CS107e Spring 2026

How functions are implemented. Control flow: call and return. Parameter passing, local variables, return value. Coordination on use of registers. Runtime stack management.

Readings:

• Read up on C functions (Chapter 4 in K&R, or Section 4 in Essential C).

Using gpio pins to transmit bits/signals, UART hardware peripheral, Ascii character set, C-strings. Strategies for testing and debuggging.

Readings:

• Review this excellent tutorial on serial communication from Sparkfun.
• Use your C reference to read up characters, C-strings, and output functions (putc,puts,printf) (Sections 1.5, 1.6, 1.9, 5.5, 6, 7 in K&R; or Section 3 in EssentialC). C-strings are primitive compared to Java/C++ strings; take note of the manual effort required to use and pitfalls to avoid.
• Read our course guides on testing and gdb debugger.
• Historical diversion: Poul-Henning Kamp's essay on The Most Expensive One-byte Mistake. Did Ken, Dennis, and Brian choose wrong with NUL-terminated text strings?
• Summer reading: The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage is a neat faascinating account of the world shift due to the advent of the telegraph and early digital communication.