Programming in C autumn 2008, intructions of the project work

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PROGRAMMING IN C PROJECT (Autumn 2008)

GENERAL

The project is part of the course programming in C. Only those who have returned the project can participate to the separate exams. You can particape to the course exam even if you have not yet returned your project. The project work IS COMPULSORY. If it has not been completed, you may not enter the separate exam.

The project deadline is MONDAY 3, NOVEMBER 2008.

NOT A GROUP WORK

The project work is not a group work. You can discuss with others students about the solutions, but you should do yourself your project work and you should not copy it.

INSTRUCTION SESSIONS

Choose one programming task from the task list and implement it with the ANSI-C language.
Tell the programming task you have chosen by email to Päivi Kuupppelomäki (paivi.kuuppelomaki@cs.helsinki.fi) or during exercise session. Information about programming tasks that have been chosen is available from the course page.

Instruction sessions are available four times by Tomi Jylhä-Ollila.

Tue Oct. 14th 9:30-10 room D228 Päivi Kuuppelomäki (office hour)
Tue Oct. 14th 16-18 room CK110 Tomi Jylhä-Ollila
Fri Oct. 17th 12-14 room CK110 Tomi Jylhä-Ollila
Tue Oct. 21st 9:30-10 room D228 Päivi Kuuppelomäki (office hour)
Thu Oct. 23rd 12-14 room A232 Liisa Marttinen
Mon Oct. 27th 12-14 room D214 Liisa Marttinen
Thu Oct. 30th 16-18 room CK110 Tomi Jylhä-Ollila
Fri Oct. 31st 14-16 room CK110 Tomi Jylhä-Ollila

You are responsible for the timetable yourself.

REQUIREMENTS (DEMANDS)

Used features (these should be found from the code):

Linked data structure with pointers (stack, list, tree, ...) if possible.
Reaging and writing from a file (text or binary file)
command line parameters (if you do not found anyting else, include at least -h for help)
Functions with parameters

Use also other features, if the solution demands for it. You may work on whichever computer you wish, but the resulting program must run on any Linux machine in the CS Department (so keep portability in mind). You program should be compiled by gcc with options -ansi -pedantic and -Wall without warnings. There should be at least two separately compiled units. There should also be a makefile. And make command should make a runnable program.

Outline the problem field and set the function specification, data structures to be used and the main strategies of the solution. Present your choices and solutions to the instructor. A good set of data structures may save you a lot of code writing.

Evaluate the feasibility of your plan:

The first solution that comes into your mind is not necessarily the best one.
You should not invest too much time and energy into a bad solution at an early stage.
A good program functions as it is supposed to, efficiency is often less important.

Put the presentations of functions, type specifications of data structures etc. into specification files with the ending .h. The actual code and variable specifications should be put into source code files with the ending .c.

Always make a separate main program and put functions that belong together according to some obvious task that they do together in their own source code files.

Always use good taste when you work:

coherent programming style
avoid peculiar and cryptic language in your coding
a shock-proof program neither creaks nor crashes
add brief instructions
variables: descriptive names that take into account their purpose, meaning and use

Testing should be done systematically from the beginning. You can find small errors and 'suspicious' parts with the option -ansi -pedantic -Wall in the gcc compiler.

DOCUMENTATION: A NECESSITY

Document your program:

Each program file contains a general comment:

What the use of the file is
What functions the file contains
Which of the other files' functions the file uses
Library functions do not have to be listed

Clarify the main data structures
For each function, explain:

What the function does
What its parameters are
What it returns
What it changes

Avoid unnecessary commentation. Use clear variable names, the structure of the language is assumed to be known, etc.
Comment on difficult and exceptional solutions

HANDING IN THE PROJECT: HOW TO DO IT

Hand in you project to Liisa Marttiselle (liisa.marttinen@cs.helsinki.fi) if it was a wordcounter to Tomi Jylhä-Ollila (tomi.jylha-ollila@helsinki.fi), if it was a Register of employees otherwise to Päivi Kuuppelomäki (Paivi.Kuuppelomaki@cs.helsinki.fi) by e-mail.

Make a one tar-package that is easy to open. The package should include all material of the project work:

all the code and specification files for the source language
the file Makefile with which the program can be compiled
files used for testing and other material from testing
a readme file specifying how to handle your program.

Tar-file is saved on your own homepage. You can also send the compressed tar-file as tgz-file or gz-file by e-mail.

PROJECT MARKS

Project work carries ten marks:

programs wideness and difficulty, (1-2 p)
- 1 p implemets the programming task moderately
- 2 p implements the programming task extremely well
main starategies of the solution. (1- 2 p)
- clear, logical and working solution for data structures
- how well the program is divided in modules
the structure of the program (how well the program is divided into functions), logical and effective use of C-language (1-3 p)
- how well the program is divided into functions (0-1 p)
- use of the C-language (0-2) and good programming style
programs exterior features and readability (comments, variable names, indentation, coherent programming style) (0-1 p)
testing and test cases (0-1 p)
document (1 p)

Marks are suggestive. Marks can vary accorging to the programming task.

Program is returned to be corrected, if

compilation of the program is not succesfull
program stops in a severe runtime error
program is not at all doing what is should do
documentation is missing totally
test description of the program is missing totally
there are no functions in the program
marks are less than 3
Some of the features are missing (linked data structure with pointers, reading and writing from a file, command line parameters)
the program is not divided into separate compilation units
Makefile is missing

Good luck for your work!