NENG/TENH 202 Introduction to Computer Programming for Engineers

Spring 2013

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Instructor: Prof. Y. Alex Xue

Office: CESTM B230C Phone: (518) 956-7220 Email: yxue@albany.edu

Meeting Time and Location:
TuTh 8:45-10:05 AM NFE Computer Classroom

Office Hour: Thursday 3:00-4:00 PM Or by email appointment.

Teaching Assistant/Assignmens:

• Mr. Chris Stiles has kindly accepted to serve as teaching assistant ( cstiles@albany.edu )
  
• There will be three programming assignments.
  
• Email your questions/solutions to Mr. Stiles
  

Course Description:

C Programming section of this course introduces the C programming language and fundamental programming concepts and prepare you for courses that assume backgrounds in computer programming. Topics include variables, data types, functions, control structures, pointers, and arrays. You need access to any programming environment that allows you to write, edit, compile, link, and debug a C program. Familiarity with fundamental programming language concepts such as variables, data types, and compiling source code is helpful.

Matlab section of this course provides an introduction to the Matlab technical computing environment. No prior programming experience or knowledge of Matlab is assumed, and the course is structured to allow thorough assimilation of ideas through hands-on examples and exercises. Topics Include: working with the Matlab user interface; working with data files and data types; automating commands with scripts; writing programs with logic and flow control; writing functions; performing analysis on vectors and matrices; visualizing vector and matrix data.

Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of NSCI/NENG 110 and NSCI/NENG 120.

Programming Tools: We'll be using cgywin (online documentation), gcc (online documentation) and notepad++ (website). You may also access them via the ITS Virtual Information Commons.

Course Text: 
The required text is C Programming: A Modern Approach (2nd edition) (<-- clicking on the title leads you to the book website) by K.N. King.  Lectures on MATLAB are based on the book by S. Attaway, MATLAB: A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving, Butterworth-Heinemann (2009).

Additional Textbooks on C programming:
(1) The traditional standard book is K&R, The C Programming Language, 2nd edition. You can find it at Amazon.com here.
(2) Two other popular books on C programming are those by Stephen Prata (C Primer Plus) and Stephen Kochan (Programming in C).
(3) The standard text on scientific computing using C is Numerical Recipe in C: The Art of Scientific Computing.

Grades:  There are no midterm and final exams. Your grades will be based on three programming projects. Projects must be turned in as specified by the instructor. Late return will not be accepted.

Course Website:  http://www.albany.edu/~yx152122/NENG202-13.html.
Lecture notes and additional teaching materials including links to online resources will be posted at the course website. Additional information on C programming can also be found at the google group comp.lang.c. 

Weekly Course Materials:

Weeks Lecture Topic Lecture Materials        Assignments    

Week 1 01/24	Course introduction; Introducing C	King Ch. 1, Ch.2.1 Week-1.pdf Ten reasons to learn C programming
Week 2 01/29-01/31	C Fundamentals Unix/Linux Tutorials	King Ch.2 Week-2.pdf
Week 3   02/05-02/07	How Computers Store Numbers;   Formatted Input/Output;	King Ch.3 Week-3.pdf
Week 4   02/12-02/14	Arithemetic Operators;Assignment Operators;   Expression Evaluation	King Ch.4 Week-4.pdf
Week 5 02/19-02/21	Logical Expressions;The if and switch Statements	King Ch.5 Week-5.pdf
Week 6 02/26-02/28	The Looping Statements	King Ch.6 Week-6.pdf
Week 7 03/05-03/07	Basic Data Types and Type Conversion	King Ch.7 Week-7.pdf	Assignment 1 (30%) (Due on 03/08 5:00PM) : Ch.4 Programming Project 1 Ch.6 Programming Project 5 Extra Problem for Honors: Ch.5 Progmming Project 3
Week 8 03/12-03/14	One-Dimensional Arrays;	King Ch.8.1 Week-8.pdf
Week 9 03/19-03/21	Spring Break (No Class)
Week 10 03/26-03/28	Multidimensional Arrays	King Ch.8.2 Week-9.pdf
Week 11 04/02-04/06	Defining and Calling Functions; Function   Aruguments and Termination	King Ch.9.1-Ch.9.5  Week-10.pdf random_walk.c
Week 12 04/09-04/11	Recursion; Local and External Variables	King Ch. 9.6 and Ch.10.1-10.2 Week-11.pdf	Assignment 2 (30%) (Due on 04/19 5:00PM) : Ch.8 Programming Project 16 Ch.9 Programming Project 4 For Honors, the 2nd problem is: Ch.9 Progmming Project 8
Week 13 04/16-04/18	Pointers and Pointer Arithmetic	King Ch.11 and Ch 12.1 Week-12.pdf Tutorial on Pointers and Arrays in C
Week 14 04/23-04/25	Pointers and Arrays; Dynamic Storage Allocation	King Ch. 12.2-Ch.12.4 Week-13.pdf
Week 15 04/30-05/02	Strings and C String Library	King Ch. 13.1-13.5  Week-14.pdf
Week 16 05/07	Arrays of Strings; Introduction to MATLAB. MATLAB Documentation	King Ch. 13.6-13.7 Week-15.pdf Matlab-Intro.pdf
		Final TA Session: 05/15 11:00AM-1:00PM	Assignment 3 (40%) (Due on 05/16 5:00PM) : Ch.12 Programming Project 6 Ch.13 Programming Project 18 For Honors (Note the changes): Ch.12 Programming Project 6 (10%) Ch.13 Programming Project 2 (a) & (b) (15% each)