UNIT 1:	REVIEW OF C++ PROGRAMMING FROM CTEC1239
(Chapters 1 to 6 in textbook; weeks 1 to 3)

Upon successful completion of this unit, students must be able to:

1.	Apply basic problem-solving techniques.

	Use the Software Engineering Method

	Requirements
		- this is usually given to you as the problem statement

	Analysis
		- What information is the solution to provide? (outputs)
		- What am I given? (inputs)
		- make sure that units and precision (decimal places) 
		  are correct

	Design (including refinements)

	Implementation (coding)

	Testing
		lather rinse repeat ... 


2.	Develop algorithms through the process of top-down, stepwise
        refinement.

	See #1.  It is important to breakdown and refine your design so
	that, ideally, each of your design steps translates into few
	lines of C++ code, or into a C++ function.

	At each stage of the SEM, changes can be made to previous stages.
	For example, if in doing design, you require some more information,
	you can re-visit the analysis stage, and the information that you
	discover there may lead to changes in the requirements.


3.	Use the if ... else and switch selection/decision structures to
        choose alternative actions.

	You can do everything using if ... else if ... else structures.

	When you are typing in an if statement, it is useful to type in
	an empty else statement for future maintenance.

	Note that the following structure:

	if ( ... )				if ( ... )
	{					{
		...					...
	}					}
	else if ( ... )		is actually	else
	{					{
		...					if ( ... )
	}						{
	else							...
	{						}
		...					else
	}						{
								...
							}
						}


	Switch statements sometimes lead to more "elegant" solutions. 


4.	Use the while, do ... while and for iteration/repetition structures
        to repeatedly execute statements in a program.

	You can do all iteration with one of these loop structures, with
	creative use of break and continue (see below #7).


5.	Use counter-controlled repetition and sentinel-controlled repetition.

	Counter-controlled repetition uses an int variable (typically),
	and will continue looping until the value of that variable reaches
	a certain value.  Depending on how the loop is constructed, the
	variable is either incremented or decremented, either before or
	after its value is tested, either before or after processing
	inside the loop occurs.

	Sentinel-controlled repetition relies on user input (any form
	of external input, actually, for example, reading from a file),
	to determine when to stop looping.  The "stop looping" value is
	called a "sentinel".


6.	Use the mathematical, assignment, logical and relational operators.

	Mathematical:	(), +, -, *, /, % (modulus, i.e., integer remainder)

	Logical:	&& (and), || (or), ! (not)

	Relational:	== (equality), != (non-equality),
			<, >, <=, >=


	Use parenthesis to force the compiler to evaluate your expressions
	in the order that *you* want.


7.	Use the break and continue program control statements.

	break is used in the middle of a loop to exit the loop;

	break is used at the end of a case in a switch statement to stop
	 processing that case;

	continue is used in the middle of a loop to restart the loop
	 (which may or may not cause a counter to be updated)

	Usually, in a loop, break and/or continue are used inside an
	if or else statement.


8.	Construct programs modularly from pieces called functions.

	Functions are good because you can test them in isolation,
	and use "programming by contract" preconditions and postconditions
	to simplify your code.

	You can also assemble a library of functions that you can re-use
	in subsequent programs.

	It saves time to use code (in the form of functions) that has
	already been written and tested.


9.	Create user-defined functions.

	You can use the SEM to design functions:  each function is like
	a mini-program, with its own inputs and outputs.

	Like pre-defined functions, which are declared in header (#include)
	files, user-defined functions must be declared before they are
	called.  That way, the compiler knows about the function, and can
	help you by checking parameters and return types to make sure that
	the function is being called correctly.


10.	Pass information between functions.

	By default, functions pass information by value, which means
	that any arguments passed to a function are copied and the function
	works with the copies.  Any values that are returned are also
	copied.

	You can also pass by reference, which allows a function to change
	the value of an existing variable.  C++ makes this easy using
	reference variables.  Reference variables are also useful when
	you want to return more than one value from a function.

	Later we will use data structures and pointers as well as reference
	variables to do "pass by reference."