On 5 Jul 99, at 15:59, Chuck Hassenplug wrote:

> I will attending college this fall and the first class I have is C/C++
> Programming. Here is the course description:
>
> C/C++ programming

  The "C" programming language is very widely used -- anyone who wants to
develop modern software should have a basic grounding in it.
  The "C++" programming language arose as an extension to C, to support a
newer "object-oriented" paradigm of software design and construction.
Approximately 98% of C code is also valid in C++ (you will not get to the
other 2% in an introductory course); since the extensions in C++ primarily
concern additional mechanisms for linking together C data and code elements,
you cannot use C++ without a basic knowledge of C.

> under UNIX environment

  Your class examples and assignments will be done on machines running some
flavour of UNIX; for an introductory course, you will almost certainly be
sharing these machines amongst a number of students.  It would be really bad
if an elementary programming error by one student could crash a machine being
used by several/many; fortunately, this is unlikely to happen by accident
under UNIX.  Note that the course may not clearly distinguish between things
that are standard parts of the C and C++ languages, things that are provided
as extra features of the particular compiler being used, and things that are
specific to UNIX (or to the specific version of UNIX being used).  Some of
the things you will be learning, then, will not apply to writing applications
for Windows....

> with applications to numerical problems fundamental to computational
> mechanics.

  The focus will be on arriving at correct/efficient solutions to problems
involving a lot of calculation; expect, then, that the coverage of user
interfaces (and OS dependencies) will be minimal.

> Arithmetic operations, branches, arrays, data structures, and use of
> pointers are introduced.

  These are pretty much basic to programming in most environments.

> Introduction to C/FORTRAN bindings to enable C codes to call FORTRAN
> routines and vice versa.

  FORTRAN was a language originally developed in the 1950s, primarily for
scientific calculations.  Although there is relatively little growth in its
use, there is almost 50 years of legacy code and optimization research available,
and so bindings like this allow tried and tested calculation code to be used
in modern applications.


> Seeing as all I have ever dealt with is Windows and Office 97 and some
> games, I have no clue about any of the above. I am asking for any advice,
> resources on the internet, or recommendations for help relating to this
> class.

  It should be pretty easy to find various "teach yourself" resources on the
web and in bookstores for C and C++.  Personally, I found an introduction to
assembly-level programming helpful in understanding how/why some things work
in C, but that might just be me.  It will be harder to find stuff about
FORTRAN or computational mechanics, but if you can get an advance look at the
basics of C then you can focus on those things in the actual course.

  There are several relevant Usenet newsgroups, comp.lang.c and so on.  Odds
are that most of the discussion there is more advanced than you're ready top
deal with, but grab copies of their FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) lists.
[You can probably find those on the web.]

David G

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