University of Miami, Department of Computer Science

CSC322 - C Programming and UNIX

C probably has been the most influential programming language during the last 25 years. It was originally introduced for the implementation of UNIX, but is now used for a large variety of very different tasks. Both C++ and Java owe most of their syntax and much of their sematics to C, but have not managed to replace the original language. The course will introduce the C programming language in the context of the UNIX operating system. We will also cover UNIX from a user and a programmer perspective.

Prerequisites

CSC220 (substitute: EEN218). You should be able to read and write reasonably sized programs in an imperative language (Java qualifies). Students who do not meet the prerequisites must tell the instructor.

Office Hours and Lab time

The course will be taught by Dr. Stephan Schulz. My office hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 1pm to 2:30pm, or by email appointment.

To remotely log onto the Lab machines, use an ssh client (ssh under UNIX/Linux, Putty should work under Windows) and connect to lee.cs.miami.edu (students.cs.miami.edu does not work anymore). A TA for the course is in the lab Friday 4-6pm, and Sunday 2-6pm. To change your password, use yppasswd. Please also check the password policy page.

Course Material Online

Assignments and lecture notes (updated Fri Dec 6 10:35:42 EST 2002) are on the web. Lecture notes should be available on the evening before any given class (note should, but I'm tring...).

Other material:

The base converter program (18/9/2002).
The RPN Calculator (25/9/2002). Download it and run gtar xzfv RPN_CALC.tgz to unpack everything into the directory RPN_CALC. Run make in RPN_CALC to compile the program automatically.
The demo program for linear lists (7/10/2002). Download it and run gtar xzfv LIST_DEMO.tgz to unpack everything into the directory LIST_DEMO. Run make depend;make in LIST_DEMO to compile the program automatically.
The source code for the signal_test program.
The source code for the rudimentary ls program.
The simple shell,

Classes

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 11:00 to 11:50 a.m., LC192

Assessment (preliminary)

5% Initial essay
20% Weekly assignments
10% Midterm exam
15% Internet programming assignment
50% Final exam

To recieve a particular grade, you may have to qualify for it in each individual category.

Some topics

A short history of UNIX and C
UNIX structure
The user's point of view - windows and shells
Text editing under UNIX
Introduction to C
UNIX tools for C
Dynamic datatypes in C
The C standard libray
The UNIX system call interface
Advanced features and scripting

Suggested literature

Books (Dead Trees)

I rely on students to have a good quality C book for reference purposes, and have officially recommended the New Testament written by two of the original authors of UNIX and C:

The C Programming Language (2nd Edition), Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie

I think K&R2 is the best book on C among those I have encountered up to now. However, it is quite terse and some people find its learning curve to be too steep. If you want to have a gentle introduction, try

C Programming: A Modern Approach, K.N. King

No other books should be needed for the course. However, there is a very large number of good books about different aspects of UNIX if you are interested. I like the following ones:

Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, W. Richard Stevens. This is by many considered to be the best reference to the UNIX programming interface. It covers much more than the course material, but is well worth its price and probably will be very useful for anybody doing serious programming for UNIX.
The UNIX Programming Environment, Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike. This is dated, but shows the basic UNIX approach quite well. It also emphasizes the software tools approach typical for UNIX.
UNIX Network Programming, Volume 1, W. Richard Stevens. Get the second edition (or later). This covers most important networking stuff. It's a sibling of APUE (both were created by splitting the first edition of UNP).

Online Resources

Note: Do not post any homework questions to the newsgroups! The regulars don't like it. I don't like it. If you have any specialized questions that you cannot answer after your own research, asking either me or a newsgroup is fine.

The comp.lang.c newsgroup and its FAQs
The comp.lang.c.moderated newsgroup
The comp.unix.* newsgroups:
- comp.unix.progammer (FAQs)
- comp.unix.shells (FAQs)
- comp.unix.misc (FAQs)
Finally, try Google if you need to find something specific.

Miscellaneous

Finally, here are some sources that might help you to get into the UNIX mindset (and out again):

The UNIX-Haters Handbook, Simson Garfinkel, Daniel Weise, and Steven Strassmann (eds.). It seems to be severely out of print - I cannot find it on either Amazon or Abebooks. However, there are some parts of it online.
The New Hacker's Dictionary, Eric S. Raymond (ed.). This one is in print, and, even better, fully available on the net.

Stephan Schulz,schulz@cs.miami.edu, Thu Aug 22 13:35:31 EDT 2002