COMS W4995 C++ for C Programmers

Summer (A) 2021

• Tue & Thu 4:10–6:40pm

  • Online only
  • Zoom links public on CourseWorks – search on Vergil

• Online but synchronous final exam on Thursday June 3rd, 4:10pm

  • There are no make-up or alternate exams.
  • Please do not take the course if you are not available at that time.

• Instructor: Jae Woo Lee

• Office hours:

  • Jae’s office hours
  • TA office hours

Course essentials

• OVERVIEW AND LOGISTICS
• REQUIRED READING: ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICIES
• Linux programming environment
• Git tutorial
• Lab submission instruction

Supplementary materials

• Supplements to Jae’s Git tutorial from COMS 3157:
  • Annotated version by TAs
  • Git for AP - intro slides by TAs

Past Lectures

• Course overview and logistics

  • Slides: OVERVIEW AND LOGISTICS

• Hello C++

  • string, iostream, namespace
    • hello.cpp

• Basic-4 in C++
  • constructors and destructor
  • stack allocations and heap allocations
  • passing by value vs. passing by reference

• Basic-4 in C++ (continued)
  • three cases of copy construction
  • const member functions
  • copy assignment
    • Makefile, basic4.cpp

• MyString class
  • Basic-4 of MyString class
  • Inlining member functions
  • operator+
  • put-to & get-from operators
  • operator[]
  • exception handling
    • MyString class & test drivers

• Template functions

  • Makefile, template1.cpp

• Essential-6 in C++

  • Basic-4 plus move constructor & move assignment
  • rvalue reference
  • copy elision eliminates move
  • casting to rvalue reference
    • Makefile, template2.cpp

• Vector template class

  • Makefile, template3.cpp

• Inheritance

  • Object layout
  • Static binding vs. dynamic binding
  • Virtual function table structure
  • Multiple inheritance
  • Object construction order
    • inherit1.cpp, inherit2.cpp, inherit3.cpp

• I/O streams

  • I/O stream class hierarchy
  • I/O state
  • Mixing C and C++ I/O
    • io1.cpp, io2.cpp
  • I/O of user-defined types
  • String streams
  • File streams
    • io3.cpp, sample data file

• to<>() template function using stringstream

  • to.cpp

• Revisited Vector template class

  • Replacing Vec with std:vector
    • template4.cpp
  • Runtime complexity of vector::push_back()

• Sequential STL containers

  • array
  • vector
  • deque
  • list & forward_list
  • Value semantics
    • Makefile, stl1.cpp

• Iterators

  • For_Each() template function
  • begin() & end()
    • Makefile, stl2.cpp

• Iterators (continued)

  • std::initializer_list<T>
  • Iterator adapters
  • Stream iterators
  • Iterator categories
    • Makefile, stl3.cpp

• Intro to Template Metaprogramming

  • Tag dispatching technique
  • Template specialization
  • Concepts in C++20
    • Makefile, itraits.cpp

• Functional programming in C++

  • Function objects (aks functors)
  • STL function objects and bind()
  • Lamda
    • Makefile, functor.cpp

• Review Function objects (aka functors) and Lambdas

  • Makefile, functor.cpp

• Associative containers

  • map, multimap, unordered_map, unordered_multimap
    • Makefile, words.cpp

• Random number generator

  • Random number generator in C vs. C++
    • Makefile, rand1.cpp
  • Normal distribution
  • Mersenne Twister engine
  • Danger of narrowing conversions
  • Stateful functors
  • Very stateful functors
    • Makefile, rand2.cpp, c2cpp_util.h

• Variadic templates

  • lvalue vs. rvalue
  • Forwarding reference
  • std::forward<T>
    • Makefile, values.cpp, c2cpp_util.h
  • Variadic template using recursion
  • Forwarding parameter pack
  • Fold expression
    • Makefile, variadic.cpp, c2cpp_util.h

• Smart pointers

  • SmartPtr<T> implementation
  • MakeSmartPtr()
  • shared_ptr<T> & make_shared()
  • Features of shared_ptr<T>
    • Makefile, smartptr.cpp, c2cpp_util.h

• Template Metaprogramming – Guest lecture by James Yang

  • Abstract:

    With a growing need for highly-optimized code in speed-critical applications, developers must seek other venues from traditional methods for greater optimization. In this lecture, we will introduce one such method called template metaprogramming, a C++ programming technique to make compile-time optimizations that mitigate run-time overhead. Specifically, we will study three common use-cases: compile-time function evaluation, compile-time unrolling of recursive function calls, and expression templates. We will also discuss the benefits as well as the drawbacks of these methods.

    • Computing factorial at compile-time
    • Optimizing pow function for integral exponents by branching at compile-time
    • Removing unnecessary allocations in matrix operations using expression templates

  • Source code

• Course wrap-up

  • Slides

Assignments

• HW0 Part A due T 5/4
• HW0 Part B due R 5/6
• Lab 1 due Sun 5/9
• Lab 2 due Tue 5/18
• Lab 3 due Thu 5/27
• Final exam on Thu 6/3, 4:10pm
• Lab 4 due Sun 6/13 Wed 6/16