Basic Programming

Ch. 5 Remarks and Common Errors

File Manager
The textbook explains that you should use the File Manager in order to create new directories on several pages of the chapter. Since we use Windows NT and not Windows 3.1 as our operating system, we must either Windows NT Explorer or MS Word to create new directories. See your instructor for directions on how to do so in our lab environment. You may not have privileges to use Windows NT Explorer, so you may have to create directories using MS Word.

Paths and Pathnames
In the MiniEdit project, that starts on p. 166, you must be familiar with the paths of files that are located in your network folder. A path is the location of a file on a computer drive (floppy, hard drive, ZIP drive, network drive, etc.) A pathname is used to represent the path. For example, a file may have a pathname such as C:\temp\declare.txt . The textbook mentions that you may be saving your files to the C:\ drive (see p. 174.) In our computer lab, your files are stored in the Z:\ drive.

Defensive Programming
A discussion on page 176 lists what MiniEdit can and cannot do. It is important to realize how complicated typical Windows programs (that we probably take for granted) are. The textbook author advises you to use "defensive programming" on page 177. You should understand the role of error checking (preventing users' inputs from causing run-time errors) in good programs. We will begin to include error checking in our programs. Always be sure to check a program's specs to make sure that you know how much error checking you must include in a program. By the way, a run-time error is an error that causes a program to crash during execution.

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