Test 2: Class Section D

Friday 5th May 1995

This test will be made up of three parts:

1. Debugging, running and testing a provided program.

2. Making use of the above program in the development of a new program and then testing this extensively.

3. Making minor alterations to the original program in order to improve the quality of the code, and/or to add additional functionality.

Note that marks will be awarded purely on the quality of the content of the final report. Therefore, at all stages of the test, please describe plans, algorithms, problems encountered, tests carried out and, when the required tasks have been completed, describe any conclusions drawn from the exercise.

Part 1 (40%)

The program DECBIN.C in supposed to takes in an integer, convert it to binary and then print the result. There are, however, a number of errors in the program.

(a) Present a reformatted version of this program which demonstrates satisfactory practice for spacing, line breaking and indentation. Add comments where relevant to improve the understandability of the program.

(b) Correct any compiler / linker errors. In the case of compiler warnings, either resolve them or explain why they can be ignored.

(c) When the program compiles successfully, run it and establish the presence of any runtime errors. Correct these.

(d) Test the program extensively to ensure correct operation.

Part 2 (40%)

Making use of the DECBIN.C program, derive an algorithm and develop the code, to take in an integer and convert it to a hexadecimal (base-16) number. The result should then be printed to the screen. Follow these guidelines:

1. The program must be divided into functions.

2. No global variables - all variables must be local to some function. Use parameter passing and/or return values where appropriate to exchange information between functions.

3. The program should demonstrate good coding practices with regard to spacing, comments etc.

Test this program rigorously and describe all results.

Part 3 (20%)

Taking the operational DECBIN.C program which resulted from Part 1, make use of recursion to allow the user to repeatedly enter an integer value and receive the binary equivalent. This should continue until the user enters a value of zero at which stage the program terminates. Test this program rigorously and describe all results.