Principles of Computer Programming: Profesor: Doc. DR Marko Tanasković Assistent: Doc. DR Marko Tanasković E-Mail

Principles of computer
programming
Profesor : doc. dr Marko Tanasković

Assistent : doc. dr Marko Tanasković
E-mail: mtanaskovic@singidunum.ac.rs
Course organization
• Lectures: Presentation of concepts and their illustration

through simple examples. The examples will be done in
interaction with students
• Exercises: Practical application of the concepts through more

complex examples
Lecture material
• Basic literature
1.) Lecture and exercise slides (course webpage
http://predmet.singidunum.ac.rs/course/view.php?id=945)
2.) Book: The C Programming Language from Brian W.

Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie (available on-line at
http://cs.indstate.edu/~cbasavaraj/cs559/the_c_programming
_language_2.pdf )
• Additional literature
1.) Internet (Google as your best friend)
Assesment
• The progress of the students will be continuously monitored

during the semester
• Students can maximally obtain 100 points for this course. Out
of these 100 points, 70 can be won during the semester and
30 on the final exam
• Students will pass the exam by winning at least 51 points

during the course. Points in the range 51-60 result in grade
six, points in the range 61-70 result in grade seven…
Assesment
• Final grade will be formed on the basis of obtained points

according to the following scheme:
• 51-60 points – grade 6 (six);

• 61-70 points – grade 7 (seven);
• 71-80 points – grade 8 (eight);
• 81-90 points – grade 9 (nine);
• 91-100 points – grade 10 (ten).
Semester progress assessment
1. Presence at lectures and exercizes (0-10 points)
– Students who are working and can not come to the lectures and
exercises may still win these points by doing a project in agreement with
the lecturer
2. Midterm I (0-30 points) – student has to obtain at least 17

points in order to pass the first midterm
3. Midterm II (0-30 points) – student has to obtain at least 17

points in order to pass the second midterm
Midterms
The two midterms take place:
• I midterm in 6th week of the semester
• II midterm in 12th week of the semester
• During the second midterm, students can also do the first

one, while at the final exam students can do both the first and
the second midterm
• The midterms will consist of a written test and a mini project

- Test is worth 20 points (10 are needed for a pass)
- Mini project is worth 10 points and it is a take home task that
students have one week to complete. It is defended orally
by practically presenting the results
Final exam
• Final exam will be in a form of a take home project.
• Students will have two and a half weeks to complete the

project
• The final project is defended orally by practically presenting

the results
• Final exam is worth 30 points

Why should you invest your time in learning
the material of this course?
?
The future of IT industry
• Whether you chose to study data science or embedded

systems, you will profit from the future trends !
Where does the principles of computer
programming fit in this story?
• Principles of computer programming lies in the fundamentals
of both areas
Dta Science
Embedded Systems
Domain specific knowledge
Orogramming Databa
languages ses
Maths, Principles of
programming
Why should you study this course?
• Form a good fundamental so that you can build your

knowledge and expertize on top of it
• You will be able to profit from this knowledge later

as you develop into software engineers!
Silabus – Course outline
Week Team/Activity
I Introduction to principles of programming and the C
programming language
II Types, operators and expressions
III Control flow
IV Functions and program structures
V Pointers and arrays
VI First Midterm
VII Structures
VIII Input and output
Silabus – Course outline
Nedelja Tema/Aktivnost
X The UNIX system interface
XI Standard libraries
XII Second Midterm
XIII Recapitulation, introduction to writting large projects in C
XIV Example of a complex programming project in C
XV Example of a complex programming project in C, preparation for
the final exam project
Principles of computer
programming
Profesor : doc. dr Marko Tanasković

Assistent : doc. dr Marko Tanasković
E-mail: mtanaskovic@singidunum.ac.rs
Definition of a computer
• Computer (noun)
An electronic device which is capable of receiving information
(data) in a particular form and of performing a sequence of
operations in accordance with a predetermined but
variable set of procedural instructions (program) to
produce a result in the form of information or signals.
• Computer, Wikipedia definition

A computer is a device that can be instructed to carry out
arbitrary sequences of arithmetic or logical operations
automatically. The ability of computers to follow generalized
sets of operations, called programs, enables them to perform
an extremely wide range of tasks.
Computer - examples
Definition of a computer program
• Computer program (noun)

A sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret
and execute
• Computer program, Wikipedia definition:

A computer program is a collection of instructions that
performs a specific task when executed by a computer. A
computer requires programs to function and typically executes
the program's instructions in a central processing unit
Computer program - examples
Definition of a programming language
• A programming language is a formal language that

specifies a set of instructions that can be used to produce
various kinds of output. Programming languages generally
consist of instructions for a computer. Programming
languages can be used to create programs that implement
specific algorithms.
• Programming language is a language that a computer may

understand. By learning different programming languages we
become capable of telling the computer to do what we want it
to do
What does a computer understand?
• Computers are binary machines – they only work with binary

data
• Binary states in computer are represented by presence and

absence of voltage
• We usually denote these binary states by 1 and 0
• A typical binary instruction that a computer would understand

Representation of characters in a
computer
• Numbers and characters are

also represented as binary
sequences in a computer
• The ASCII standard defines

binary sequences that
correspond to the alphabet
letters and other characters
Representation of numbers in a
computer
• Same logic is used for binary numbers

Transformation from decimal to binary
numbers
LSB – least
significant bit (the
most right digit)
MSB – most
significant bit (the
most left digit)
Binary number: 101001

Representation of negative binary
numbers
• How to represent -41 ?
• Use the most significant bit to indicate the sign

0 for positive numbers
1 for negative numbers
Decimal number 41 --- Binary representation: 00101001

Decimal number -41 --- Binary representation: 10101001
• Alternatively use complement
Decimal number 41 --- Binary representation: 00101001

Decimal number -41 --- Binary representation: 11010110
Should we write our programs as binary
instructions?
Should we write our programs as binary
instructions?
• Writing programs as binary instructions would be very difficult
• Programs would be prone to errors and it would be almost

impossible for humans to write large and complex computer
programs in this way
• If programming was done through writing binary instructions,

the IT industry would newer be in the state it is in now
• No need to write instructions as binary commands. For each

computer architecture there is a finite set of commands that
can be used to write instructions – assembler
Should we write our programs in
assembler?
Should we write our programs in
assembler?
• An assembler is a low-level programming language for
a computer, in which there is a very strong correspondence
between the language and the architecture of the machine.
Each assembly language is specific to a particular computer
architecture
• Writing code in assembler is easier than writing binary

instructions, but still making complex projects and discovering
possible errors is very hard
• Programs written in assembler work only for the

corresponding computer architecture. Porting assembler code
is hard and programs have to be rewritten in order to work on
other architectures
High level programming languages
• A high-level programming language is a programming
language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer.
• Unlike low-level programming languages, it may use natural

language elements and be easier to use. This makes the process
of developing a program simpler and more understandable relative
to a lower-level language.
• The amount of abstraction provided defines how "high-level" a

programming language is
• A compiler translates a program in a high-level programing

language to an assembler code for a given hardware platform.
This makes programs written in high level languages easily
portable
History of high level programming
languages
• 1957 – Fortran, first compiler
• 1958 – Lisp
• 1959 – COBOL
• 1964 – BASIC
• 1970 – Pascal
• 1972 – C
• 1980 – C++
• 1991 – Python
• 1993 – R
• 1995 – Java, Java script
• 1995 - PHP
Why start with C?
• C is not specialized to any particular area of application and is
quite general, which makes it suitable for learning the
fundamentals of computer programming
• C can be useful both in Embedded Systems and Data Science
• It is a high-level programming language, but still remains very

close to hardware, which makes it very useful for programming in
conditions of limited resources or in situations where the speed of
execution is critical
• Most modern operating systems are written in C

Prepare the environment for your first
program in C
• We will use Code::Blocks for writing our C programs (open
source and freely available at http://www.codeblocks.org/)
• As a compiler we will use GNU GCC Compiler (open source

and freely available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/)
Your first program in C
1. Start code blocks
2. Start a new project (Files->New->Project)
3. Select Console Project and press Go

3. Select C as your language of choice and click next
4. Specify the name and location directory of your folder and
click next
5. Select GNU GCC Compiler and click finish
5. Select GNU GCC Compiler and click finish
Include libraries that allow

you to write on the standard
output (monitor)
Program in C is a function
that is always called main. It
takes no arguments and in
this case returns zero
Blocks of code are delimited

with large brackets { and } in
C
Command printf prints its

argument to the standard
output (console/monitor). The
argument of this function is
the sentence Hello world!
And at the end there is a
special sign \n which brings
the cursor to the new line
Each command in C must
end with ;
Compile and run your program
• Press the compile and run button

Result of the program execution
• You will further extend this program during the exercise class
• Have fun, programming is interesting !

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Principles of computer

Profesor : doc. dr Marko Tanasković

• Lectures: Presentation of concepts and their illustration

• Exercises: Practical application of the concepts through more

2.) Book: The C Programming Language from Brian W.

• The progress of the students will be continuously monitored

• Students will pass the exam by winning at least 51 points

• Final grade will be formed on the basis of obtained points

• 51-60 points – grade 6 (six);

2. Midterm I (0-30 points) – student has to obtain at least 17

3. Midterm II (0-30 points) – student has to obtain at least 17

• During the second midterm, students can also do the first

• The midterms will consist of a written test and a mini project

• Final exam will be in a form of a take home project.

• Students will have two and a half weeks to complete the

• The final project is defended orally by practically presenting

• Final exam is worth 30 points

• Whether you chose to study data science or embedded

Domain specific knowledge

• Form a good fundamental so that you can build your

• You will be able to profit from this knowledge later

Profesor : doc. dr Marko Tanasković

• Computer, Wikipedia definition

• Computer program (noun)

• Computer program, Wikipedia definition:

• A programming language is a formal language that

• Programming language is a language that a computer may

• Computers are binary machines – they only work with binary

• Binary states in computer are represented by presence and

• We usually denote these binary states by 1 and 0

• A typical binary instruction that a computer would understand

• Numbers and characters are

• The ASCII standard defines

• Same logic is used for binary numbers

Binary number: 101001

• Use the most significant bit to indicate the sign

Decimal number 41 --- Binary representation: 00101001

• Alternatively use complement

Decimal number 41 --- Binary representation: 00101001

• Programs would be prone to errors and it would be almost

• If programming was done through writing binary instructions,

• No need to write instructions as binary commands. For each

• Writing code in assembler is easier than writing binary

• Programs written in assembler work only for the

• Unlike low-level programming languages, it may use natural

• The amount of abstraction provided defines how "high-level" a

• A compiler translates a program in a high-level programing

• C can be useful both in Embedded Systems and Data Science

• It is a high-level programming language, but still remains very

• Most modern operating systems are written in C

• As a compiler we will use GNU GCC Compiler (open source

2. Start a new project (Files->New->Project)

3. Select Console Project and press Go

Include libraries that allow

Blocks of code are delimited

Command printf prints its

• Press the compile and run button

• Have fun, programming is interesting !