CSCI 1500 – Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving

Topics cross-reference to textbooks

RG – Rook’s Guide to C++
FC – Fundamentals of C++ Programming
IP – “Introduction to Program Design and Pseudocode”
Note: FC’s author does not use “using namespace std” but instead specifically references std when
needed (see Sec. 2.3 for explanation of the difference)

Part 1 – Overview of Computers and Problem Solving: Computers and computer science; a brief history
of computing devices; hardware; writing programs; procedural versus object-oriented
programming.
 IP
 FC – 1

Part 2 – Introduction to C++: Punctuation and style; memory and assignments; interactive programs;
syntax errors; data types; numerical operators; arithmetic assignment operators; constants;
escape sequences.
 RG – 2-9
 FC – 2-4

Part 3 – Selection Using if and if-else: One-way selection; two-way selection; logical operators;
multiway selection using nested if-else statement; problem-solving.
 RG – 10
 FC – 5

Part 4 – Functions and Program Design: Predefined functions; library functions; writing value-returning
functions; program design; pseudocode; void functions; functions calling other functions;
function stubs; reference parameters and data input functions; reusing user-defined functions;
more library functions.
 RG – 14.1-4
 FC – 8-9, 10.8-9

Part 5 – The string Data Type and More Output Formatting: String variables; numeric output in table
form; tables with Strings in the first column; cin and cout are streams; reading Strings with
embedded whitespace; program design with Strings.
 RG – 11
 FC – 13.1-2

Part 6 – The Three C++ Looping Constructs: while loops and fixed-step lists; for loops and fixed-step lists
of data values; for loops for input; while loops versus do-while loops; sentinel-controlled data
input with while and do-while loops; debugging strategies; more general task-controlled loops;
using do-while loops to trap input errors; mid-loop exit using the break statement; nested loops;
fixed-step loops with floating point step.
 RG – 12
 FC – 6, 7.3-4
Part 7 – More on Functions: Reference parameters and data input functions; variable updating by using
function calls; global constants; hand tracing; overloaded functions; functions with default
arguments.
 RG – 14.4
 FC – 10.8-9, 10.3-4, 10.1

Part 8 – The switch Statement: switch statement syntax; switch and menu-driven programs.
 RG – 10.2
 FC – 7.1

Part 9 – Arrays and the vector Class; 2-d arrays: Arrays; vectors; parallel vectors; resizing vectors;
2-dimensional arrays syntax and nested for loops
 RG – 13, 13.1
 FC – 11, 11.2.5

Part 10 – Structs: Basics of structs; vectors of structs; nested structs.

 RG – 21.1-2
 FC – 15.9

Part 11 – Recursive Functions: Writing and tracing recursive functions; using recursion to find Fibonacci
numbers; the Towers of Hanoi problem.
 FC – 10.5