CSCI 103L - Fall 2025 Introduction to Programming

MT1 Info

Fall 2025 Canary: This page was updated on 10/7 for Fall 2025

Overview and Process

MUST BE TAKEN IN PERSON / NO REMOTE EXAMS

• Time/Date: Thurs, Oct. 16th at 7 PM Pacific Pacific - 90 minutes (End at 8:30 p.m.).
• Location: (Based on Last Name)
  • A-Pe: THH 101
  • Ph-Z: THH 301
  • OSAS Accommodations: If you have USC approved accommodations, you will need to coordinate in advance with the OSAS office to schedule your exam at the testing center.
• Do not sit in the back row of the classroom.
• Bring: A pencil and good erase.
• Format: The problem will mainly be fill in the blank and multiple choice but related to tracing and coding (e.g. choose which code choices should should be filled into a blank)
• Questions: Raise your hand, but PLEASE try not ask excessive questions (and if you know that you tend to ask questions, sit on the aisle or up front.)
• Policies:
  • The exam is Closed book, Closed notes, Closed Internet (search/reference). Your mind and scratch paper are the only resources allowed. No calculators, phones, or textbooks are allowed.
  • You must request to use the restroom or leave the classroom for any reason and only 1 person will be allowed to leave at a time.
  • You may NOT have headphones or earbuds in.
  • With 10 minutes remaining, no one will be allowed to leave the classroom (no bathroom use or leaving if you are finished). If you finish, simply sit quietly. Do NOT work on anything else.
  • All writing must cease by 8:30 p.m. and anything after that will be consider a violation and WILL result in penalties!

Topics

The following is the list of topics that you should be familiar with. Use it as a guide to help your studying.

Unit 1a

• data types (int, char, double, bool)
• variables, scope
• experssions (including integer division, modulo, etc.)
• casting
• basic input/output with cin and cout
• basic math functions pow, sqrt, sin, cos, abs, etc.
• rand() and srand() functions and RAND_MAX constant

Unit 1b

• comparison operations
• if, else, else if statements
  • Not covered: switch (case) statement, ternary ? : operator
• while and do..while loops
• for loops
• break and continue statements

Unit 1c

• defining arrays
• using arrays as look-up tables
• character arrays / C-strings
• Basic function calls, prototypes, etc.
• scope
• pass-by-value
• functions with array arguments (pass-by-reference)
• return types and void functions
• need for prototypes
• C strings (null-terminated character arrays)
• Built-in functions: strlen, strcpy, strncpy, strcmp

Unit 1d

• big-O notation and using it to perform simple classification of code runtime

Unit 1e

• Compilation using g++, its options/flags and how to compile code with multiple files
• Understanding of the need for prototypes and the use of header (.h) files

Unit 2a

• declaring pointer variables (int *)
• referencing (&) and dereferencing (*)

Unit 2b

• const arguments
• pointer arithmetic
• Array names and pointer equivalency
• Array access and pointer arithmetic/dereference (e.g. ptr[i] <=> *(ptr+i))

Unit 2c and 2d

• Concept of dynamic memory allocation and when to use it
• Syntax of using new and delete both with scalars (individual variables) and arrays
• NULL and nullptr
• Handling of char vs. char* types
• const char* as the type of string literals
• pointers to pointers
• arrays of pointers (like char* argv[])
• command line arguments (argc and argv[])
• Shallow vs. deep copy
• 2D array allocation via many 1D allocations

Unit 3a

• Structs
• C++ Strings (OO vs. procedural programming)

Unit 3b

• Intro to classes

Lab Material

• Basic compilation and debugging
• Understanding memory errors

Homework and Project Material

• Concepts and understanding of topics and implementations from your homework and projects.

Practice

Here are some practice exams. Note that the topics they cover might be slightly different from our list of topics (below).

• Practice Midterm given in Lab the week before the exam.
• Spring 2023 MT1 and Solutions
  • Ignore questions about multi-dimensional (2D- and 3D-) arrays
• Midterm Review Packet from Fall 2016-2018 [NO SOLUTIONS - Either run the code, crowdsource answers with fellow students, or come to office hours.]
  • There are some duplicate questions that you can ignore.
  • Q7 solution explanation
• CS 103 Sp15 Midterm and Solutions
  • This was a 60 minute exam
  • Ignore the questions related to the draw library.
• CS 103 Fa14 Midterm and Solutions
  • This was a 90 minute exam
• Additional midterm review questions with no solutions.
• Video explanation of Q4 of Gradescope Sample MT1