CS 2005, B Term 1999
Techniques of Programming
Lab 0 (Oct. 27)

Instructions

This introductory lab session will help you become familiar with certain aspects of lab protocol. You will also see an example of C++ classes and use the g++ compiler.
  1. Sign in with the TA. You should both print your name and sign the sheet.
  2. Listen to the TA's mini-lecture.
  3. Do the problems listed below. Feel free to ask the TA questions about the problems. Don't worry if you run out of time before you fully understand/finish all of the problems. You're not being graded on this material yet, and further discussion will be provided in class this week.

Problems

The following problems use the Clock class. Each object of type Clock represents an ordinary clock that can be set to any time of day in the standard 12 hour:minute am/pm format. The time on a given Clock object can also be moved forward by a given number of minutes.

  1. Read the C++ header file clocks.h, containing a specification of the Clock class. Notice that the functionality described in the header file is not implemented in clocks.h. Nonetheless, sufficient information about the behavior of objects of type Clock is given in the header file so that the the user can write programs that use them. Examples of the appropriate C++ syntax to be used in such programs are given below.

  2. Write C++ statements that achieve the following objectives:

  3. Log onto your CCC Unix account and change the directory to /cs/cs2005/. Copies of both the specification file clocks.h and a separate implementation file clocks.cxx for the Clock class are available in that directory. You will also find a program that uses the Clock class, in the file clocktest.cxx (the details of this program don't concern us today). In order to produce an executable program from clocktest.cxx, you should perform the following steps:
    1. Copy all the above files to your own personal directory.
    2. Compile the implementation file clocks.cxx by typing
      g++ -c clocks.cxx
      at the Unix prompt. This produces an object file clocks.o but does not produce an executable file.
    3. Compile the test program clocktest.cxx by typing
      g++ -o clocktest clocktest.cxx clocks.o -lm
      at the Unix prompt. This compiles the test program, links the Clock class implementation to it, and produces an executable file named clocktest.
    You may type man g++ at the Unix prompt for information about compiler options and details.

  4. Run the executable file clocktest. Try it out using different options.

  5. Examine the file named makefile in the directory /cs/cs2005/. This file contains the required compiler/linker commands as described above, as well as a description of the relevant dependencies between the various files involved. Typing make at the Unix prompt causes the commands contained in the makefile to be carried out (you may want to remove some of the object and executable files before trying this). See the CS2005 homepage for links to further information about Makefiles.

  6. If you have enough time left, write your own test program myclocktest.cxx that uses the Clock class in some way. For example, your program could create an object of type Clock, then proceed to print the time on the clock at intervals of 15 minutes, for a total period of, say, 12 hours. Compile your program and link it to clocks.cxx as described above. Then try it out by running it!