music
OSdata.com: programming text book

OSdata.com

built-in functions

summary

����This subchapter looks at built-in functions.

free computer programming text book project

table of contents
If you like the idea of this project,
then please donate some money.
more information on donating

Google

stub section

����This subchapter is a stub section. It will be filled in with instructional material later. For now it serves the purpose of a place holder for the order of instruction.

����Professors are invited to give feedback on both the proposed contents and the propsed order of this text book. Send commentary to Milo, PO Box 1361, Tustin, California, 92781, USA.

built-in functions

����This subchapter looks at built-in functions.

����Built-in functions provide a wide variety of useful capabilities. While this chapter is about calculations and most programming languages have a rich set of built-in functions for calculations, built-in functions have much wider uses.

����Most programming languages invoke a built-in function by giving the name of the built-in function followed by any input. The inputs are usually placed inside parenthesis, but this varies by language. Most languages treat the output of a built-in function in much the same manner as fetching the value of a variable and typically a built-in function can be placed anywhere in an expression that a variable of the same kind could be placed. The results of the built-in function usually can be used in assignments and computations.

����The form would typically look something like:

����a := abs(b);

����In the example, the built-in function takes the value of the variable a, finds its absolute value, and then assigns the answer to the variable b.

����The following discussion of JOVIAL (an old programming language) gives the flavor of the kinds of uses for built-in functions.

JOVIAL

����The following material is from the unclassified Computer Programming Manual for the JOVIAL (J73) Language, RADC-TR-81-143, Final Technical Report of June 1981.

����1.1.5 Built-In Functions

����The JOVIAL built-in functions provide advanced, specialized
����operations that are not covered by the JOVIAL operators.��They
����are summarized in the following table:

���������Function�������result

���������LOC(x)���������A pointer to the object referenced by r

���������NEXT(p,i)������A pointer to the i'th data object after
������������������������the one selected by p
���������NEXT(s,i)������The i'th status value after status value s

���������BIT(b,i,n)�����A string of n bits starting at the i'th bit
������������������������of the bit string b
���������BYTE(c,i,n)����A string of n characters starting at the i'th
������������������������character of the character string c

���������SHIFTL(b,n)����Bit string b shifted left by n bits
���������SHIFTR(b,n)����Bit string b shifted right by n bits

���������ABS(x)���������Absolute value of x
���������SGN(x)���������+1, 0, or -1 for x>0, x=0, x<0

���������BITSIZE(x)�����Logical size of x in bits
���������BYTESIZE(x)����Logical size of x in bytes
���������WORDSIZE(x)����Logical size of x in words

���������LBOUND(t,d)����Lower bound of d'th dimension of the table t
���������UBOUND(t,d)����Upper bound of d'th dimension of the table t

���������NWSDEN(t)������Number of bytes allocated to each entry of
������������������������the table t

���������FIRST(s)�������First status value in status list for s
���������LAST(s)��������Last status value in status list for s

����An example of the use of a built-in function is:

���������C = BYTE("ABCDEF",2,3);

����The built-in functions extracts "BCD" from the string "ABCDEF".

����Chapter 1 Introduction, page 9


free music player coding example

����Coding example: I am making heavily documented and explained open source code for a method to play music for free � almost any song, no subscription fees, no download costs, no advertisements, all completely legal. This is done by building a front-end to YouTube (which checks the copyright permissions for you).

����View music player in action: www.musicinpublic.com/.

����Create your own copy from the original source code/ (presented for learning programming).


return to table of contents
free downloadable college text book

view text book
HTML file

Because I no longer have the computer and software to make PDFs, the book is available as an HTML file, which you can convert into a PDF.

previous page next page
previous page next page

free computer programming text book project

Building a free downloadable text book on computer programming for university, college, community college, and high school classes in computer programming.

If you like the idea of this project,
then please donate some money.

send donations to:
Milo
PO Box 1361
Tustin, California 92781

Supporting the entire project:

����If you have a business or organization that can support the entire cost of this project, please contact Pr Ntr Kmt (my church)

more information on donating

Some or all of the material on this web page appears in the
free downloadable college text book on computer programming.

Google


Made with Macintosh

����This web site handcrafted on Macintosh computers using Tom Bender�s Tex-Edit Plus and served using FreeBSD .

Viewable With Any Browser


�����UNIX used as a generic term unless specifically used as a trademark (such as in the phrase �UNIX certified�). UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd.

����Names and logos of various OSs are trademarks of their respective owners.

����Copyright � 2012 Milo (uses material from previous writings)

����Created: September 28, 2012

����Last Updated: September 28, 2012


return to table of contents
free downloadable college text book

previous page next page
previous page next page