COMS W4995 C++ for C Programmers

Spring 2025

• COMS 4995-009: Mon & Wed 5:40-6:55pm, 833 Seeley W. Mudd Building

• Two synchronous and in-person exams:

  • Exam 1: Wednesday March 5
  • Exam 2: Wednesday April 23
  • No final exam

  There are no make-up or alternate exams. If you cannot make any of those exams, please take the course next time.

• Instructor: Jae Woo Lee

• Office hours: TAs / Jae

Course essentials

• OVERVIEW AND LOGISTICS
• REQUIRED READING: ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICIES
• Linux Programming Environment – same as COMS 3157
• Jae’s Git Tutorial – same as COMS 3157
• Lab Workflow
• Helpful Guides

Course Schedule

Lecture 1: W 1/22

Course overview and logistics

• Slides: OVERVIEW AND LOGISTICS

Hello C++

• Introduction to string, iostream, namespace

• Source code: Makefile, hello.cpp

Lecture 2: M 1/27

Hello C++ (continued)

• Compiling & linking C++ code with Makefile

• Source code: Makefile, hello.cpp

Basic-4 in C++

• Lecture: L02-basic4
  • member functions
  • constructors and destructors
  • stack allocations and heap allocations
• Source code: Makefile, basic4.cpp

Lecture 3: W 1/29

Basic-4 in C++ (continued)

• Lecture: L02-basic4
  • heap allocation of arrays
  • passing by value vs. passing by reference
  • const member function
  • three cases of copy construction
  • copy elision
• Source code: Makefile, basic4.cpp

Lecture 4: M 2/3

Basic-4 in C++ (continued)

• Lecture: L02-basic4
  • copy assignment
  • compiler-generated basic4
• Source code: Makefile, basic4.cpp

MyString class

• Lecture: Lecture note to be posted
  • Motivation
  • Source code overview
    • mystring.h vs. mystring.cpp
    • Makefile and test drivers
• Source code: MyString class & test drivers

Lecture 5: W 2/5

MyString class (continued)

• Lecture: Lecture note to be posted
  • Basic-4 of MyString class
  • Inlining member functions
  • operator+
• Source code: MyString class & test drivers

Lecture 6: M 2/10

MyString class (continued)

• Lecture: Lecture note to be posted
  • put-to & get-from operators
  • operator[]
  • Exception handling
• Source code: MyString class & test drivers

Function template

• Lecture: Lecture note to be posted
  • Defining a function template
  • Template specialization
  • Template compilation model
• Source code: Max function template & test code

Lecture 7: W 2/12

Function template (continued)

• Lecture: Lecture note to be posted
  • Template compilation model (review)
• Source code: Max function template & test code

Dynamically growable array

• Lecture:
  • IntArray class
  • Time complexity of push_back()
  • Strong exception guarantee
  • Member initializer list
• Source code: Makefile, intarray1.cpp

Move constructor

• Lecture
  • Motivation: returning large objects efficiently
  • Implementing move constructor
  • Copy elision eliminates move constructor calls
• Source code: Makefile, intarray2.cpp

Lecture 8: M 2/17

Move constructor

• Lecture
  • Review of move constructor: motivation and implementation
  • Rvalue references
• Source code: Makefile, intarray2.cpp, rvalue-test.cpp

Move assignment

• Lecture
  • Implementing move assignment
  • Casting to rvalue reference
  • std::move()
• Source code: Makefile, intarray3.cpp,

Vec class template

• Lecture
  • Turning IntArray into a class template
  • Range-for loops
  • Value semantics of STL containers
• Source code: Makefile, vec1.cpp, vec2.cpp

Lecture 9: W 2/19

Vec class template (continued)

• Lecture
  • Stack & heap diagram of Vec<MyString>
  • Placement new()
• Source code: Makefile, vec3.cpp, mystring.h mystring.cpp

Inheritance and Polymorphism

• Lecture
  • Inheritance basics
  • Memory layout of derived classes
• Source code: Makefile, inherit1.cpp

Lecture 10: M 2/24

Inheritance and Polymorphism (continued)

• Lecture
  • Inheritance basics (review)
  • Memory layout of derived classes (review)
  • Static binding vs. dynamic binding
  • Virtual function table (vtable)
• Source code: Makefile, inherit1.cpp

Multiple Inheritance

• Lecture
  • Multiple inheritance object layout
  • Multiple inheritance with virtual functions
  • The diamond problem
  • Virtual inheritance
  • vtable layout of Virtual inheritance (optional)
• Source code: Makefile, inherit2.cpp, inherit3.cpp, inherit4.cpp

Lecture 11: W 2/26

Multiple Inheritance (continued)

• Lecture
  • Order of initialization
• Source code: Makefile, inherit5.cpp

I/O streams

• Lecture
  • I/O Stream Library class hierarchy
  • I/O manipulator
  • I/O state
  • Recovering from I/O failure
  • Mixing C and C++ I/O
• Source code: Makefile, io1.cpp, io2.cpp

Lecture 12: M 3/3

• Review for Exam 1

Exam 1: W 3/5

• Coverage:
  • Labs 1 and 2
  • Lectures 1 - 12
  • Sample exams
  • All ANN emails

Lecture 13: M 3/10

I/O streams (continued)

• Lecture
  • I/O of user-defined structure
  • String streams
  • File streams

• Source code: Makefile, io3.cpp

• Sample input files: good, malformed

Sequential STL containers

• Lecture
  • Arrays in C++
  • vector and deque
• Source code: Makefile, stl1.cpp

Lecture 14: W 3/12

Sequential STL containers (continued)

• Lecture
  • list and forward_list
• Source code: Makefile, stl1.cpp

Iterators

• Lecture
  • For_Each() template function
  • begin() & end()
  • const_iterator
  • iterator and range-for loop
  • Subtleties in For_Each() implementation
    • (b != e) vs. (b < e)
    • ++b vs. b++
• Source code: Makefile, stl2.cpp

No Classes on M 3/17 & W 3/19 – Spring Break

Lecture 15: M 3/24

Iterators (continued)

• Lecture
  • std::initializer_list<T>
  • Iterator adapters
  • Stream iterators
  • Iterator categories
• Source code: Makefile, stl3.cpp

Lecture 16: W 3/26

Associative containers

• Lecture
  • map, multimap, unordered_map, unordered_multimap
• Source code: Makefile, words.cpp

(A Small Taste of) Template Metaprogramming

• Lecture
  • Tag dispatching technique
  • Template specialization
• Source code: Makefile, itraits.cpp

Lecture 17: M 3/31

(A Small Taste of) Template Metaprogramming (continued)

• Lecture
  • Concepts in C++20
• Source code: Makefile, concept.cpp

Functional programming in C++

• Lecture
  • Function objects (aka functors)
  • STL function objects and bind()
  • Lambda expressions – closure in C++
• Source code: Makefile, functor.cpp

Lecture 18: W 4/2

Random number generator

• Lecture
  • Random number generator in C vs. C++
  • Normal distribution
  • Mersenne Twister engine
  • Danger of narrowing conversions
  • Stateful functors
  • Very stateful functors
• Source code: Makefile, rand1.cpp, rand2.cpp, c2cpp_util.h

Lecture 19: M 4/7

Value categories and forwarding reference

• Lecture
  • lvalue vs. rvalue
  • Forwarding reference
• Source code: Makefile, values.cpp

Lecture 20: W 4/9

Value categories and forwarding reference (continued)

• Lecture
  • std::forward<T>
  • Implementing forward<T>
• Source code: Makefile, values.cpp

Variadic templates

• Lecture
  • Variadic template using recursion
  • Forwarding parameter pack
  • Fold expression
• Source code: Makefile, variadic.cpp

Lecture 21: M 4/14

Implementing Smart Pointer

• Lecture
  • Introduction to smart pointer
  • auto revisited
  • SmartPtr<T> implementation
  • MakeSmartPtr<T> function template
• Source code: Makefile, smartptr.h, smartptr.cpp

Lecture 22: W 4/16

Smart Pointers in STL

• Lecture
  • shared_ptr<T> and make_shared<T>()
  • (Digression) static_assert, decltype, is_same_v
  • make_shared<T>() combines allocations
  • shared_ptr to an array and custom deleter
  • Aliasing
  • weak_ptr
  • unique_ptr
• Source code: Makefile, smartptr.h, smartptr.cpp, shared_ptr.cpp, unique_ptr.cpp

Lecture 23: M 4/21

• Review for Exam 2

Exam 2: W 4/23

• Coverage:
  • Lectures 1 - 23
  • Labs 1 - 4
  • Sample exams
  • All ANN emails

Assignments

• HW0 Part A due Wed 1/22
• HW0 Part B due Fri 1/24
• Lab1 due Sat 2/15
• Lab2 due Fri 2/28
• Exam 1 on Wed 3/5
• Lab3 due Sun 4/6
• Lab4 due Thu 4/17
• Exam 2 on Wed 4/23
• Lab5 due TBA

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Last updated: 2025-04-15