Spring Quarter 2003

At the time of the midterm exam, a student should be able to:

• Describe the the software lifecycle and explain its iterative nature.
• Describe the linked list storage configuration.
• Compare and contrast the vector and list as container types.
• Describe the purpose and use of iterators including the motivation for the four basic types (iterator, const_iterator, reverse_iterator, and const_reverse_iterator).
• Write and interpret code using lists and iterators.
• Describe the purpose and use of a reference.
• Describe the purpose and use of a pointer.
• Compare and contrast references vs. pointers.
• Write and interpret code using pointers to access and manipulate objects.
• Describe the purpose and apply the NULL pointer where appropriate.
• Describe the similarities and differences between pointers and arrays.
• Describe the basic properties of an abstract data type.
• Explain the motivation for using abstract data types including the advantages of doing so.
• Write and interpret the basic syntax for C++ classes.
• Develop the prototypes and write C++ member functions for the following:
• Constructors
• Copy Constructors
• Assignment/operator=
• Destructors
• Accessors
• Mutators
• Facilitators
• Supporting operators
• Arithmetic
• Relational (e.g. operator==)
• Stream (e.g. << and >>)
• Explain the purpose and use of the this pointer.
• Explain the effect the designation const, static, and friend have on functions.
• Explain the C++ automatic type conversion mechanism and describe how to best take advantage of it.
• Interpret and draw UML class diagrams and the syntax they use to describe the relationships between classes.
• Use strategies like use cases and classification to determine appropriate classes, methods, and attributes as part of the design of a software solution to a problem.

At the time of the final exam, a student should be able do the above and be able to:

• Explain the similarities and differences between static, automatic and dynamic objects and the locations in memory where they are stored.
• Write and interpret code that uses new, delete, and delete [] to manipulate dynamic objects.
• Describe a memory leak and explain why it is undesirable.
• Understand the organization of multi-source file C++ code.
• Describe which code should go in .h and .cpp files.
• Describe the difference between declarations and definitions.
• Demonstrate proper use of the #include and #ifndef compiler directives.
• Describe the difference between the composition and inheritance mechanisms.
• Describe the following inheritance issues:
• Base class
• Derived class
• Early (static) versus late (dynamic) binding
• Upcasting
• Overriding
• The keyword virtual
• Pure virtual
• Abstract base class
• Interpret and write C++ code using inheritance.
• Describe the differences between private, protected, and public access specifications.
• Describe what a friend is.
• Define the term polymorphism and be able to describe the C++ language mechanisms which implement it.
• Interpret and write C++ code for functions and classes which use templates.
• Interpret and write container classes (e.g. vector and list) using templates.
• Interpret and write code which use and implements iterators.
• Including the syntax for overriding operator++ and operator--.
• Describe the C++ namespace mechanism and know how to build namespaces.
• Describe the purpose and use of the C++ exception handling mechanism.
• Interpret and write simple code using the C++ exception handling syntax involving throw, try, and catch.
• Describe and apply common STL algorithms such as find, sort, etc.

Acknowledgement

This page is based on a similar set of pages developed originally by Dr. Henry Welch.