COMS W4995 C++ Deep Dive for C Programmers

Spring 2026

• COMS 4995-005: Mon & Wed 5:40-6:55pm, 402 Chandler

• Two synchronous and in-person exams:

  • Exam 1: Wednesday March 11
  • Exam 2: Wednesday April 22
  • 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:
  • Jae’s office hours
  • TA office hours

• Anonymous feedback form

• Attendance form

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

Important Dates

Date	Assignment
W 1/21	HW0 Part A due
F 1/23	HW0 Part B due
R 2/5	Lab 1 due
Su 2/22	Lab 2 due

Course Schedule

Lecture 1: W 1/21

Course overview and logistics

• Slides: OVERVIEW AND LOGISTICS

C to C++

• Lecture: 01-c2cpp
  • Introduction to string, iostream, namespace
• Source code:
  • Makefile, hello.cpp

Lecture 2: M 1/26

C to C++ (continued)

• Lecture: 01-c2cpp
  • Compiling & linking C++ code with Makefile
• Source code:
  • Makefile, hello.cpp

Basic-4 in C++

• Lecture: 02-basic4
  • Member functions
  • Constructors and destructors
  • Stack allocations and heap allocations
• Source code: Makefile, basic4.cpp

Lecture 3: W 1/28

Basic-4 in C++ (continued)

• Lecture: 02-basic4
  • heap allocation of arrays
  • passing by value vs. passing by reference
  • const member function
  • three cases of copy construction
• Source code: Makefile, basic4.cpp

Lecture 4: M 2/2

Basic-4 in C++ (continued)

• Lecture: 02-basic4
  • three cases of copy construction (continued)
  • copy elision
  • copy assignment
  • compiler-generated basic4
• Source code: Makefile, basic4.cpp

MyString class

• Lecture: 03-mystring
  • Motivation
  • Source code overview
    • mystring.h vs. mystring.cpp
    • Makefile and test drivers
  • MyString constructor
• Source code: MyString class & test drivers

Lecture 5: W 2/4

MyString class (continued)

• Lecture: 03-mystring
  • Basic-4 of MyString class
  • Inlining member functions
  • operator+
• Source code: MyString class & test drivers

Lecture 6: M 2/9

MyString class (continued)

• Lecture: 03-mystring
  • put-to & get-from operators
  • operator[]
  • Exception handling
• Source code: MyString class & test drivers

Function template

• Lecture: 04-function-template
  • Defining a function template
  • Template specialization
  • Template compilation model
• Source code: Max() function template & test code

Lecture 7: W 2/11

Dynamically growable array

• Lecture: 05-dynamically-growable-array
  • IntArray class & code walkthrough
  • Time complexity of push_back()
  • Strong exception guarantee
  • Member initializer list
• Source code: Makefile, intarray1.cpp

Move semantics

• Lecture: 06-move-semantics
  • Motivation: returning large objects efficiently
  • Implementing move constructor
  • Copy elision eliminates move constructor calls
• Source code: Makefile, intarray2.cpp

Lecture 8: M 2/16

Move semantics (continued)

• Lecture: 06-move-semantics
  • Review of move constructor: motivation and implementation
  • L-value vs. r-value references
  • Implementing move assignment
  • Casting to rvalue reference
  • std::move()
• Source code: Makefile, intarray2.cpp, rvalue-test.cpp

Vec class template

• Lecture: 07-vec-class-template
  • Turning IntArray into a class template
  • Value semantics of STL containers
• Source code: Makefile, vec1.cpp,

Lecture 9: W 2/18

Vec class template (continued)

• Lecture: 07-vec-class-template
  • Stack & heap diagram of Vec<MyString>
  • Placement new()
  • Strong exception guarantee revisited
• Source code: Makefile, vec2.cpp, vec3.cpp, mystring.h, mystring.cpp

Inheritance and Polymorphism

• Lecture: 08-inheritance
  • Inheritance basics
  • Memory layout of derived classes
• Source code: Makefile, inherit1.cpp

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Last updated: 2026-02-09