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Exercises
Introduction to C#

2.1   Exploring the type Char  

The type System.Char (a struct) contains a number of useful methods, and a couple of constants.

Locate the type System.Char in your C# documentation and take a look at the methods available on characters.

You may ask where you find the C# documentation. There are several possibilities. You can find it at the Microsoft MSDN web site at msdn.microsoft.com. It is also integrated in Visual Studio and - to some degree - in Visual C# express. It comes with the C# SDK, as a separate browser. It is also part of the documentation web pages that comes with Mono. If you are a Windows user I will recommend the Windows SDK Documentation Browser which is bundled with the C# SDK.

Along the line of the character demo program above, write a small C# program that uses the char predicates IsDigit, IsPunctuation, and IsSeparator.

It may be useful to find the code position - also known as the code point - of a character. As an example, the code position of 'A' is 65. Is there a method in System.Char which gives access to this information? If not, can you find another way to find the code position of a character?

Be sure to understand the semantics (meaning) of the method GetNumericValue in type Char.

 

Solution

2.2   Hexadecimal numbers  

In this exercise we will write a program that can convert between decimal and hexadecimal notation of numbers. Please consult the focus boxes about hexadecimal numbers in the text book version if you need to.

You might expect that this functionality is already present in the C# libraries. And to some degree, it is.

The static method ToInt32(string, Int32) in class Convert converts the string representation of a number (the first parameter) to an arbitrary number system (the second parameter). Similar methods exist for other integer types.

The method ToString(string) in the struct Int32, can be used for conversion from an integer to a hexadecimal number, represented as a string. The parameter of ToString is a format string. If you pass the string "X" you get a hexadecimal number.

The program below shows examples:

using System;
class NumberDemo{
  public static void Main(){
     int i = Convert.ToInt32("7B", 16);     // hexadecimal 7B (in base 16) -> 
                                            // decimal 123 
     Console.WriteLine(i);                  // 123

     Console.WriteLine(123.ToString("X"));  // decimal 123 -> hexadecimal 7B 
  }
}

Now, write a method which converts a list (or array) of digits in base 16 (or more generally, base b, b >= 2) to a decimal number.

The other way around, write a method which converts a positive decimal integer to a list (or array) of digits in base 16 (or more generally, base b).

Here is an example where the requested methods are used:

  public static void Main(){
    int r = BaseBToDecimal(16, new List{7, 11});  // 7B  -> 123 
    List s = DecimalToBaseB(16, 123);             // 123 -> {7, 11} = 7B
    List t = DecimalToBaseB(2, 123);              // 123 -> {1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1 } = 
                                                       // 1111011
    Console.WriteLine(r);
    foreach (int digit in s) Console.Write("{0} ", digit);  Console.WriteLine();
    foreach (int digit in t) Console.Write("{0} ", digit);
  }
 

Solution

2.3   ECTS Grades  

Define an enumeration type ECTSGrade of the grades A, B, C, D, E, Fx and F and associate the Danish 7-step grades 12, 10, 7, 4, 2, 0, and -3 to the symbolic ECTS grades.

What is the most natural underlying type of ECTSGrade?

Write a small program which illustrates how to use the new enumeration type.

 

Solution

2.4   Use of Enumeration types  

Consult the documentation of type type System.Enum, and get a general overview of the methods in this struct.

Be sure that you are able to find the documentation of System.Enum

Test drive the example EnumTest, which is part of MicroSoft's documentation. Be sure to understand the program relative to its output.

Write your own program with a simple enumeration type. Use the Enum.CompareTo method to compare two of the values of your enumeration type.

 

Solution

2.5   Use of array types  

Based on the inspiration from the accompanying example, you are in this exercise supposed to experiment with some simple C# arrays.

First, consult the documentation of the class System.Array. Please notice the properties and methods that are available on arrays in C#.

Declare, initialize, and print an array of names (e.g. array of strings) of all members of your group.

Sort the array, and search for a given name using System.Array.BinarySearch method.

Reverse the array, and make sure that the reversing works.

 

Solution

2.6   Use of string types  

Based on the inspiration from the accompanying example, you are in this exercise supposed to experiment with some simple C# strings.

First, consult the documentation of the class System.String - either in your documentation browser or at msdn.microsoft.com. Read the introduction (remarks) to string which contains useful information! There exists a large variety of operations on strings. Please make sure that you are aware of these. Many of them will help you a lot in the future!

Make a string of your own first name, written with escaped Unicode characters (like we did for "OOP" in the accompanying example). If necessary, consult the unicode code charts (Basic Latin and Latin-1) to find the appropriate characters.

Take a look at the System.String.Insert method. Use this method to insert your last name in the first name string. Make your own observations about Insert relative to the fact that strings in C# are immutable.

 

Solution

Generated: Monday February 7, 2011, 12:12:49