This document discusses computer programming functions, variables, and basic input/output in C and C++. It covers: - Defining and calling functions, function parameters and return values. - Declaring and assigning values to variables of different data types like int, float, and double. - Using basic input/output functions like cout and cin to display output and get user input. - The scope of variables and how they work within and outside of functions.

1. Computer Programming
Functions, variables and
basic input and output
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Haseeb Zafar
haseeb@uetpeshawar.edu.pk

2. Today’s lecture
• Introduction to functions
• Naming and typing of functions and variables
• Declaration and assignment of values to variables
• Declaration of functions
• Basic input and output

3. Functions
• Functions do stuff
– Some come packaged with C and C++ in libraries.
• Need to instruct the Compiler to include the libraries (see last
week’s lecture)
• Means you only use the libraries you need
• Smaller executable program.
– Others you write yourself.
• Need to define and declare in your program
• Functions are called and return values

4. main
• At the heart of a C/C++ program is a function called main.
– The first instruction executed in the program is the first
instruction in main
– Unless there has been an exit instruction, the last
instruction executed in the program is the last instruction
in main.
• The last instruction is generally a command to return an integer
value to the operating system
• main can take arguments
int main(int argc, char* argv[ ])
Gives access to the text
of the command line arguments
Number of
command line
arguments
What’s this? Aarggh! It’s a pointer!

5. Maths functions
• To use functions such as…
sin()
asin()
log()
exp()
pow()
sqrt()
• …must include the Math library
– Before main, use the preprocessor command
#include <math.h>
This is a C library

6. Declaring a function
int FindProduct (int a, int b)
{
}
return a * b;
Leave the function by returning a value
Type of the value
returned by the function
Name of the
function
Arguments taken
by the function
and their types
What the function
does
• The arguments are like the inputs
• you can have as many as you like
• you must define the type and give a name for each
• The return is like the output (only one)
Suggest a function
to return the sum
of two floats

7. Organising programs
• Enormously long functions are
– hard to follow
– hard to debug and maintain
• Some actions get repeated or used at different times
• Big programs should be made up of small functions
– Functions can call other functions
– Functions representing common actions can be called
from different points in the program
– Different people can develop different functions within one
program using a common, defined interface
– Functions with meaningful names make code easier to
read and maintain
• Functions don’t have to return values or have arguments

8. void functions
For example…
void DoSomething (void)
{
cout << “Hello” << endl;
}
• Useful just for organising different actions
Nothing to return
No arguments

9. Can we return more than one value?
• Sort of…
• We can pass addresses (memory locations) to a function
– Function places values at those locations
– Upon return from the function, those locations can be
looked at to retrieve the values
– This is known passing by reference (rather than passing
by value)
• To do this, we make use of pointers or references
– Some people get scared by pointers
– Don’t panic! We’ll come back to them later…

10. Declaring variables
• Each variable must have a type
• If an initial value is not assigned in the code, there is no
telling what its value will be when it is first used!
– Some compilers will warn you that a variable is being
used it has been assigned a value… but don’t rely on it!
int i = 0;

11. Assigning values to variables
• It makes sense to assign initial values as 0… (safe)
• …for full flexibility of the program, assign values of inputs to
the program from keyboard inputs or text files…
• …and, generally, avoid using ‘magic numbers’
– Special values written into source code are hard to
maintain (what if you want to change the value?)
double circum = 0.0, radius r = 0.0;
cin >> radius;
circum = 2 * 3.14159 * radius;
– If you want to use a constant, define it
#define PI 3.14159
double circum = 0.0, radius = 0.0;
cin >> radius;
circum = 2 * PI * radius;
We’ll come back to this later
Input values set at
‘run time’ rather
than ‘compile time’

12. Storage of values: int
• An int is stored like this
– Bit number: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
– Value: 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
– Why muck about with inverting values (‘twos
compliment’)?
• To help with addition
– +61: 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1
– -61: 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
– Sum: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The sign bit.
Here it means -ve
When sign bit set, to get value
invert the other bits.
Here: 0111100 = 6010
Finally, add 1: result -61
Here, just for example,
using 8 bit word

13. Largest int
• For an 8 bit word, what are the largest positive and negative
values?
– 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 +127
– 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -128
Increasing the ‘value’ of the 8 bit binary number
from +127 gives -128

14. Storage of values: float
where, for a 64 bit number,
S is the sign bit stored in the most significant bit
E is held as a binary number in the next 11 bits
F is held as a binary number in the remaining 52 bits
that is,
the number is stored in three parts:
– sign
– exponent
– fraction
Fxn ES
.12)1( 1024−
×−=

15. Largest float or double
• For 32 bit word, for variable of type float
– Max ±3.4x1038
– Min ±1.5x10-45
– Precision 7-8 digits
• For 32 bit word, for variable of type double (64 bits)
– Max ±1.7x10308
– Min ±5.0x10-324
– Precision 15-16 digits

16. Names of functions or variables
• Give each variable or function a meaningful name
– Frequently, people use variable names like
float a, b, c;
• We would need to look very carefully at our code to find out what
will be stored in the variables and why
• Then we have to remember what we found
– Some people give names like this:
int iCount;
float fInitialTemp, fFinalTemp;
char cLabel;
– Good to use nouns for variables and verbs for functions
• In C and C++, names are case sensitive – avoid confusion!
• You cannot use spaces in names
• Names cannot start with numbers
The f reminds us that
the variable is of type
float

17. Inside functions: operator precedence
• We can have more than one operator in a single instruction
weightave=(a*3+b*4+c*3)/10;
• How does the compiler evaluate these expressions?
– Left association
– Precedence rules
• Contents of parentheses () are evaluated first…
• …then multiplication * and division / …
• …then addition + and subtraction –
• To avoid getting lost
– put things inside parentheses
– use interim variables
• interim variables have advantage of letting you see values in
debugger (which steps through lines of source code)

18. • Declare first as an int = 1
• What is the value of result?
result = first / second;
• Get around possible problems by using casting
– Change the type of the variable as used
result = (float)first / second;
Combining different types in an
operation
• Declare result as a float
• Declare first as a float = 1.0
• Declare second as an int = 5
• What is the value of result?
result = first / second;
Contents of first converted to float
float operation performed
1 / 5
result = 0
int operation performed
1.0 / 5
result = 0.2
float operation performed

19. Scope of variables
• Arguments to a function and variables declared inside a function are local
to that function
float calcXcord(float grad1,float Ycept1,float grad2, float Ycept2)
{
float Xcord;
Xcord=(Ycept2-Ycept1)/(grad1-grad2);
return Xcord;
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
float gradLine1, gradLine2;
float Y0Line1, Y0Line2;
float Xcoord, Ycoord;
cout<<"input gradient and Y axis value for first line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine1>>Y0Line1;
cout<<"input gradient and Y axis value for second line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine2>>Y0Line2;
Xcoord=calcXcord(gradLine1,Y0Line1,gradLine2,Y0Line2);
}
Only known inside
function calcXcord
Only known inside
function main

20. Local versus global variables
• Variables declared inside a function are local to that function
• Values are passed to and from functions
• Global variables that are known to all functions can be
declared (immediately after header section)
– best avoided as in large programs there is a risk of
modifying them when you didn’t mean to!
– If you must use global variables, a useful convention:
• name local variables with lower case
e.g. count
• name global variables starting with upper case
e.g. MasterCount
• ‘Local’ and ‘global’ scope will be visited again in object
orientation in terms of ‘public’ and ‘private’

21. What happens when a function is
called?
float calcXcord(float grad1,float Ycept1,float grad2, float Ycept2)
{
float xcord;
xcord=(Ycept2-Ycept1)/(grad1-grad2);
return xcord;
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
float gradLine1, gradLine2;
float Y0Line1, Y0Line2;
float Xcoord, Ycoord;
cout<<"input gradient and Y axis value for first line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine1>>Y0Line1;
cout<<"input gradient and Y axis value for second line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine2>>Y0Line2;
Xcoord=calcXcord(gradLine1,Y0Line1,gradLine2,Y0Line2);
}
Suppose users enters the following:
1.5, 2.0, -0.5, 3.0. Now,
gradline1 = 1.5
Y0Line1 = 2.0
gradline2 = -0.5
Y0Line2 = 3.0
Values 1.5, 2.0, -0.5, 3.0 sent to calcXcord
Values 1.5, 2.0, -0.5, 3.0 received by calcXcord
grad1 = 1.5
Ycept1 = 2.0
grad2 = -0.5
Ycept2 = 3.0
Calculation carried out and 0.5 returned
Xcoord equals the value
returned by calcXcord, i.e. 0.5

22. Automatic memory allocation
• Variable created at a location in memory automatically when
a function is called
– Memory location freed up when function is exited…
– …except when the variable is declared to be a static
variable
• memory not de-allocated on exit from function
• Next time the function is called, the previous value can be found
int myfunction (int a)
{
int n;
n = a * 10;
return n;
}
Each time myfunction is
called, a and n are created
After the return, a and n are
destroyed

23. Example of a static variable
int myfunction (int a)
{
static int n=0;
n = n+1;
return n * a;
}
int main( )
{
int i = 2, j;
j = myfunction(i);
cout << "First time: j=" << j << endl;
j = myfunction(i);
cout << "Second time: j=" << j << endl;
}
Here j=2
Here j=4
First time in, n is initially 0
before being incremented;
second time, n is initially what
it was on exit first time, then it
is incremented

24. Location of function declarations
• Notice that in last fragment of code, calcXcord was
declared before main
float calcXcord(float grad1,float Ycept1,float grad2, float Ycept2)
{
float Xcord;
Xcord=(Ycept2-Ycept1)/(grad1-grad2);
return Xcord;
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
float gradLine1, gradLine2;
float Y0Line1, Y0Line2;
float Xcoord, Ycoord;
cout<<"input gradient and Y axis value for first line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine1>>Y0Line1;
cout<<"input gradient and Y axis value for second line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine2>>Y0Line2;
Xcoord=calcXcord(gradLine1,Y0Line1,gradLine2,Y0Line2);
}
• Compiler must see declaration (of function or variable)
before first use)
calcXcord declared earlier
in source code than first call
• Code looks back-to-front!
•main used first but
declared last

25. Use of function ‘prototypes’
• In order that the compiler doesn’t complain about the order in
which functions are declared:
– you can put prototypes in the header section of the source
code
• In effect, this is what #include does
– header files (*.h) have function prototypes in them
– #include causes the cited header to be copied by the
compiler pre-processor into the object code
• Allows the compiler to ‘know about’ functions defined in other
source modules
• Most professional code written ‘back-to-front’ (main at end)
# indicates a pre-processor
instruction

26. Function prototypes: example
#include <iostream>
float calcXcord(float, float, float, float);
float calcYcord(float, float, float);
int main()
{
float gradLine1, gradLine2, Y0Line1, Y0Line2, Xcoord, Ycoord;
char stopchar;
cout<<"Input gradient and Y axis value for first line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine1>>Y0Line1;
cout<<"Input gradient and Y axis value for second line"<<endl;
cin>>gradLine2>>Y0Line2;
Xcoord=calcXcord(gradLine1,Y0Line1,gradLine2,Y0Line2);
Ycoord=calcYcord(Xcoord,gradLine1,Y0Line1);
cout<< "The coordinates of the point of intersection are: "
<< Xcoord<< ", " << Ycoord << endl << "press a key to end" ;
cin >> stopchar;
return 0;
}
float calcXcord(float grad1,float Ycept1,float grad2, float Ycept2)
{
float Xcord;
Xcord=(Ycept2-Ycept1)/(grad1-grad2);
return Xcord;
}
float calcYcord(float X, float grad, float Ycept)
{
float Ycord;
Ycord=grad*X+Ycept;
return Ycord;
Just quote the argument
types in the prototype
• if these are different between
any two of the prototype,
declaration and use, the
compiler will complain of
‘bad arguments’

27. Input and output
• C and C++ can read from and send messages to file streams
– These can be files on a hard disk
– In C, stdin and stdout are specific streams related to
the keyboard and screen
– C++ uses cin and cout objects to read from the
keyboard and write to the console (screen)
– To access cin and cout, we need to access the iostream
library
• Put #include <iostream> in the head section of the source
code module.
• The iostream library is not available to C compilers
– More on reading from and writing to files later…

28. Using the cout stream (i)
• Once we have included the iostream library we can use the <<
operator to direct output to the console.
– << is known as an ‘inserter’ – it inserts whatever follows into cout
cout << initTemp;
Sends the contents of the variable
initTemp to the console window
• We can output more than one variable in a single command to use
the cout stream
cout << initTemp << endl << finalTemp << endl;
prints variable initTemp
prints variable
finalTemp
prints a new line

29. Using the cout stream (ii)
• We can also use the cout stream to print text to the console.
– At present we will do this using a string literal.
– A string literal is a series of alphanumeric characters contained
within “ ”.
cout << “The initial temperature is “ << initTemp << endl;
prints string literal
prints variable
initTemp prints a new line

30. A simple module showing use of cout
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int initTemp;
int finalTemp;
int tempChange;
initTemp = 12;
finalTemp = 15;
tempChange = finalTemp - initTemp;
cout << "The initial temperature is " << initTemp << endl;
cout << "Final temperature is " << finalTemp << endl;
cout << “Temperature change is " << tempChange << endl;
return 0;
}

31. Keeping the console window open (i)
• In the preceding code program:
– there are outputs of data using cout.
– the next line is at the end of our program:
return 0;
(Literally, this return a value of 0 from the function main. A return
from main marks the end of the program)
– At the end of the program, the console window will close
and our output will disappear.
– With some compilers, you need to add some code to keep
the console window open.
• One way to do this is to use the cin stream to do this
– The program waits for carriage return to be entered
• Or, use function system(“PAUSE”)

32. Keeping the console window open (ii)
.
.
.
tempChange=finalTemp - initTemp;
cout << "The initial temperature is " << initTemp << endl;
cout << "Final temperature is " << finalTemp << endl;
cout << “Temperature change is " << tempChange << endl;
char stopchar;
cin >> stopchar;
return 0;
}
Declares a variable
stopchar of type char
Will hold a single
character
Program execution
pauses until user presses
enter
This isn’t necessary when
running a program in debug mode
in Visual C++ Express

33. Keeping the console window open (iii)
.
.
.
tempChange=finalTemp - initTemp;
cout << "The initial temperature is " << initTemp << endl;
cout << "Final temperature is " << finalTemp << endl;
cout << “Temperature change is " << tempChange << endl;
system(“PAUSE”);
return 0;
}
Message written to console saying
Press any key to continue . . .
Console closes after user presses a key
This isn’t necessary when
running a program in debug mode
in Visual C++ Express

34. Getting input from the keyboard
• We use the cin object to access input from the keyboard
• Use the >> operator to direct the input to our variables
• >> is an ‘extractor’ – extracts a value from cin and assigns
it to a variable, e.g.
cout << “Please input the initial temperature “;
cin >> initTemp;
cout << “Please input the final temperature “;
cin >> finalTemp;

35. Getting input from keyboard - example
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int initTemp, finalTemp, tempChange;
cout << “Please input the initial temperature “;
cin >> initTemp;
cout << “Please input the final temperature “;
cin >> finalTemp;
tempChange=finalTemp - initTemp;
cout << "The initial temperature is " << initTemp << endl;
cout << "Final temperature is " << finalTemp << endl;
cout << “Temperature change is " << tempChange << endl;
char stopchar;
cin >> stopchar;
return 0;
}
Can put declarations of
same type on same line

36. Review of structure…
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main( )
{
int initTemp;
int finalTemp;
int tempChange;
initTemp = 12;
finalTemp = 15;
tempChange = finalTemp – initTemp;
return 0;
}
The return 0 marks the end of
main
Header section
• # symbol tells the compiler that it is
a preprocessor command.
• include is the instruction to
the preprocessor.
• The < > symbols tell the
preprocessor to look in the
default directory for .h files.
• namespace enables compiler to
know which version of library
functions