Where Do We Go From Here?

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• Jim Fawcett
• CSE687 Object Oriented Design
• Spring 2005

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C in Depth

• The C Programming Language, 3rd Edition, Bjarne
  Stroustrup, Addison-Wesley, 1997
• Complete and accurate
• The C Standard Library, Nicolai Josuttis,
  Addison-Wesley,1999
• Very readable, and fairly complete.
• Some of the examples are over-simplified.
• C Coding Standards, Alexandrescu and Sutter,
  Addison-Wesley, 2005
• Excellent review of what we covered in this
  class. Recommended study for interviews.
• C Common Knowledge, Stephen Dewhurst,
  Addison-Wesley, 2005
• Clear, consise intermediate level discussion of
  C design issues and idoms.
• Modern C Design, Andrei Alexandrescu,
  Addison-Wesley, 2001
• Most sophisticated book on templates Ive seen.
• C Gotchas, Stephen Dewhurst, Addison-Wesley,
  2003
• 99 items that describe common errors and correct
  methods
• Effective STL, Scott Meyers, Addison-Wesley, 2001
• 50 items that describe common errors and correct
  methods
• Exceptional C, Herb Sutter, Addison-Wesley,
  2000

3
Gentler C

• Accelerated C, Andrew Koenig and Barbara Moo,
  Addison-Wesley, 2000
• Starts with the STL and procedural programming.
• Builds up to classes, class relationships, and
  polymorphism.
• C Primer Plus, Third Edition, Stephen Prata,
  Waite Group, 1998
• Large, thorough coverage of the C Language with
  lots of small examples.

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Object Oriented Design

• Design Patterns, Erich Gamma, et. al.,
  Addison-Wesley, 1995
• This wonderful book is the text we use in the
  summer course of that name. You have to write
  software using the patterns to understand in
  detail what the book is saying, but well worth
  reading even if you dont follow my advice.
• CSE776 - Design Patterns Course
• Presentations and discussions of 23 patterns from
  the book and half a dozen from other places.
• A relaxed, reflective look at OOD, with an
  orientation toward C
• Excellent practice making technical
  presentations, much like those you will be
  required to give when working professionally.
  But this is a much more forgiving atmosphere a
  chance to learn these skills with help from the
  instructor and your classmates.

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Is it Worthwhile to Study C Further?

• C is the system programming language for the
  foreseeable future.
• Standards work, focused on the library, may
  provide more platform tools like threading,
  directory support, and smart pointers.
• Only language that works in both managed and
  unmanaged code.
• C and the .Net Framework are the best
  language/library/runtime combination available
  for the Windows platform.
• Usability is excellent for beginners as well as
  experts
• Intellisense and object browser are terrific
  tools
• Best integrated over the desktop and server
  platforms
• Becoming available on non-Wintel platforms
• Mono, GNUdotNet
• Java and J2EE have a large installed base but
• My personal opinion is that Sun no longer has the
  financial muscle to vigorously support the Java
  infrastructure.
• They have continually refused to surrender any
  control over the language and packages to a
  standards body.

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My Favorite Language

• C is my favorite programming language. Why?
• Deep copy model is by far the best model for
  scientific computing. You need real object
  identity to implement algorithms effectively, not
  just assignment makes another reference.
• I believe its easier to elegantly structure
  programs using C
• Templates
• Rich memory model
• Exceptional control over program execution.
• Global functions as well as classes.
• The STL provides a very powerful collection of
  containers and algorithms.
• Its easier to build complex data structures with
  the STL than anything else Ive used.

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Open Libraries

• Loki library
• http//www.moderncppdesign.com/
• Exploits template policy and template
  metaprogramming to provide flexible tools for
  implementing C programs
• Smart pointers
• Generalized functors
• Object factories
• Boost library
• www.boost.org
• An open-source set of libraries started by
  members of the C standardization committee.
• Many useful capabilities for C
• Graphs
• Math
• testing

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Other Links

• Association of C/C Users
• www.accu.org
• Book reviews and links
• UML Tutorial
• bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,31863,00.html
• Stroustrup's Home Page
• www.research.att.com/bs/homepage.html
• Code Project
• www.codeproject.com
• Chris Sells
• www.sellsbrothers.com
• Guru of the Week
• www.gotw.ca
• C/C User's Journal
• www.cuj.com
• Dr. Dobb's Journal
• www.ddj.com
• techNetCast
• http//technetcast.ddj.com

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End of Presentation