Objectives
LAB 2: Fundamentals of Programming
To learn more about the "cout” and “cin" statement
To learn about different types of
variables
Description
"Cout" Statement
In C++ programming the standard output by default is the screen (output console), and
the C++
stream object defined to access it is
“cout”.
For formatted output operations, "cout" is used together with the insertion operator, which is
written
as << (i.e., two "less than" signs).
cout<<"Output sentence";
cout<<< 120;
cout<< x;
// prints Output sentence on
screen
// prints number 120 on
screen // prints the value of x
on screen
The << operator inserts the data that follows it into the stream that precedes it. In the
examples above,
it inserted the literal string output sentence, the number 120, and the value of variable x into the
standard output stream "cout". Notice that the sentence in the first statement is enclosed in double
quotes (") because it is a string literal, while in the last one, x is not. The double quoting is what makes
the difference; when the text is enclosed between them, the text is printed literally; when they
are not,
the text is interpreted as the identifier of a variable, and its value is printed instead. For example, these
two sentences have very different
results:
cout<<"Hello";
cout<< Hello;
// prints
Hello
// prints the content of variable
Hello
Multiple insertion operations (<<) may be chained in a single
statement:
cout<<"This "<<" is a " << "single C++ statement";
This last statement would print the text: This is a single C++ statement. Chaining insertions is
especially useful to mix literals and variables in a single statement:
cout<<"I am " << age <<" years old and my zipcode is " <<zipcode;
Assuming the age variable contains the value 24 and the zipcode variable contains 90064,
the output
of the previous statement would be: I am 24 years old and my zipcode is 90064
What "cout" does not do automatically is add line breaks at the end, unless instructed to do so. For
example, take the following two statements inserting into “cout":
cout<< "This is a sentence.";
cout<<"This is another sentence.";
This is a sentence. This is another sentence.
The output would be in a single line, without any line breaks in between as above.
To insert a line break, a new-line character shall be inserted at the exact position the line should be
broken. In C++, a new-line character can be specified as \n (i.e., a backslash character
followed by a
lowercase n). For
example:
cout<<"First sentence.\n";
cout<<"Second sentence.\nThird sentence.";
First sentence
Second sentence
Third sentence
Alternatively, the "endl" manipulator can also be used to break lines. For
example:
cout<<<< "First sentence."
<<endl;
cout<<"Second sentence."<<endl;
First sentence
Second sentence
The "endl" manipulator produces a newline character, exactly as the insertion of '\n' does; but it also
has an additional behavior: the stream's buffer (if any) is flushed, which means that the output is
requested to be physically written to the device, if it was not already. This affects mainly fully
buffered streams, and "cout" is (generally) not a fully buffered stream. Still, it is generally a good
idea
to use endl only when flushing the stream would be a feature and '\n' when it would not. Bear in mind
that a flushing operation incurs a certain overhead, and on some devices, it may
produce a delay.
"cin" Statement
In C++ programming, the standard input by default is the keyboard, and the C++ stream
object
defined to access it is "cin”.
For formatted input operations, "cin" is used together with the extraction operator, which is
written
as >>(i.e., two "greater than" signs). This operator is then followed by the variable
where the
extracted data is stored.
For
example:
int age;
cin>>age;
The first statement declares a variable of data type int called age, and the second extracts
from "cin” a
value to be stored in it. This operation makes the program wait for input from "cin"; generally,
this
means that the program will wait for the user to enter some sequence with the keyboard. In this case,
note that the characters introduced using the keyboard are only transmitted to the program when
the "ENTER" or "RETURN" key is pressed. Once the statement with the extraction
operation on cin is
reached, the program will wait for as long as needed until some input is introduced.
The extraction operation on “cin" uses the type of the variable after the >> operator to
determine how
it interprets the characters read from the input; if it is an integer, the format expected is a series of
digits, if a string a sequence of characters,
etc.
#include <iostream>
Please enter an integer value: 702 The value you entered is 702 and its double is 1404.
using namespace
std;
int main()
{
int i;
cout<<"Please enter an integer
value:
cin>>i;
cout<<"The value you entered is
"<<i;
cout<<" and its double is "<<i*2 <<".\n"; return
0;
As you can see, extracting from "cin" seems to make the task of getting input from the standard
input
simple and straightforward. But this method also has a big drawback. What happens in the
example
above if the user enters something else that cannot be interpreted as an integer? Well, in this case,
the
extraction operation fails. And this, by default, lets the program continue without setting a value for
variable i, producing undetermined results if the value of variable i is used later.
This is very poor program behavior. Most programs are expected to behave in an expected manner no
matter what the user types, handling invalid values appropriately. Only very simple
programs should
rely on values extracted directly from "cin" without further checking. A little later we will see
how string streams can be used to have better control over
input.
Extractions on "cin" can also be chained to request more than one datum in a single
statement:
user
cin>> a >> b;
This is equivalent
to:
cin>> a;
cin>>b;
In both cases, the user is expected to introduce two values, one for variable a, and another for
variable b. Any kind of space is used to separate two consecutive input operations; this may either be
a space, a tab, or a new-line character.
Variables
A variable provides us with named storage that our programs can manipulate. Each variable
in C++
has a specific data type, which determines the size, layout of the variable's memory; the range
of values
that can be stored within that memory; and the set of operations that can be applied to the
variable.
The name of a variable can be composed of letters, digits, and the underscore character. It must
begin
with either a letter or an underscore. Upper and lowercase letters are distinct because C++ is case-
sensitive
language.
Data Type
Size
Int
4 bytes
Float
4 bytes
Double
8 bytes
Description
Stores whole numbers, without decimals.
int Number = 5; // Integer (whole
number)
Stores fractional numbers, containing one or more decimals. Sufficient
for storing 7 decimal digits.
float Number = 5.99; // Floating point number
Stores fractional numbers, containing one or more decimals. Sufficient
for storing 15 decimal digits.
double Number = 9.98; // Floating point number
Bool
1 byte
Char
1 byte
String
1 byte /
character
Stores true or false values
bool
myBoolean
=
true; // Boolean
Stores a single character/letter/number, or ASCII values.
char myLetter = 'D'; // Character
Stores a string.
string myText = "Hello"; // String
LAB TASKS
1. Write a C++ program to calculate the distance between two points. Take the x and y
coordinates
of both the points from user. Equation to calculate distance between two points is
given below:
d =
(×2 − ×1)2 + (Y2 −
Y1)2
-
2. Write a program that calculate the gravitational force. Declare and initialize all necessary
variables in the code. (Hint: add #include<cmath> in header file, to take power of any number,
e.g.: x = pow (2, 3); \\ x will store 8 which is 2 power
3)
F = G(
mim2 7.2
F= Gravitation force of attraction between two objects in newton (N)
G=Universal Gravitational Constant (6.67 10-11 N
- m2/kg2)
m1 and m2 = Mass of two objects (Kg)
r= separation in meters(m) between the objects, as measured from their centres of
mass.
3. Write a program that prints the table of a number one less than what user inputs, for example,
if user enters 5 then the output console should print the
table of 4
4. Write a program that display a GRADE REPORT. Your program should take, Name, Roll
No.
Grade in ECA, Applied Physics and Calculus I from user. Output Console should look like
this: (Print your own NAME and ID)
Enter your name:
Enter your roll no:
Farooq 160374
Enter your grade of
ECA:
A
Enter your grade of
calculus I:
A-
Enter your grade of Applied Physics:
A-
“GRADE REPORT”
NAME: Farooq
Roll No: 160374
ECA: A
Calculus: A-
Applied Physics:
A-
