Reading assignment 1

Before class 2, please:

• Skim King Preface, Ch. 1. These are meant to orient you to the book and how to use it effectively. Taking 5 minutes to learn about the book (and the C language) will pay off.

• Read King, Ch. 2. Chapter 2 reviews the basic syntax of C, which is very similar to Java. However, it takes a systematic approach to explaining, say, the difference between a statement and an expression, details you may not have learned in Java. Subsections that are most likely to be surprising/new:
  • Compiling and Linking (p. 10)
  • Directives (p. 12)
  • Printing strings (p. 14)
  • (Comments in C are identical to comments in Java)
  • Printing the value of a variable (p. 19)
  • Section 2.5: Reading Input (p. 22)
  • Section 2.6: Defining Names for Constants (p. 23)

• Read King, Ch. 3. This chapter gives details on printf and scanf, the way we print to and read from the user in C. These functions can be unintuitive and are likely quite different from anything you have seen before. Read carefully. Note that the &-signs used with scanf will be explained in their full, glorious, and gory detail later.

• Skim Shotts Preface, Chs. 1-4. We will be using the Linux command line in lab on Thursday, and it will serve you well to have a passing familiarity with it. Experiment by logging into the Linux computers in our lab, Park 231. (You may have to restart the machine if it’s booted into Windows. Choose the penguin as it’s booting.)

  When reading the Shotts book, you never need to memorize the syntax of commands or the long lists of flags and other gubbins that commands come with. Your goal is to get the overall flavor of things, and to remember tidbits like

  • ls lists files
  • cp copies a file
  • less reads a file
  • cd changes directory

  You can always look up the exact syntax later.

  This course will not have any Linux usage questions on exams.

  It also may be helpful to know that both Bryn Mawr and Haverford’s libraries have an online copy of this text. In other words, you can legally download it for free.

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