Lecture 11. AMES 5, Monday 19 Oct. 1998

From the course outline we see the reading assignment this week is Chapter 5 on Standard Functions and Program Design. You need to turn in modified versions of all the example programs in this chapter, and do Practice Programs 5.1 and 5.2.

Arthmetic, trigonometric, string, conversion from string to numerical and back, ascii, keyboard, and mouse functions are discussed in Chapter 5. Single-line user-defined functions are introduced. Some of the concepts are:

• Standard functions are named identifiers to which one or more values are passed; eg. sqr(9)=3.
• Arithmetic functions; abs, int, round, truncate, fp, ip, sqr, mod, max, min
• Trigonometric functions; sin, cos, tan, atn, etc. Rad and deg convert between radians and degrees. Radian is default.
• Numerical functions; log, log2, log10, exp.
• Rnd, randomize.
• String functions; len, pos, posr, ucase$, lcase$, repeat$, trim$.
• Conversion of a character to ascii and back; ord, chr$. Conversion between numeric and string values; val, str$.
• Print and keyboard functions; tab, clear, sound, pause, key input, get key.
• The def fn statement for user-defined functions.
• Design of a computer program with pseudocode. Program testing.

All of these concepts are illustrated by the Example Programs which you will modify in your homework.

The design of an original computer program is illustrated by Practice Program 4.9, where a Fibonacci series (eg: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55 etc.) for length n is computed. The use of string functions, pseudocode, subroutines, and short practice programs PP4.9.1 and PP4.9.2 to develop the longer program is illustrated.

Lecture 12. AMES 5, Wed. 21 Oct. 1998

Reminder: the first exam is next week. Material in the first five chapters of the text will be covered. The exam will be closed book, closed notes, closed neighbor. An example exam from a previous AMES 5 course is provided to give you an idea of what to expect.

Lecture 13. AMES 5, Friday, 23 Oct. 1998

Practice Program 5.7 tests a word or phrase to see if it reads the same backwards as forwards. If it does, it is called a "Palindrome". A famous example is the alleged quote from Napoleon: "Able was I ere I saw Elba".

Reminder: Chancellor's 5K run/walk at noon RIMAC.