C Graphical Calculator

Overview

C Graphical Calculator is an ANSI C project that functions as a graphical calculator. It reads a mathematical function and an interval from the command line and generates a PostScript file containing the graph of the function over the specified range. If no custom limits are provided, the program defaults to using an interval of -10 to 10 for both the x and y axes.

Features

• Input Validation: Verifies the correctness of the function and file name provided via command-line arguments.
• Graph Calculation: Computes function values over the defined interval using a fixed step value.
• PostScript Generation: Produces a PostScript file that visually represents the function with clearly marked axes and grid lines.
• Cross-Platform: Compiled in ANSI C, ensuring portability between Windows and Linux systems.

Requirements

• ANSI C compiler (e.g. gcc)
• Make utility for building the project

Compilation

To compile the project, use the provided Makefile.

For Linux:

make

For Windows:

make -f makefile.win

The Makefile uses the project target name SemestralWork.

Usage

Run the generated executable from the command line using the following syntax:

graph.exe "function" "output_file.ps" [limits]

Where:

• "function" is a mathematical function of x (e.g. "sin(x)*cos(x)").
• "output_file.ps" is the name of the PostScript file to be created.
• [limits] is an optional parameter defining the interval in the format x_min:x_max:y_min:y_max (e.g. -5:5:-10:10).

Examples

1. With Custom Limits

   graph.exe "x^2 - 3*x + 2" "quadratic.ps" "-5:5:-10:10"

   This command generates a graph for the function x^2 - 3*x + 2 with x ranging from -5 to 5 and y ranging from -10 to 10.

2. With Default Limits

   graph.exe "sin(x)*cos(x)" "output.ps"

   In this case, the program uses the default interval of -10 to 10 for both axes.

How It Works

• Input Parsing: The program processes command-line arguments to extract the function, output filename, and optional interval limits.
• Function Processing: The function is parsed and validated to ensure proper syntax and allowed characters.
• Graph Calculation: The program computes the function values over the specified interval using a predetermined step size.
• PostScript Generation: The calculated points are used to create a PostScript file that includes axes, grid lines, and labels for clear visualization of the graph.

Notes

• The function must be provided in terms of x and adhere to standard mathematical notation.
• In case of insufficient or incorrectly formatted arguments, the program will display a usage message and exit with an error.

License

This project is released under the MIT License.

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Enjoy using C Graphical Calculator and feel free to contribute or report any issues!