Regular expressions and grammars for C

C and C++ examples and experimentation

For more introductory notes on C/C++, see my CSCI 160 notes, CSCI 161 notes

Functions and parameters

• Testing if a compiler optimizes tail recursion: tailrec.c
• Writing functions that take a variable number of arguments: C style with var_args , C++ style with templates
• Passing functions as parameters to other functions: funcParams.cpp
• Returning a function pointer from another function: ret_fptr.cpp
• Templated function pointers templateFuncPtrs.cpp (pseudo-higher order functions in C++)
• An overview of C preprocessor programming, and two sets of C macro examples macros.cpp , macros.c

  Classes and templates

• Templates and seperate compilation templates.C
• Operator overloading overloading_examples.C
• Dynamic binding examples dynamicBinding.cpp
• Static class methods and variables static_example.C
• Example of iterators in the standard template library iterator.cpp
• An introduction to C++ template programming for compile-time computation

  Exception handling

• Exceptions/class heirarchy except.C

  Representation of data

• The stored representation of floats in C: float.c
• Sizes/limits on numeric values NumberLimits.C
• Time/date representation time_example.C

  Pointers and memory

• Smart pointers (shared and weak) weakPtr.cpp
• A resource pool managed through smart pointers.

  Obscure C/C++ features

• Antiquated C function syntax that still works obsolete.c
• Emulating loops with goto and labels: goto.c

Experimental evaluation of C/C++ behaviour
The objective in examining the programs here is to run the program, study the code and the resulting output, and see what it tells us about how different aspects of the language have been implemented.

• Exploring short circuiting in expressions: shortcircuit.cpp
• Exploring side effects: sideeffects.cpp
• Exploring memory boundary alignment: align.cpp
• Exploring memory layout during execution: codeStack.cpp
• Exploring gotos, labels, and switches: control.cpp
• Exploring constructor/destructor execution: constructors.cpp
• Exploring exception handling: exceptions.cpp

  A more structured analysis:

• C memory organization
• C++ class organization