Module 8 - Functions

• Introduction
• Connect
• Apply
• Reflect
• Extend

In this module, we updated bisect_fn.c and mvp.c to use functions and pointers.

Can you see how functions would be beneficial for some of the other programs we've constructed?

Take a look back at mmp.c from Module 5.1; can you see ways to update this program to

• use functions to carve up the code into manageable, more coherent chunks?
• replace the arrays used for matrix-matrix multiplication with pointers?

Give this a try (you don't have to actually reconstruct, recompile and run the code, just take a look and see how you might accomplish the above). Then have a look at this Module's version of mmp.c;

• how did your version differ from mmp.c in this Module?
• where did you do something similar to this module's version of the code?

Now let's take a look at a more involved piece of code; Gaussian reduction covered in Module 5.2. Take a look at that module's version of gauss.c.

• How would you break this program up into functions?
• How would you implement pointers to handle the matrix computations?

Now take a look at the version of gauss_wo_pivot.c implemented in this Module.

• How close is this to your version?
• Did you do anything that you believe works better?
• Did you see anything in this module's version that you might use in the future?

After you've had a chance to immerse yourself in the concept of functions, you'll begin to develop your own way of breaking up the computations of a program into portions that make sense to you.

Some of these methods for 'chunking' program calculations are universal, but some will be specific and unique to you.

• What does this suggest to you about programming? (Hint: hopefully, you're thinking along the lines of "Commenting my code so that others can make sense of what I'm doing")

 

Continue to the Extend Section ->