* Starzum *

Starzum was created as a coursework given for the Web Technology module. This website is developed with the use of HTML, Javascript, PHP, Ajax and Mysql. The main specifications of this website are as follows:

•        Main Page
•        Information Pages
•        Products Pages
•        Quiz page
•              Comment Page
•        Weekly Poll
•                Google Maps page
•               Site map of the web site
•              A presentation page which redirects to the main page
•               Ask from Us pages.
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  

       

  

  
  

  This web site contains interesting  details about astronomy, an elegant quiz to test the viewers’ knowledge, an online store to buy Astronomy related items(t –shirts,CDs ) and a page where users can comment about our site.

  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

        Also this has a weekly poll, which checks about a recent project of astronomy. Google maps of our destinations are also included dynamically.The main aim of this website was to develop the knowledge on how to design a standard, visual website with the use of many web development techniques. Also the full effort is added to make this site more user- friendly and to bring it up to a better standard to give a good service for the viewers.

Moving on with programming..

A natural way to solve large problems is to break them down into a series of sub-problems, which can be solved more-or-less independently and then combined to arrive at a complete solution. In programming, this methodology reflects itself in the use of sub-programs, and in C++ all sub-programs are called functions.

Here's a trivial example of a program which includes a user defined function, in this case called "area(...)". The program computes the area of a rectangle of given length and width.

         #include<iostream>

     using namespace std;

       

     int function(int parameter1, int  parameter2 ); /* function declaration */

       

     // MAIN PROGRAM: 

     int main()

     {

        --

        --

     }

     // END OF MAIN PROGRAM 

       

     // FUNCTION  

     int  function (int  parameter1 , int  parameter1 ) /* start of function definition */

     {

         --   

     }                            /* end of function definition */

     // END OF FUNCTION 

• The structure of a function definition is like the structure of "main()", with its own list of variable declarations and program statements.
• A function can have a list of zero or more parameters inside its brackets, each of which has a separate type.
• A function has to be declared in a function declaration at the top of the program, just after any global constant declarations, and before it can be called by "main()" or in other function definitions.
• Function declarations are a bit like variable declarations - they specify which type the function will return.

A function may have more than one return statement, in which case the function definition will end execution as soon as the first return is reached. 

C++ allows polymorphism,--> it allows more than one function to have the same name, provided all functions are either distinguishable by the typing or the number of their parameters. Using a function name more than once is sometimes referred to as overloading the function name. 

One of the main purposes of using functions is to aid in the top down design of programs. During the design stage, as a problem is subdivided into tasks, the programmer should have to consider only what a function is to do and not be concerned about the details of the function. The function name and comments at the beginning of the function should be sufficient to inform the user as to what the function does.

Programming...

Programming is a core activity in the process of performing tasks or solving problems with the aid of a computer. There are many different programming languages, and many ways to classify them.

In this field the 1st ever programming language I learnt was C++. Throughout it was completely a new experience.

Some C++ facts -
The C++ compiler ignores comments which start with double slashes " // " like this, up to the end of the line. 

         Comments can also be written starting with a slash followed by a star " /* "  and ending with a star followed by a slash " */ ". Comments written in this way can span more than one line. 

       Programs can be included with plenty of comments.

There are several general features of all C++ programs. It begins (after the comment lines) with the statement

 #include <iostream>

This statement is called an include directive. It tells the compiler and the linker that the program will need to be linked to a library of routines that handle input from the keyboard and output to the screen. The header file "iostream" contains basic information about this library. After the include directive is the line:

using namespace std;

This statement is called a using directive. The latest versions of the C++ standard divide names into subcollections of names called namespaces. This particular using directive says the program will be using names that have a meaning defined for them in the std namespace.

Some C++ compilers do not yet support namespaces. In this case you can use the older form of the include directive:

#include <iostream.h>

Much of the code you encounter in industry will probably be written using this older style for headers.

Because the program is short, it is easily packaged up into a single list of program statements and commands. After the include and using directives, the basic structure of the program is:

                                   int main() 

                                   {

                                        First statement;

                                        ...

                                        ...

                                        Last statement;

                                       return 0;

                                  }

All C++ programs have this basic top-level structure. Notice that each statement in the body of the program ends with a semicolon. In a well-designed large program, many of these statements will include references or calls to sub-programs, listed after the main program or in a separate file. These sub-programs have roughly the same outline structure as the program here, but there is always exactly one such structure called main. 

When at the end of the main program, the line

return 0;

means--> return the value 0 to the computer's operating system to signal that the program has completed successfully. More generally, return statements signal that the particular sub-program has finished, and return a value, along with the flow of control, to the program level above.

When programming we uses variables. Program variables are not like variables in mathematics. They are more like symbolic names for pockets of computer memory which can be used to store different values at different times during the program execution. Variables should always be declared before being used in a program. Indeed, it is considered good style and practice to declare all the variables to be used in a program or sub-program at the beginning. Variables can be one of several different types in C++.

Kordelia Shines...

2012.. a new year begins. And the journey of life continues. To make it a bit different I thought of starting a blog.

In this I hope to share my thoughts and opinions about different kind of topics. They might be simple and may be technical. Whatever way it is I will write how I feel.

I invite you all to read them and give your feed-backs how you feel about them too.

So let the Kordelia shines..