COMP 2355: Introduction to Systems Programming

Winter 2011

Course Info

Instructor	Prof. Chris GauthierDickey
Office	John Greene Hall 321
Office Hours	TBD
Time & Location	TBD
Prerequisite	COMP 2673 (Intro to Computer Science III)
Credits	4

Course Wiki

I've set up the Course Wiki for the class where I'll put up notes (especially concerning C++ and design patterns), class assignments, and such.

Note that you can't get to the wiki off-site, unless you have the VPN up (zeus isn't accessible to the outside world). You will need to go to the UTS VPN site.

Course Description

In this course, you will learn how to program in C and C++, with the emphasis being on advanced features in C++, design patterns, and using external libraries such as those provided by the UNIX APIs. Students will develop C and C++ projects in this course that emphasize design, reusability, and functionality.

Two textbooks are required for this class:

• "The C Programming Language," 2nd edition, by Kernighan and Ritchie (ISBN: 0-13-110362-8)
• "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software," by Gamma, Helm, Johnson, and Vlissides (ISBN: 0-201-63361-2)

No, there isn't a C++ textook. Besides the fact that adding a C++ textbook would make your textbook bill enormous, it's not necessary as we can cover the features (including the advanced ones) in class without one.

The prerequisites for this class are a good understanding of imperative and object-oriented programming in Java. The prerequisites for this class include a good understanding of basic programming constructs, such as branches (if, switch), loops (for, while, do), exceptions (throw, catch), functions, objects, classes, packages, primitive types (int, float, boolean), arrays, arithmetic expressions and boolean operations as provided by COMP 1671, COMP 1672 and COMP 2673. If you have not taken and passed COMP 2673, you cannot take this course without instructor approval.