CSE 332 Overview and Structure

1
CSE 332 Overview and Structure

• CSE 332 emphasizes studio-based active learning
• Introductory lecture material followed by
  hands-on exercises
• More time in guided exploration than in passive
  absorption
• Key insight different people learn in different
  ways
• Our goal is to make many resources available to
  you
• Your goal should be to engage those resources
  actively
• Professors (and teaching assistants) role
• Emphasis on guidance, coaching, discussion
• Students role
• Emphasis on exploration, peer interaction,
  teamwork

2
C Language and Paradigms

• The course focuses a lot on C
• But also on general programming issues it raises
• C is a multi-paradigm language
• Procedural programming with functions
• Object-oriented programming with classes
• Generic programming with templates, typedefs
• The course structure lets us explore these in
  parallel
• Comparison to C
• Adds higher-level features, keeps lower-level
  ones
• Comparison to Java
• Many similar ideas but with different nuances
• References/pointers, inheritance, access
  restrictions
• Gives a less abstract view of the underlying
  platform

3
How C Evolved

• C is a popular language for developing low-level
  systems software and applications
• E.g., operating systems like Linux
• However, its difficult to support type safe
  software reuse without inheritance, etc.
• E.g., for middleware frameworks like ACE
• Stroustrup designed C with classes/objects
• But kept procedural parts very similar to C
• Later, templates (generics) were added
• With which Stepanov, et al. developed the STL

4
Approach Well Take in CSE 332

• A key goal is to expand refine your mental
  models
• For C mainly, but also for programming in
  general
• Notice and try out new ideas, share them, discuss
  them
• Challenge your understanding in as may ways as
  you can
• If you dont remember every detail at first,
  thats ok
• Well revisit concepts and techniques from
  different angles
• Try to refresh your memory early and often
• Apply what you learn, early and often, towards
  mastery
• Well work together to build understanding in
  stages
• First as a consumer of an approach (can you use
  it?)
• Then understanding it thoroughly (when can you
  use it?)
• Then as a contributor to the approach (can you
  expand it?)

5
Approach Well Take, Continued

• Well talk about how/why the tools youll use
  work
• E.g., how new/delete operators are used by smart
  pointers
• Give insight into special cases when new tools
  are needed
• Throughout the course, the point is to learn by
  doing
• Mini-lectures and readings are intended as
  preparation
• Studio exercises build understanding and
  expertise
• Lab assignments ask you to apply what youve
  learned
• 10 years from now, the languages you use may
  differ
• Ive worked in C, C, Pascal, Java, and x86
  assembly
• But your mastery of procedural/OO/generic ideas
  will help
• And, youll have a pretty solid grounding in C
  until then

6
Topic Areas Covered This Semester

• C program basics
• Variables, types, control statements, development
  environments
• C functions
• Parameters, call stack, exceptions
• C memory
• Addressing, layout, management
• C classes
• Encapsulation, abstraction, inheritance
  polymorphism
• C generics
• Overloading, templates, interface polymorphism ,
  associated types
• C STL
• Iterators, algorithms, containers, functors
• Introduction to Design Patterns
• And how to combine them to design programs