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Day 1: Introduction to Programming

Summary
We first learned about the different types of applications of programming to various engineering fields. Then we went over the types of computer languages, which included, machine, assembly, and high-level languages. C and C++, the languages used in this course, are both high-level languages. We were introduced to the engineering problem solving methodology, which is as follows:

  1. Problem statement
  2. Input/output description
  3. Hand example
  4. Algorithm development
  5. Test solution
We then did an activity which utilized this. We got together in groups to perform steps 1-3 in trying to find the distance between two points, then tested this on the computer. 

After that, we learned about constants and variables, and about different numeric data types. 

Problems

1

 //First day
//Distance formula program
//This program calculates distance between two points

 #include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

 int main(void){
//Declared variables
double x1=2, y1=4, x2=2, y2=4, side1, side2, distance;
//Compute side length
side1=x2-x1;
side2=y2-y1;
//Compute distance between points
distance=sqrt(side1*side1 + side2*side2);
//Print distance between points
printf("The distance between the two points is %5.2f \n",      distance);
return 0;
}



Homework


One meter is equivalent to 0.00062137 miles, and therefore to convert from meters to miles, I simply multiply by this constant. 


I looked up the formula for converting degrees Celsius to  degrees Rankine, and inputted this formula in. This formula would take the inputted value of degrees Celsius and convert it to Rankine when the program is run.


 The area of an ellipse with semi-major axes of length a and b is pi*a*b. I used this formula to calculate my result.

The area of a sector of a circle with an angle d degrees between its radii is pi*r^2 multiplied by d/360, since it is a fraction of a circle, and that fraction can be found by dividing the degrees between the radii by the total number of degrees in a circle. 
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