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Lecture1.ppt
- 1. ENERGY 211 / CME 211 Computer Programming in C++ for Earth Scientists and Engineers Lecture 1 September 22, 2008
- 2. 2 Why This Course? • To help students improve or acquire the programming skills they need for research in earth sciences or engineering • Alternative to CS106X, with more relevant examples and exercises
- 3. 3 What is Covered? • Learning C++ – Basics – Classes – Standard C++ library, including STL • Software Engineering Practices – Computer architecture essentials – Design, testing, debugging – Efficient memory usage • Special Topics
- 4. 4 Course Staff • Instructor: Prof. Jim Lambers – Acting assistant professor, ERE/ICME – Former software engineer – Email: [email protected] • TA: Alejandro David Leiva – MS student, ERE – Email: [email protected] • TA: Yifan Zhou – MS student, ERE – Email: [email protected]
- 5. 5 Course Web Sites • http://energy211.stanford.edu – Primary site, for easier access to course materials and information • http://coursework.stanford.edu – For viewing grades, receiving email announcements • Lecture notes, assignments available at either site
- 6. 6 Your Grade • No midterm or final exam • 6 programming projects, 10-15% each • Final project, 30% • Bonus: 1% added to overall grade if at least 5 coding-related questions asked by e-mail to instructor • Letter grades: straight scale (or nicer)
- 7. 7 Programming Projects • 6 projects, one week each • Can (and should!) work with a partner – Can be different partner for each project – No changing partners in the middle of a project • Must be submitted electronically (details to come) • First project to be distributed on Friday, October 3
- 8. 8 Late Days • Programming projects must be submitted electronically by 11:59pm on the due date • You have five late days for the entire quarter that may be used at any time, no questions asked • Use them wisely, they might be all you get!
- 9. 9 Why C++? • To maximize computational efficiency, best to use low-level programming languages (easy to translate into efficient machine code) • To efficiently build large applications, best to use high-level languages that support modularity, abstraction and encapsulation • C++ combines aspects of both
- 10. 10 Low-level C/C++ #include <stdlib.h> extern ssize_t write(int, const void *, size_t); int main() { write(1, "Hello world!n", 13); } 0: 1b 00 00 00 sethi %hi(0x0), %o5 4: 82 10 00 0f mov %o7, %g1 8: 92 03 60 00 add %o5, 0, %o1 c: 90 10 20 01 mov 1, %o0 10: 94 10 20 0d mov 13, %o2 14: 40 00 00 00 call 0x14 18: 9e 10 00 01 mov %g1, %o7 C code Assembly code
- 11. 11 High-level C++ #include <iostream> int main() { std::cout << "Hello world!" << std::endl; } • Easier to understand this program’s purpose: to send text and end-of-line to output device • No need for device descriptors, computing text length, or escape sequences • Being programmer-friendlier carries a cost: assembly code is nearly 4 times as long!
- 12. 12 A Few Buzzwords • Modularity: the extent to which a program is decomposed into separate modules, thus simplifying design • Abstraction: the practice of reducing or factoring out details so that one can focus on only a few concepts at a time • Encapsulation: hiding the design of a task from the rest of the application, thus protecting it from changes
- 13. 13 What C++ Offers • All of the power and efficiency of C (which is a subset) • Object-oriented programming (though not truly an object-oriented language) • Generic programming, through templates • Definition and extension of operators • Freedom to use paradigm of choice
- 14. 14 Why Not Just Use MATLAB? • MATLAB is useful for proof-of-concept, but not for release-grade software • Its language is interpreted, not compiled into machine code • Only offers a subset of the functionality of a compiled language such as C++ • This lack of flexibility significantly, and adversely, impacts usability and performance
- 15. 15 Examples of Drawbacks • MATLAB uses LAPACK and BLAS for its low-level linear algebra operations • Use of other libraries is much more difficult and less efficient • Forced to use MATLAB’s data structures for dense and sparse matrices, or other data • Lack of control over how data is accessed results in needless copying
- 16. 16 Effective Software Engineering • Involves much more than just designing and implementing algorithms • Criteria for a program’s usefulness: – Does it accomplish its intended task, and if so, with what limitations? – How efficient is it, in the given computing environment? – How robust is it? Does it handle adverse conditions gracefully?
- 17. 17 Hard Lessons • The sooner you start writing code, the longer it takes you to finish • Untested code will almost always fail • What works today can be broken tomorrow • The first person to use your code will input the one case that it doesn’t handle • Document code well, because your code can be unintelligible, even to you
- 18. 18 Sound Programming Practices are Essential! • In 1991 Gulf War, US Patriot missiles intercepted Iraqi SCUD missiles by estimating velocity = distance / time • Time interval obtained by subtracting times at which position was determined • Times measured as seconds since tracking devices first activated in the field
- 19. 19 Tracking SCUD Missiles Correct Incorrect Source: U.S. GAO Report
- 20. 20 Little Details Aren’t Really Little • Time values large, but close together, so subtraction inaccurate, due to catastrophic cancellation • Velocity estimates useless, so missile’s position could not be determined • Interception failed, led to 28 deaths • What is a simple remedy?
- 21. 21 Next Time • Overview of C++: – History – Design • How to write and run C++ programs – Windows – UNIX/LINUX • Understanding simple C++ programs