CSC 161	Grinnell College	Fall, 2011

Imperative Problem Solving and Data Structures

CSC 161 Module 3: Working with Characters, Strings, and I/O

Introduction

This module introduces CSC 161 students to writing dynamic programs that can take input and follow commands based on input, including

characters
strings,
input and output.

Day-by-day Details

Day	Topic	Preparation	In-class	Due Date	Availability for Extra Credit
Wednesday, October 5	Module 3: Strings and I/O		Examples `io-NATO.c` `counting-chars.c`
Friday, October 7	Characters and Strings	Kernighan & Ritchie, 1.9, 7.8.1, 7.8.2, B.3	Characters and Strings Lab
Monday, October 10	Input and Output `printf`	Kernighan & Ritchie, 1.5, 7.1, 7.2, B.2 (reference) `getchar-example.c` Strings and Characters in C	Input/Output Lab
Tuesday, October 11	More I/O `scanf`	Kernighan & Ritchie, 7.4 B.1.2, B.1.4 (reference) `scanf-example.c`	I/O Lab Continued
Wednesday, October 12	Hour Test 2
Friday, October 14	Project		Robot follows typed commands	Friday, October 28
Monday, October 17 - Friday, October 21	*Fall Break*
Monday, October 24	Project		Robot follows typed commands	Friday, October 28
Tuesday, October 25	Do ONE of supplemental problem 1 or supplemental problem 2			Tuesday, October 25	BOTH problems may be done for extra credit

Project: Robot Follows Typed Commands

Working in pairs, students should develop a program that includes these elements:

program controls actions and sounds in the robot
program prints a prompt that lists the possible actions
robot can perform at least ten different commands
robot counts the number of actions taken and prints the number of actions taken at the end of the program
program ends after the user types a command to quit

Together with the program, a student pair must write a paragraph that describes what tests are needed to demonstrate the program is working correctly. That is, what should a tester do to demonstrate the program works? Also, the student pair must present a sequence of steps that the tester should do to carry out the test plan. (E.g., what should be typed in a terminal window, including the details of the compile, link, and run steps?)

Command Requirements

Each command must perform a clearly different action. The same action, but with different duration or speed does not count as a different action.
Valid: turnLeft, turnRight

Invalid: turnLeft1second, turnLeft2seconds
At least 5 commands must also take one or more parameters. For example, if you implement the beep function, the user must be able to specify the duration and pitch of the beep. If you implement a short dance, the user does not need to specify the length of any of the dance steps.

Grading

This project will be worth 25 points, based on the following rubric:

control of robot activities (5 points)
program can perform at least 10 separate commands (10 points)
description and steps for testing (5 points)
creativity in making an interesting robot application (5 points)

Note

This project is planned for use as the base of a later project, so you will want to document your code well now — in anticipation of later activities.

This document is available on the World Wide Web as

http://www.walker.cs.grinnell.edu/modules/module-chars-io/module-chars-io.shtml

Created 19 July 2011 by April O'Neill Last full revision 9 August 2011 by April O'Neill Dates revised 2 September 2011 by Henry M. Walker
For more information, please contact Henry M. Walker at walker@cs.grinnell.edu.