// These #includes tell the compiler to include the named // header files, similar to imports in Java. The code for // these is generally located under /usr/include/, such // as /usr/include/assert.h. assert.h contains the // declaration of the assert() function, stdio.h contains // the declaration of the printf() function, and stdlib.h // contains the declaration of the malloc() and free() // functions, all of which are used in the code below. #include #include #include // Fill the given array with values. Note that C doesn't // keep track of the length of arrays, so we have to // specify it explictly here. void fillArray(int* array, int len) { printf("Filling an array at address %p with %d " "values\n", array, len); for (int i = 0; i < len; ++i) { array[i] = i * 3 + 2; // assert() verifies that the given condition is true // and exits the program otherwise. This is just a // "sanity check" to make sure that the line of code // above is doing what we intend. assert(array[i] == i * 3 + 2); } printf("Done!\n"); } // Structs are simply storage for memory of various types. // In this case, we are typedef-ing (as in naming) a // struct containing four integers as FourInts. typedef struct { int a, b, c, d; } FourInts; // main() is the entry point of the program. int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { // Create a new array capable of storing 10 elements // and fill it with values using the function declared // above. Arrays declared in this manner are located on // the stack, which is where statically allocated (as // in not at runtime) memory is stored. int array[10]; // The "array" that we pass here is actually a pointer // to a block of memory capable of storing 10 integers. // array[0] is the first integer in this block of // memory, array[1] is the second, and so on. Since // C does not track array lengths, we have to specify // how many elements the array contains. // // TODO(1): What happens if the second argument is set // to 11 instead? How about 100? 1000? Make sure to set // the second argument back to 10 when you are done // testing. // Answer: fillArray(array, 10); int value; // In C, we can take the address of something using the // & operator. &value is of the type int*, meaning that // it is a pointer to an integer (as in it stores the // address in memory of where the actual int is located). // // TODO(2): We can actually use the address of the value // declared here as if it were an array of a single // element; why is this possible? // Answer: fillArray(&value, 1); // fillArray should set value to 0 * 3 + 2 = 2. assert(value == 2); // The following creates an instance of FourInts on the // stack. FourInts is really just an array of four ints, // although we can refer to the ints stored in it by // name as well. FourInts four_ints; // Set the first int to have a value of 0 and verify // that the value changed. four_ints.a = 0; assert(four_ints.a == 0); // Depending on whether or not you like to live // dangerously, the following is either exciting or // terrifying. Though &four_ints is of type FourInts* // (as in a pointer to a FourInts struct), we can // use a cast to pretend that it is actually an array // of integers instead. fillArray((int*) &four_ints, 4); // We can confirm that fillArray updated the values // in the FourInts struct: assert(four_ints.a == 2); assert(four_ints.b == 5); assert(four_ints.c == 8); assert(four_ints.d == 11); // In the case that the size of an array is not known // until runtime, the malloc() function can be used to // allocate memory dynamically. Memory that is // allocated dynamically is stored on the heap, which // is separate from the stack. C is unlike Java, // however, in that dynamically-allocated memory must // be freed explicitly when the program is done using // it via the free() function. malloc() takes a single // argument, which is the number of bytes to allocate. // sizeof(int) gives how many bytes an int contains // (which is four), so sizeof(int) * 5 is 20. int* heap_array = (int*) malloc(sizeof(int) * 5); fillArray(heap_array, 5); // Now that we have finished with the heap-allocated // array, free() the memory associated with it. // // TODO(3): What happens if we remove the free() // statement below? Try running "valgrind ./arrays" // after compiling the program both with and without // it. valgrind is a tool for analyzing how programs // use memory, which is often invaluable for C and // C++ programming. // Answer: free(heap_array); // TODO(4): Now it's your turn to write some code. // Using malloc(), allocate a FourInts struct // dynamically (on the heap) and use fillArray to // populate it with values. Make sure to free the // memory when you are done, and use the valgrind // tool mentioned above to check that there aren't // any errors. As a "sanity check," add four assert // statements to verify that the a, b, c, and d // fields of the FourInts struct are set to what // you would expect. (Hint, you'll need to use the // -> operator to access fields of a FourInts* // variable instead of the . operator). return 0; }