keys to learning programming are:
 Practice – do a lot of programming and force yourself to think about things
from a problem solving point of view
 Study – look at programs written by other people. You can learn a lot from
studying code which other folk have created. Figuring out how somebody else
did the job is a great starting point for your solution. And remember that in
many cases there is no best solution, just ones which are better in a particular
context, i.e. the fastest, the smallest, the easiest to use etc.
 Persistence – writing programs is hard work. And you have to work hard at it.
The principle reason why most folks don't make it as programmers is that they
give up. Not because they are stupid. However, don't get too persistent. If you
haven't solved a programming problem in 30 minutes you should call time out
and seek help. Or at least walk away from the problem and come back to it.
Staying up all night trying to sort out a problem is not a good plan. It just
makes you all irritable in the morning. We will cover what to do when it all
goes wrong later in these notes.

Reading the notes

These notes are written to be read straight through, and then referred to afterwards.
They contain a number of Programming Points. These are based on real programming
experience and are to be taken seriously. There are also bits written in a Posh Font.
These are really important and should be learnt by heart.
If you have any comments on how the notes can be made even better (although I of
course consider this highly unlikely) then feel free to get in touch
Above all, enjoy programming.
Rob Miles
rob@robmiles.com
www.robmiles.com

Getting a copy of the notes

These notes are made freely available to Computer Science students at the University of
Hull.
The website for the book is at http://www.csharpcourse.com

C# Programming © Rob Miles 2008 11

Computers An Introduction to Computers

Computers

An Introduction to Computers
Before we consider programming, we are going to consider computers. This is an
important thing to do, because it sets the context in which all the issues of programming
itself are placed.
Qn: Why does a bee hum? One way of describing a computer is as an electric box which humms. This, whilst
Ans: Because it doesn't know technically correct, can lead to significant amounts of confusion, particularly amongst
the words! those who then try to program a fridge. A better way is to describe it as:

A device which processes information according

to instructions it has been given.
This general definition rules out fridges but is not exhaustive. However for our
purposes it will do. The instructions you give to the computer are often called a
program. The business of using a computer is often called programming. This is not
what most people do with computers. Most users do not write programs, instead they
talk to programs written by other people. We must therefore make a distinction between
users and programmers. A user has a job which he or she finds easier to do on a
computer running the appropriate program. A programmer has a masochistic desire to
tinker with the innards of the machine. One of the golden rules is that you never write
your own program if there is already one available, i.e. a keen desire to process words
with a computer should not result in you writing a word processor!
However, because you will often want to do things with computers which have not been
done before, and further because there are people willing to pay you to do it, we are
going to learn how to program as well as use a computer.
Before we can look at the fun packed business of programming though it is worth
looking at some computer terminology:

Hardware and Software

If you ever buy a computer you are not just getting a box which humms. The box, to be
useful, must also have sufficient built in intelligence to understand simple commands to
do things. At this point we must draw a distinction between the software of a computer
system and the hardware.
Hardware is the physical side of the system. Essentially if you can kick it, and it stops
working when immersed in a bucket of water, it is hardware. Hardware is the
impressive pile of lights and switches in the corner....
Software is what makes the machine tick. If a computer has a soul it keeps it in its
software. Software uses the physical ability of the hardware, which can run programs,
do something useful. It is called software because it has no physical existence and it is
comparatively easy to change. Software is the voice which says "Computer Running"
in a Star Trek film.

C# Programming © Rob Miles 2008 12

Computers Data and Information

Windows XP is an operating All computers are sold with some software. Without it they would just be a novel and
system. It gives computer highly expensive heating system. The software which comes with a computer is often
programs a platform on which called its Operating System. The Operating System makes the machine usable. It
they can execute. looks after all the information held on the computer and provides lots of commands
to allow you to manage things. It also lets you run programs, ones you have written
and ones from other people. You will have to learn to talk to an operating system so
that you can create your C# programs and get them to go.

Data and Information

People use the words data and information interchangeably. They seem to think that
one means the other. I regard data and information as two different things:
Data is the collection of ons and offs which computers store and manipulate.
Information is the interpretation of the data by people to mean something. Strictly
speaking computers process data, humans work on information. An example, the
computer holds the bit pattern:
11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000
However you could regard this as meaning:
"you are 256 pounds overdrawn at the bank"
or
"you are 256 feet below the surface of the ground"
or
"eight of the thirty two light switches are off"
The transition from data to information is usually made when the human reads the
output. So why am I being so pedantic? Because it is vital to remember that a computer
does not "know" what the data it is processing actually means. As far as it is concerned
data is just patterns of bits, it is you who gives meaning to these patterns. Remember
this when you get a bank statement which says that you have £8,388,608!

Data Processing
Computers are data processors. Information is fed into them; they do something with it,
and then generate further information. A computer program tells the computer what to
do with the information coming in. A computer works on data in the same way that a
sausage machine works on meat, something is put in one end, some processing is
performed, and something comes out of the other end:

Data Computer Data

This makes a computer a very A program is unaware of the data it is processing in the same way that a sausage
good "mistake amplifier", as machine is unaware of what meat is. Put a bicycle into a sausage machine and it will
well as a useful thing to try to make sausages out of it. Put duff data into a computer and it will do equally
blame..... useless things. It is only us people who actually ascribe meaning to data (see above),
as far as the computer is concerned it is just stuff coming in which has to be
manipulated in some way.
A computer program is just a sequence of instructions which tell a computer what to do
with the data coming in and what form the data sent out will have.

C# Programming © Rob Miles 2008 13

Computers Data and Information

Note that the data processing side of computers, which you might think is entirely
reading and writing numbers, is much more than that, examples of typical data
processing applications are:
Digital Watch : A micro-computer in your watch is taking pulses from a crystal
and requests from buttons, processing this data and producing a display which tells you
the time.
Car : A micro-computer in the engine is taking information from sensors telling it the
current engine speed, road speed, oxygen content of the air, setting of the accelerator
etc and producing voltages out which control the setting of the carburettor, timing of
the spark etc, to optimise the performance of the engine.
CD Player : A computer is taking a signal from the disk and converting it into the
sound that you want to hear. At the same time it is keeping the laser head precisely
positioned and also monitoring all the buttons in case you want to select another part of
the disk.
Games Console: A computer is taking instructions from the controllers and using
them to manage the artificial world that it is creating for the person playing the game.
Note that some of these data processing applications are merely applying technology to
existing devices to improve the way they work. However the CD player and games
console could not be made to work without built-in data processing ability.
Most reasonably complex devices contain data processing components to optimise their
performance and some exist only because we can build in intelligence. It is into this
world that we, as software writers are moving. It is important to think of business of
data processing as much more than working out the company payroll, reading in
numbers and printing out results. These are the traditional uses of computers.
Note that this "raises the As software engineers it is inevitable that a great deal of our time will be spent fitting
stakes" in that the data processing components into other devices to drive them. You will not press a
consequences of software switch to make something work, you will press a switch to tell a computer to make it
failing could be very work. These embedded systems will make computer users of everybody, and we will
damaging. have to make sure that they are not even aware that there is a computer in there!
You should also remember that seemingly innocuous programs can have life
threatening possibilities. For example a doctor may use a spreadsheet to calculate doses
of drugs for patients. In this case a defect in the program could result in illness or even
death (note that I don't think that doctors actually do this – but you never know..)

Programmer’s Point:At the bottom there is always hardware

It is important that you remember your programs are actually executed by a piece of hardware
which has physical limitations. You must make sure that the code you write will actually fit in the
target machine and operate at a reasonable speed. The power and capacity of modern computers
makes this less of an issue than in the past, but you should still be aware of these aspects. I will
mention them when appropriate.

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Programming Languages What is Programming?

Programming Languages

What is Programming?
I tell people I am a "Software Programming is a black art. It is the kind of thing that you grudgingly admit to doing,
Engineer". at night, with the blinds drawn and nobody watching. Tell people that you program
computers and you will get one of the following responses:
1. A blank stare.
2. "That's interesting", followed by a long description of the double glazing that
they have just had fitted.
3. Asked to solve every computer problem that they have ever had, and ever will
have.
4. A look which indicates that you can't be a very good one as they all drive
Ferraris and tap into the Bank of England at will.
Programming is defined by most people as earning huge sums of money doing
something which nobody can understand.
Programming is defined by me as deriving and expressing a solution to a given
problem in a form which a computer system can understand and execute.
One or two things fall out of this definition:
 You need to be able to solve the problem yourself before you can write a
program to do it.
 The computer has to be made to understand what you are trying to tell it to do.
And remember just how much I like to think of a programmer as a bit like a plumber! A plumber will arrive at a job
plumbers earn…. with a big bag of tools and spare parts. Having looked at it for a while, tut tutting, he
will open his bag and produce various tools and parts, fit them all together and solve
your problem. Programming is just like this. You are given a problem to solve. You
have at your disposal a big bag of tricks, in this case a programming language. You
look at the problem for a while and work out how to solve it and then fit the bits of
the language together to solve the problem you have got. The art of programming is
knowing which bits you need to take out of your bag of tricks to solve each part of
the problem.

From Problem to Program

Programming is not about The art of taking a problem and breaking it down into a set of instructions you can
mathematics, it is about give a computer is the interesting part of programming. Unfortunately it is also the
organization and structure. most difficult part of programming as well. If you think that learning to program is
simply a matter of learning a programming language you are very wrong. In fact if
you think that programming is simply a matter of coming up with a program which
solves a problem you are equally wrong!
There are many things you must consider when writing a program; not all of them are
directly related to the problem in hand. I am going to start on the basis that you are
writing your programs for a customer. He or she has problem and would like you to
write a program to solve it. We shall assume that the customer knows even less about
computers than we do!
Initially we are not even going to talk about the programming language, type of
computer or anything like that, we are simply going to make sure that we know what the
customer wants.

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Programming Languages A Simple Problem

Solving the Wrong Problem

Coming up with a perfect solution to a problem the customer has not got is something
which happens surprisingly often in the real world. Many software projects have failed
because the problem that they solved was the wrong one. The developers of the system
quite simply did not find out what was required, but instead created what they thought
was required. The customers assumed that, since the developers had stopped asking
them questions, the right thing was being built, and only at the final handover was the
awful truth revealed. It is therefore very important that a programmer holds off making
something until they know exactly what is required.
The worst thing you can say This is a kind of self discipline. Programmer’s pride themselves on their ability to
to a customer is "I can do come up with solutions, so as soon as they are given a problem they immediately start
that". Instead you should thinking of ways to solve it, this almost a reflex action. What you should do is think
think "Is that what the "Do I really understand what the problem is?". Before you solve a problem you
customer wants?" should make sure that you have a watertight definition of what the problem is, which
both you and the customer agree on. In the real world this is sometimes called a
Functional Design Specification or FDS. This tells you exactly what the customer
wants. Both you and the customer sign it, and the bottom line is that if you provide a
system which behaves according to the design specification the customer must pay
you. Once you have got your design specification, then you can think about ways of
solving the problem.
You might think that this is not necessary if you are writing a program for yourself;
there is no customer to satisfy. This is not true. Writing an FDS forces you to think
about your problem at a very detailed level.

Programmer’s Point:The specification must always be there

I have written many programs for money. I would never write a program without getting a solid
specification first. This is true even (or perhaps especially) if I do a job for a friend.

A Simple Problem
Consider the scenario; you are sitting in your favourite chair in the pub contemplating
the universe when you are interrupted in your reverie by a friend of yours who sells
double glazing for a living. He knows you are a programmer of sorts and would like
your help in solving a problem which he has:
He has just started making his own window units and is looking for a program which
will do the costing of the materials for him. He wants to just enter the dimensions of the
window and then get a print out of the cost to make the window, in terms of the amount
of wood and glass required.
"This looks like a nice little earner" you think, and once you have agreed a price you
start work. The first thing you need to do is find out exactly what the customer wants
you to do...

Specifying the Problem

When considering how to write the specification of a system there are three important
things:
 What information flows into the system.
 What flows out of the system.
 What the system does with the information.
There are lots of ways of representing this information in the form of diagrams, for now
we will stick with written text when specifying each of the stages:

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Programming Languages A Simple Problem

Information going in
In the case of our immortal double glazing problem we can describe the information as:
 The width of a window.
 The height of the window.

Information coming out

The information that our customer wants to see is:
 the area of glass required for the window
 the length of wood required to build a frame.
You can see what we need if you take a look at the diagram below:

Height of
Window

Width of Window

The area of the glass is the width multiplied by the height. To make the frame we will
need two pieces of wood the width of the window, and two pieces of wood the height of
the window.

Programmer’s Point:metadata is important

Information about information is called metadata. The word meta in this situation implies a
"stepping back" from the problem to allow it to be considered in a broader context. In the case of
our window program the metadata will tell us more about the values that are being used and
produced, specifically the units in which the information is expressed and the valid range of values
that the information may have. For any quantity that you represent in a program that you write you
must have at least this level of metadata .

What the program actually does

The program can derive the two values according to the following equations:
glass area = width of window * height of window
wood length = (width of window + height of window) * 2

Putting in more detail

We now have a fairly good understanding of what our program is going to do for us.
Being sensible and far thinking people we do not stop here, we now have to worry
about how our program will decide when the information coming in is actually valid.
This must be done in conjunction with the customer, he or she must understand that if
information is given which fits within the range specified, your program will regard the
data as valid and act accordingly.
In the case of the above we could therefore expand the definition of data coming in as:

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Programming Languages A Simple Problem

 The width of the window, in metres and being a value between 0.5 Metres
and 3.5 metres inclusive.
 The height of the window, in metres and being a value between 0.5 metres
and 2.0 metres inclusive.
Note that we have also added units to our description, this is very important - perhaps
our customer buys wood from a supplier who sells by the foot, in which case our output
description should read :
 The area of glass required for the window, in square metres. Remember
that we are selling double glazing, so two panes will be required.
 The length of wood required for the frame, given in feet using the
conversion factor of 3.25 feet per metre.
Note that both you and the Having written this all up in a form that both you and the customer can understand,
customer must understand we must then both sign the completed specification, and work can commence.
the document!

Proving it Works
In a real world you would now create a test which will allow you to prove that the
program works, you could for example say:
If I give the above program the inputs 2 metres high and 1 metre wide the program
should print out: 4 square metres of glass and 9.75 feet of wood.
The test procedure which is designed for a proper project should test out all possible
states within the program, including the all important error conditions. In a large system
the person writing the program may have to create a test harness which is fitted around
the program and will allow it to be tested. Both the customer and the supplier should
agree on the number and type of the tests to be performed and then sign a document
describing these.
Testing is a very important part of program development. There is even one
development technique where you write the tests before you write the actual program
that does the job. This is actually a good idea, and one we will explore later. In terms of
code production, you can expect to write as much code to test your solution as is in the
solution itself. Remember this when you are working out how much work is involved in
a particular job.

Getting Paid
Better yet, set up a phased At this point the supplier knows that if a system is created which will pass all the tests
payment system so that you the customer will have no option but to pay for the work! Note also that because the
get some money as the system design and test procedures have been frozen, there is no ambiguity which can lead to
is developed. the customer requesting changes to the work although of course this can still happen!
The good news for the developer is that if changes are requested these can be viewed in
the context of additional work, for which they can be expect to be paid.

Customer Involvement
Note also in a "proper" system the customer will expect to be consulted as to how the
program will interact with the user, sometimes even down to the colour of the letters on
the display! Remember that one of the most dangerous things that a programmer can
think is "This is what he wants"! The precise interaction with the user - what the
program does when an error is encountered, how the information is presented etc., is
something which the customer is guaranteed to have strong opinions about. Ideally all
this information should be put into the specification, which should include layouts of
the screens and details of which keys should be pressed at each stage. Quite often
prototypes will be used to get a idea of how the program should look and feel.

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Programming Languages Programming Languages

Fact: If you expect to derive If this seems that you are getting the customer to help you write the program then you
the specification as the are exactly right! Your customer may have expected you to take the description of the
project goes on either you will problem and go into your back room - to emerge later with the perfect solution to the
fail to do the job, or you will problem. This is not going to happen. What will happen is that you will come up with
end up performing five times something which is about 60% right. The customer will tell you which bits look OK
the work! and which bits need to be changed. You then go back into your back room, muttering
under your breath, and emerge with another system to be approved. Again, Rob's law
says that 60% of the duff 40% will now be OK, so you accept changes for the last
little bit and again retreat to your keyboard....
The customer thinks that this is great, reminiscent of a posh tailor who produces the
perfect fit after numerous alterations. All the customer does is look at something,
suggests changes and then wait for the next version to find something wrong with. They
will get a bit upset when the delivery deadline goes by without a finished product
appearing but they can always cheer themselves up again by suing you.
Fact: More implementations If your insistence on a cast iron specification forces the customer to think about
fail because of inadequate exactly what the system is supposed to do and how it will work, all to the better. The
specification than for any customer may well say "But I am paying you to be the computer expert, I know
other reason! nothing about these machines". This is no excuse. Explain the benefits of "Right First
Time" technology and if that doesn't work produce a revolver and force the issue!
Again, if I could underline in red I would: All the above apply if you are writing the
program for yourself. You are your own worst customer!
You may think that I am labouring a point here; the kind of simple systems we are
going to create as we learn to program are going to be so trivial that the above
techniques are far too long winded. You are wrong. One very good reason for doing
this kind of thing is that it gets most of the program written for you - often with the help
of the customer. When we start with our double glazing program we now know that we
have to:
read in the width
verify the value
read in the height
verify the value
calculate width times height times 2 and print it
calculate ( width + height ) * 2 * 3.35 and print it

The programming portion of the job is now simply converting the above description
into a language which can be used in a computer.......

Programmer’s Point:Good programmers are good communicators

The art of talking to a customer and finding out what he/she wants is just that, an art. If you want
to call yourself a proper programmer you will have to learn how to do this. One of the first things
you must do is break down the idea of "I am writing a program for you" and replace it with "We are
creating a solution to a problem". You do not work for your customers, you work with them. This is
very important, particularly when you might have to do things like trade with the customer on
features or price.

Programming Languages
Once we know what the program should do (specification), and how we are going to
determine whether it has worked or not (test) we now need to express our program in a
form that the computer can work with.
You might ask the question "Why do we need programming languages, why can we not
use something like English?" There are two answers to this one:

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