CSIS 301 Foundations of C Programming

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Course Description

An introduction to foundational concepts of low-level computer programming, including control structures, primitive data types, structs, bit fields, functions, memory management, and pointers, as well as standard tools such as preprocessors, compilers, linkers, and debuggers. Students will implement solutions using the C programming language.

Instructor

Brian R. Snider
Office hours: Wood-Mar 223 (see schedule)

Texts

recommended

• R. C. Seacord, Effective C, 2nd Ed. No Starch Press, 2024.
  ISBN: 978-1718504127

Resources

• CSIS 301 on Canvas
• CSIS 301 on GitLab
• C language reference
• GCC, the GNU compiler collection
• JetBrains CLion IDE for C/C++ (free academic license)
• Git version control and CLion Git tutorial
• GNU Make

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Objectives

Students will understand:

• Basic control structures for branching and repetition logic;
• Primitive data types, including boolean, integral, floating-point, and character types;
• Null-terminated character strings;
• Structured data types including structs, unions, and bit fields;
• Functions, arguments, parameter passing, and return values;
• Memory management, including static and dynamic allocation;
• Pointers and related operations;
• Single- and multi-dimensional array allocation and access;
• Preprocessing, compiling, and linking steps of program compilation.

Students will gain practical experience designing and implementing solutions in the C programming language, including the use of industry-standard development tools and processes.

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Course Organization

This course will be programming intensive. Programming assignments will be carried out in the C programming language. You are assumed to have previous experience with one or more high-level languages (such as Python or Java), and will be expected to acquire the C programming language skills necessary for this course en route, given sufficient instruction each week, as well as diligent application of higher-level concepts to the corresponding lower-level constructs.

The course will include regular homework and/or programming assignments. There will be no credit given for late assignments (without an excused absence)—turn in as much as you can. Unless otherwise specified, no handwritten work will be accepted.

Reading should be completed before the lecture covering the material per the provided schedule. Not all reading material will be covered in the lectures, but you will be responsible for the material on homework and exams. Quizzes over the assigned reading may be given at any time.

Collaboration and Academic Integrity

See the GFU CS/IS/Cyber policies for collaboration and discussion of collaboration and academic integrity. See also the university's policy on the use of generative AI and related tools in an academic setting. Most students would be surprised at how easy it is to detect collaboration or other academic integrity violations such as plagiarism in programming—please do not test us! Remember: you always have willing and legal collaborators in the faculty. We encourage you to ask questions in class, ask for help in the CS lab, use the class mailing list, and visit office hours for assistance.

Unless otherwise specified (e.g., for a group assignment or project), you are expected to do your own work. This also applies to the use of online resources (e.g., solution guides), help forums (e.g., StackOverflow), and generative models (e.g., ChatGPT). Put simply: if you are representing someone (or something) else's work as your own, you are being dishonest. Any suspected incidents of academic integrity violations will be investigated and reported to the Academic Affairs Office as they arise.

Almost all of life is filled with collaboration (i.e., people working together). Yet in our academic system, we artificially limit collaboration. These limits are designed to force you to learn fundamental principles and build specific skills. It is very artificial, and you'll find that collaboration is a valuable skill in the working world. While some of you may be tempted to collaborate too much, others will collaborate too little. When appropriate, it's a good idea to make use of others—the purpose here is to learn. Be sure to make the most of this opportunity but do it earnestly and with integrity.

University Resources

Accessibility and Disability

If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities and require accommodations, please contact Disability & Accessibility Services (DAS) as early as possible so that your learning needs can be appropriately met. For more information, go to georgefox.edu/das or contact das@georgefox.edu.

My desire as a professor is for this course to be welcoming to, accessible to, and usable by everyone, including students who are English-language learners, have a variety of learning styles, have disabilities, or are new to online learning systems. Be sure to let me know immediately if you encounter a required element or resource in the course that is not accessible to you. Also, let me know of changes I can make to the course so that it is more welcoming to, accessible to, or usable by students who take this course in the future.

Academic Resource Center

The Academic Resource Center (ARC) on the Newberg campus provides all undergraduate students with free writing consultation, academic coaching, and learning strategy review (e.g., techniques to improve reading, note-taking, study, time management). The ARC offers in-person appointments; if necessary, Zoom appointments can be arranged by request. The ARC, located on the first floor of the Murdock Library, is open during the academic year from 1:00–9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 12:00–4:00 p.m. on Friday. To schedule an appointment, click on the TracCloud icon on the Canvas dashboard, go to traccloud.georgefox.edu, call 503-554-2327, email the_arc@georgefox.edu, or stop by the ARC. Visit arc.georgefox.edu for information about ARC Consultants' areas of study, instructions for scheduling an appointment, learning tips, and a list of other tutoring options on campus.

Student Support Network

George Fox University uses a robust referral and support system, Fox360, to learn about students who are experiencing various student success concerns. Students who are referred by a professor, other employee, or fellow student will be contacted by a member of our Student Support Network to explore the student's situation, develop a plan, and connect with relevant campus resources. GFU community members who have a concern about a student's well-being can submit an alert by going to fox360.georgefox.edu. Our goal is to provide 360° care for students as they navigate their college experience. For more information see ssn.georgefox.edu or contact Rick Muthiah, Director of Learning Support Services.

Health and Safety Considerations

Please review the entirety of the university's official COVID-19 web page for the most up-to-date community guidance.

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Grading

Grading Scale

The final course grade will be based on:

• 60% Homework & programming assignments
• 40% Exams

Graded course activities will be posted to Canvas. Take care to read the specifications carefully and proceed as directed. Failure to pay attention to detail will often result in few to zero points being awarded on a given activity.

Grades will be updated as often as possible; you are encouraged to use the "What-If" functionality to calculate your total grade by entering hypothetical scores for various items.

Note that some graded activities in this course will be submitted via GitLab.

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Tentative Schedule

Week 1 · Mon Course Overview; Toolchain Setup

Week 1 · Wed Introduction to C; Integrated Development Environment Reading: pp. xxiii–xxviii, 1–11

Week 1 · Fri Introduction to Git Version Control; Doxygen Misc: Doxygen

Week 2 · Mon Objects and Variables; Primitive Types Reading: pp. 12–22

Week 2 · Wed Derived Types: Structures and Bit Fields Reading: pp. 27–28 Misc: Bit fields

Week 2 · Fri Derived Types: Unions and Type Definitions Reading: pp. 26, 28–31

Week 3 · Mon Derived Types: Pointers Reading: pp. 23–25

Week 3 · Wed Serve Day—no classes

Week 3 · Fri Derived Types: Arrays Reading: pp. 25–26

Week 4 · Mon Functions and Scope Reading: pp. 22–23, 34–35

Week 4 · Wed Passing Array Types Reading: pp. 42–44

Week 4 · Fri Type Qualifiers Reading: pp. 31–34

Week 5 · Mon Arithmetic Types: Integers Reading: pp. 47–59

Week 5 · Wed Arithmetic Types: Real Numbers and Floating-Point Representation Reading: pp. 59–64

Week 5 · Fri Arithmetic Conversion; Pseudo-Random Numbers; Library Functions Reading: pp. 64–72 Misc: rand/srand

Week 6 · Mon Expressions, Precedence, and Associativity Reading: pp. 73–80

Week 6 · Wed Operators Reading: pp. 80–96

Week 6 · Fri Control Flow Reading: pp. 97–113

Week 7 · Mon Midterm exam review

Week 7 · Wed Midterm exam Reading: Ch. 1–5

Week 7 · Fri Mid-semester break—no classes

Week 8 · Mon Midterm exam post-mortem

Week 8 · Wed Memory Management Reading: pp. 115–127

Week 8 · Fri Dynamically-Allocated Structures and Arrays Reading: pp. 127–132

Week 9 · Mon Array Algorithms

Week 9 · Wed Characters and Strings Reading: pp. 137–144, 149–152

Week 9 · Fri String-Handling Functions Reading: pp. 152–166

Week 10 · Mon Standard I/O Streams; Files Reading: pp. 167–177

Week 10 · Wed Character and Line I/O Reading: pp. 177–188

Week 10 · Fri Binary I/O Reading: pp. 188–193

Week 11 · Mon Program Arguments; String–Numeric Conversion

Week 11 · Wed Compilation Process; Preprocessor Directives Reading: pp. 195–202

Week 11 · Fri Preprocessor Macros Reading: pp. 202–212

Week 12 · Mon Component-Based Software Engineering Reading: pp. 213–221

Week 12 · Wed Program Structure; Refactoring Reading: pp. 221–227

Week 12 · Fri Build Systems and Dependencies Misc: Make

Week 13 · Mon Robust Programming Reading: pp. 229–241

Week 13 · Wed Debugging Reading: pp. 241–245

Week 13 · Fri Unit Testing Reading: pp. 245–251 Misc: Check

Week 14 · Mon Static Analysis and Linting Reading: pp. 251–252 Misc: cppcheck, cpplint

Week 14 · Wed Dynamic Analysis and Profiling Reading: pp. 252–257 Misc: Valgrind

Week 14 · Fri Thanksgiving break—no classes

Week 15 · Mon C Language Standards; C Standard Library Reading: pp. 259–265

Week 15 · Wed Selected Topics

Week 15 · Fri Final exam review

Week 16 · TBD Final exam Reading: Ch. 6–11

Week	Day	Topic	Reading	Misc
Week 1	Mon	Course Overview; Toolchain Setup	-	-
	Wed	Introduction to C; Integrated Development Environment	pp. xxiii–xxviii, 1–11	-
	Fri	Introduction to Git Version Control; Doxygen	-	Doxygen
Week 2	Mon	Objects and Variables; Primitive Types	pp. 12–22	-
	Wed	Derived Types: Structures and Bit Fields	pp. 27–28	Bit fields
	Fri	Derived Types: Unions and Type Definitions	pp. 26, 28–31	-
Week 3	Mon	Derived Types: Pointers	pp. 23–25	-
	Wed	Serve Day—no classes	-	-
	Fri	Derived Types: Arrays	pp. 25–26	-
Week 4	Mon	Functions and Scope	pp. 22–23, 34–35	-
	Wed	Passing Array Types	pp. 42–44	-
	Fri	Type Qualifiers	pp. 31–34	-
Week 5	Mon	Arithmetic Types: Integers	pp. 47–59	-
	Wed	Arithmetic Types: Real Numbers and Floating-Point Representation	pp. 59–64	-
	Fri	Arithmetic Conversion; Pseudo-Random Numbers; Library Functions	pp. 64–72	rand/srand
Week 6	Mon	Expressions, Precedence, and Associativity	pp. 73–80	-
	Wed	Operators	pp. 80–96	-
	Fri	Control Flow	pp. 97–113	-
Week 7	Mon	Midterm exam review	-	-
	Wed	Midterm exam	Ch. 1–5	-
	Fri	Mid-semester break—no classes	-	-
Week 8	Mon	Midterm exam post-mortem	-	-
	Wed	Memory Management	pp. 115–127	-
	Fri	Dynamically-Allocated Structures and Arrays	pp. 127–132	-
Week 9	Mon	Array Algorithms	-	-
	Wed	Characters and Strings	pp. 137–144, 149–152	-
	Fri	String-Handling Functions	pp. 152–166	-
Week 10	Mon	Standard I/O Streams; Files	pp. 167–177	-
	Wed	Character and Line I/O	pp. 177–188	-
	Fri	Binary I/O	pp. 188–193	-
Week 11	Mon	Program Arguments; String–Numeric Conversion	-	-
	Wed	Compilation Process; Preprocessor Directives	pp. 195–202	-
	Fri	Preprocessor Macros	pp. 202–212	-
Week 12	Mon	Component-Based Software Engineering	pp. 213–221	-
	Wed	Program Structure; Refactoring	pp. 221–227	-
	Fri	Build Systems and Dependencies	-	Make
Week 13	Mon	Robust Programming	pp. 229–241	-
	Wed	Debugging	pp. 241–245	-
	Fri	Unit Testing	pp. 245–251	Check
Week 14	Mon	Static Analysis and Linting	pp. 251–252	cppcheck, cpplint
	Wed	Dynamic Analysis and Profiling	pp. 252–257	Valgrind
	Fri	Thanksgiving break—no classes	-	-
Week 15	Mon	C Language Standards; C Standard Library	pp. 259–265	-
	Wed	Selected Topics	-	-
	Fri	Final exam review	-	-
Week 16	TBD	Final exam	Ch. 6–11	-

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1. GFU
2. CS
3. Brian R. Snider
4. CSIS 301