COMP1511 18s2

Week-01 Tutorial Exercises

  1. Introduce yourselves, get to know your classmates - Why do they want to study computing? What do they want to learn from this course?
  2. Get to know your tutor - How long have they been at UNSW? What are they studying? How can you get in contact with them?
  3. Do you have any questions about the course so far? eg course website, structure, assessments
  4. Is it OK to ask a really really basic question on the "course forum"?
  5. I have a brain the size of a planet and been writing C programs since pre-school - do I need to read the "course forum"?

  6. How do you make a peanut-butter sandwich?

    How could you break that process into steps?

    How could you break it down clearly enough that a computer could understand it?

    Maybe your tutor could do a live demonstration of following your exact instructions...

  7. What is an operating system?

    What operating systems do your classmates run? The tute room? The CSE lab computers?

    What are the differences between each of the various operating systems? What differences are there in their interfaces, and how do you interact with them?

    What are some different ways in which you can interact with a computer?

    What are the differences between graphical user interfaces and the command line? When might one be better than the other?

  8. Normally we have the first COMP1511 lecture of the week before before the first tutorial of the week.

    This year because of the number students wanting to do COMP1511, we've been unable to do this.

    This means if you have a Monday tut-lab, you haven't had the lecture the following questions talk about.

    We thought about cancelling the week 1 tutorials, but decided they were still worth having because you get to meet and know your tutor, your fellow students and see the lab environment.

    For tutorials before the first lecture - tutors will try to explain what they can as part of the tutorial but don't worry if you don't understand lots of things.

    Of course there are no marks for the week 1 tut-lab.

    If you have a chance watch beforehand either:

    But if you can't watch the videos don't worry.
    Discuss the following features of the sample program from lectures: 

    // Author: Andrew Taylor (andrewt@unsw.edu.au)
// Date created: January 2018
// A very simple C program

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    printf("I love COMP1511!\n");

    return 0;
}
    • the \n
    • Comments: What should go in a comment? What makes a good comment? How do comments improve program style?
    • Indenting and whitespace: What is indented in the sample program? Suggest why.
  9. Write a C program, face0.c, that behaves as follows: 
    ./face0
~ ~
0 0
 o
 -
    How would you compile this program?
    How could we modify it to make a program, face1.c, look like this instead? 
    ./face1
~ ~
0 0
 o
\_/

    Revision questions

    The remaining tutorial questions are primarily intended for revision - either this week or later in session.

    Your tutor may still choose to cover some of the questions time permitting.