Simple Flow of Control

CSIS1117 Computer Programming

Contents

Selection control
If-statement
Data type -- bool
If/else statement
Dangling else
Logical operators
Short-circuit evaluation

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Statements

So far, we have learned to write simple programs,

which can interact with users.
However, in many cases, we want some
statements to be executed only if certain criteria
are satisfied.

e.g. we need to check if y is zero to prevent the run time

error.
We will have
int x, y;
an runtime
cin >> x >> y;
error if y=0
cout << x/y << endl;

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Selection control

The problem can be solved by attaching a test

expression (condition). If the condition is true, the
statement is executed. Otherwise, the statement
is skipped.
Test expression

int x, y;
cin >> x >> y;
Only execute if the
test expression is true
if( y != 0)
cout << x/y << endl;
if( y == 0)
cout << "The dividend can t be zero" <<

endl;
not equal
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equal
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if - statement
if(test expression)
body;

We can use an if-statement to determine whether

certain code is required to execute.
An if-statement consists of a test expression that
evaluates to true or false and the body.
The body (consequence) will be executed only if
the test expression is true.
See cal-div.cc as an example

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Data type -- bool

We ve discussed the data type int, double, and

string, they use to represent different values.

int: 7, -3, 1000, etc

double: 1.2, -3.45, 0.012, etc
string: "Peter", "Hello World!", etc

bool only for storing true or false value.

Test expression has the value of type bool.
bool isZero = (y == 0);

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A test expression is usually formed by comparing

two numbers with Relational Operator.

e.g. a>b, a>=b, a<=b, a<b, a==b, a!=b

== means
equal

!= means
NOT equal

bool isZero = (y == 0);

if(isZero)
cout << "The dividend can t be zero"
<< endl;
Equal to:
if(isZero == true)
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Block statement

Suppose now we want to print two lines if y is zero.

// This is wrong !!
if(y == 0)
cout << "The dividend can t be zero" <<
endl;
cout << "
^^^^^^^^ " << endl;

This statement is executed independent

of the result of the test expression

Note that the body of an if-statement is a single

statement.

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We can group one or more statements to form a

block statement delimited by a pair of braces.

A block statement is a single statement.

We can even declare variables inside a block
No need to put a semi-colon after a block.

// This is correct!
if(y == 0){
cout << "The dividend can t be zero" << endl;
cout << "
^^^^^^^^ " << endl;
}

Specifying a block statement

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if/else statement

Sometimes we want the program to choose only

one of two alternatives.

int x, y;
cin >> x >> y;
if( y != 0)
cout << x/y << endl;
if( y == 0){
cout << "The dividend can t be zero" <<

endl;

cout << "

}
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^^^^^^^^ " << endl;

No matter what value of y, only one

of the bodies is executed.
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The two alternatives are mutually exclusive, the

input number y is either equal to zero (y==0) or
not equal to zero (y!=0), but not both.
Using if/else-statement can represent this idea
naturally and more clearly.

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if/else statement
Execute if the test
expression (y==0) is true

int x, y;
cin >> x >> y;
if( y == 0){
cout << "The dividend can t be zero" <<

endl;

cout << "

^^^^^^^^ " << endl;
}else
cout << x/y << endl;

Execute if the test expression is false

See cal-div-else.cc as an example

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More on test expression

A test expression can be formed by comparing two

values.
//
//
(x
(x
(x

Examples on test expressions

x, y and z are numbers
>= y);
+ z > y);
+ z > y * z);

Arithmetic expression also has a value, it will

be evaluated before the comparison.
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Dangling else problem

Consider the following two programs:
if (x > 0)
if (x % 2 == 0)
cout << "It is a positive even number";
else
cout << "It is a positive odd number";
if (x > 0)
if (x % 2 == 0)
cout << "It is a positive even number";
else
cout << "It is a non-positive number";

Are they the same? Which one will give the wrong
answer?
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Dangling else problem

// if x = 10
It is a positive even number
if (x > 0)
// if x = 7
if (x % 2 == 0)
is a positive
odd number
cout << "It is It
a positive
even number";
else
cout << "It is a positive odd number";
//
It
if (x > 0)
//
if (x % 2 == 0)
cout << "It is It
a

if x = 10
is a positive even number
if x = 7
is a non-positive
number
positive
even number";

else
cout << "It is a non-positive number";

The second program give wrong answer, why?

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An else is always matched with the nearest

preceding unmatched if.
We need to use parentheses to indicate the else
for the outer if.

So the second program should be modified as follow:

if (x > 0){
if (x % 2 == 0)
cout << "It is a positive even number";
}else
cout << "It is a non-positive number";

See checking.cc

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Example leap year

Write a program to determine whether a year is a

leap year.
How to check if a year is a leap year?
1997
1996
A leap year is divisible by 4

1994

cin >> year;

if (year % 4 == 0)
// may be a leap year
else
cout << "It is not a leap year
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<< endl;
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Example leap year

How about

1900
But it is divisible by 4 !!
A leap year is divisible by 4, but not divisible by
100

cin >> year;

if (year % 4 == 0){
if (year % 100 == 0)
// may not be a leap year
else
cout << "It is a leap year" << endl;
}else
cout << "It is a not a leap year" << endl;
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Example leap year

How about

2000
But it is divisible by 4 and 100 !!

A leap year is divisible by 4, but not divisible by

100. However, if it is divisible by 400, it is still a
leap year.

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Example leap year

cin >> year;
if (year % 4 == 0){
if (year % 100 == 0){
if (year % 400 == 0)
cout << "It is a leap year" << endl;
else
cout << "It is not a leap year" <<
endl;
}else
cout << "It is a leap year" << endl;
}else
cout << "It is not a leap year" << endl;

See leap-year.cc and leap-year-bool.cc

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Logical operators

A test expression sometimes consists of other subexpressions , e.g.

If your exam score is at least 70 and less than 75, you get a
B+
If you fail in the quiz or exam, you will receive a warning letter

Test expressions can be combined using logical

operators, e.g. && (AND), || (OR) and ! (NOT).

A logical operator applies on bool values and the result is

also of type bool.

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We can simplify the program code by using Logical

operator.
cin >> mark;
if (mark >= 70)
if (mark < 75)
cout << You get a B+

<< endl;

Simplified to
cin >> mark;
if (mark >= 70 && mark < 75)
cout << You get a B+ << endl;
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Note that a range condition, such as a<= x < b,

has to be written in forms like (a<=x)&&(x<b)

See range.cc and range-logical.cc

Common mistakes:

Mixing = with == , | with || and & with &&

These logical errors are difficult to detect as they cannot
be reported by the compiler.
See misuse.cc

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Operator Precedence
highest

priority

*, /, %
+,

lowest

<, <=, >, >=

==, !=
&&
||

Logical NOT
Binary operators
Relational
operators
Logical AND
Logical OR

You can use parentheses to force the order of evaluation.

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Add parentheses to the following expressions to

show the precedence of the computation.
x + 3 >= 9 || z != x * 2 && !(y / 2 < 3)

( ((x + 3 ) >= 9 ) || ((z != (x * 2 ))&&

(! (y / 2 ) < 3 )))

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Short-circuit evaluation

are the following programs the same?

if(count != 0 && scores / count < 60)
cout << "low average warning" << endl;
if(scores / count < 60 && count != 0)
cout << "low average warning" << endl;

No!! They are not the same, the second one will
give error if count is zero.
Why?
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Short-circuit evaluation

Sub-expressions in test expression are not

evaluated if the value of the entire expression is
already known.

E.g. A test expression (expr1) && (expr2) is false if at

least one of expr1 and expr2 is false. Therefore, if the
expr1 is known to be false, the expr2 will not be
evaluated as the result of the entire expression is known
after evaluating expr1.

The short-circuit feature is useful in simplifying

some program code. However, you need to
consider the order of the sub-expressions

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Short-circuit evaluation
It is evaluated first, if it is false, the second subexpression (scores/count<60) is not evaluated.
if(count != 0 && scores / count < 60)
cout << "low average warning" << endl;
if(scores / count < 60 && count != 0)
cout << "low average warning" << endl;

If count is zero, this sub-expression will cause

run time error.
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Conditional operator

This is the only ternary operator in C++.

Syntax
expr0 ? expr1 : expr2

If expr0 is evaluated to true,

Evaluate expr1 to be the value of the whole expression

Otherwise, evaluate expr2 to be the value of the whole
expression.

Since it is an expression, it can appear inside a

statement.

See conditional-op.cc

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