BEGINNING WITH

THE

C
Dennis M. Ritchie

INTRODUCTION
C programming language
Structured and disciplined approach to program design.
C is developed by Dennis Ritchie
C is a structured programming language
C supports functions that enables easy maintainability of code,
by breaking large file into smaller modules
Comments in C provides easy readability
C is a powerful language.
C programs built from

Variable and type declarations

Functions
Statements
Expressions

PROGRAM STRUCTURE
A sample C Program
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
--other statements
}

HEADER FILES
The files that are specified in the include
section is called as header file
These are precompiled files that has some
functions defined in them
We can call those functions in our program
by supplying parameters
Header file is given an extension .h
C Source file is given an extension .c

MAIN FUNCTION
This is the entry point of a program
When a file is executed, the start point is
the main function
From main function the flow goes as per the
programmers choice.
There may or may not be other functions
written by user in a program
Main function is compulsory for any C
program

RUNNING A C PROGRAM
Type a program
Save it
Compile the program This will generate an exe
file (executable)
Run the program (Actually the exe created out of
compilation will run and not the .c file)
In different compiler we have different option for
compiling and running. We give only the concepts.

C LANGUAGE TOKENS

What are actually

tokens?
The smallest individual units in a C program
are known as tokens. In a C source program,
the basic element recognized by the
compiler is the "token." A token is sourceprogram text that the compiler does not
break down into component elements.

TOKEN TYPES IN C
C has 6 different types of tokens viz.
1.Keywords [e.g. float, int, while]
2.Identifiers [e.g. main, amount]
3.Constants [e.g. -25.6, 100]
4.Strings [e.g. SMIT, year]
5.Special Symbols [e.g. {, }, [, ] ]
6.Operators [e.g. +, -, *]
C programs are written using these tokens and the general
syntax.

THE KEYWORDS
"Keywords" are words that have special meaning to
theCcompiler.
Their meaning cannot be changed at any instance.
Serve as basic building blocks for program statements.
All keywords are written in only lowercase.

KEYWORDS IN ANSI C
auto
break
case
char
const
continue
default
do

double
else
enum
etern
float
for
goto
if

register
return
short
signed
sizeof
static
struct
int

switch
typedef
union
unsigned
void
volatile
while
long

THE IDENTIFIERS
They are programmer-chosen names to represent parts of the
program: variables, functions, etc.
Cannot use C keywords as identifiers
Must begin with alpha character or _, followed by alpha,
numeric, or _
Upper- and lower-case characters are important (casesensitive)
Must consist of only letters, digits or underscore ( _ ).
Only first 31 characters are significant.
Must NOT contain spaces ( ).

VALIDITY OF IDENTIFIERS (EXAMPLES)

ABOUT CONSTANTS
Constants in C are the fixed values that do not change
during the execution of a program.
CONSTANTS
Numeric
constants

Integer
Constants

Character
constants

Real
Constant
s

Single
Character
Constants

String
Constant
s

CONSTANTS EXAMPLES
Integer Constants
Refers to sequence of digits such as decimal integer, octal integer
and hexadecimal integer.
Some of the examples are 112, 0551, 56579u, 0X2 etc.

Real Constants
The floating point constants such as 0.0083, -0.78, +67.89 etc.

Single Character Constants

A single char const contains a single character enclosed within
pair of single quotes [ ]. For example, 8, a , i etc.

String Constants
A string constant is a sequence of characters enclosed in double
quotes [ ]; For example, 0211, Stack Overflow etc.

DECLARATIONS
Constants and variables must be declared before
they can be used.
A constant declaration specifies the type, the
name and the value of the constant.
any attempt to alter the value of a variable
defined
as constant results in an error message by the
compiler
A variable declaration specifies the type, the
name and possibly the initial value of the
variable.
When you declare a constant or a variable, the
compiler:
1. Reserves a memory location in which to store
the value of the constant or variable.
2. Associates the name of the constant or

WHAT ARE VARIABLES IN C?

A Variable is a data name that is used to store any data
value.
Variables are used to store values that can be changed
during the program execution.
Variables in C have the same meaning as variables in
algebra. That is, they represent some unknown, or variable,
value.
x=a+b
z + 2 = 3(y - 5)
Remember that variables in algebra are represented by a
single alphabetic character.

NAMING VARIABLES
Variables in C may be given representations containing
multiple characters. But there are rules for these
representations.
Variable names in C
May only consist of letters, digits, and underscores
May be as long as you like, but only the first 31
characters are significant
May not begin with a number
May not be a C reserved word (keyword)
Should start with a letter or an underscore(_)
Can contain letters, numbers or underscore.
No other special characters are allowed including
space.

NAMING CONVENTIONS
C programmers generally agree on the following
conventions for naming variables.
Begin variable names with lowercase letters
Use meaningful identifiers
Separate words within identifiers with underscores or
mixed upper and lower case.
Examples: surfaceArea surface_Area
surface_area
Be consistent while naming the variables!
Use all uppercase for symbolic constants (used in #define
preprocessor directives).
Examples:

#define PI 3.14159
#define AGE 52

CASE SENSITIVITY
C is a case sensitive language.
It matters whether an identifier, such as a
variable name, is uppercase or lowercase.
Example:
area
Area
AREA
ArEa
are all seen as different variables by the compiler.

DECLARING VARIABLES
Before using a variable, you must give the compiler
some information about the variable; i.e., you must
declare it.
The declaration statement includes the data
type of the variable.
Examples of variable declarations:

int length ;

float area ;

DECLARATION (CONTD.)

Variables are not automatically initialized. For example,

after declaration
int sum;
the value of the variable sum can be anything (garbage).
Thus, it is good practice to initialize variables when they are
declared.
Once a value has been placed in a variable it stays there
until the program alters it.

DATA TYPES IN ANSI C

There are three classes of data types here::
Primitive data types
int, float, double, char

Aggregate OR derived data types

Arrays come under this category
Arrays can contain collection of int or float or char or double data

User defined data types

Structures and enum fall under this category.

DATA TYPES- DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES

Type

Size

Representation

Minimum range

Maximum range

8 bits

ASCII

-128

127

bool 8 bits

ASCII

255

short, signed short

16 bits

2's complement

-32768

32767

unsigned short

16 bits

Binary

65535

int, signed int

16 bits

2's complement

-32768

32767

unsigned int

16 bits

Binary

65535

long, signed long

32 bits

2's complement

-2,147,483,648

2,147,483,647

unsigned long

32 bits

Binary

4,294,967,295

float

32 bits

IEEE 32-bit

1.175495e-38

3.4028235e+38

double

32 bits

IEEE 32-bit

1.175495e-38

3.4028235e+38

long double

32 bits

IEEE 32-bit

1.175495e-38

3.4028235e+38

char, signed char

unsigned char

DATA TYPES : 1- INTEGER

An integer type is a number without a fractional
part.
Represents a signed integer of typically 4 or 8 bytes
(32 or 64 bits).
Precise size is machine-dependent.
Designed to hold whole numbers
Can be signed or unsigned:
12
-6
+3
Available in different sizes (number of bytes): short
int, int, and long int
Size of short int size of int size of long int

DECLARATION OF INTEGER VARIABLES

Declarations tell the compiler what variable
names will be used and what type of data each
can handle (store).
Variables of integer type can be defined
- On separate lines:
int length;
int width;
unsigned int area;
- On the same line:
int length, width;
unsigned int area;

DATA TYPE: 2- CHARACTER

Represents a single byte (8 bits) of storage.
Used to hold characters like d or x etc..
Can be signed or unsigned
Internally char is just a number
Numerical value is associated with character via a character
set.
ASCII character set used in ANSI C
Numeric value of character is stored in memory:

CODE:
char letter;
letter = 'C';

MEMORY:
letter
67

DECLARATION OF CHARACTER
VARIABLES
Variables of character type can be
defined:
- On separate lines:
char x;
- On the same line:
char x, y;

CHARACTER DATA
A variable or a constant of char type can hold an ASCII
character.
When initializing a constant or a variable of char type, or when
changing the value of a variable of char type, the value is
enclosed in single quotation marks.
Examples:
const char star = '*';
char letter, one = '1';

DATA TYPES: 3- FLOATING-POINT

A floating-point type is a number with a fractional
part
Represent typically 32 bit real numbers.
Designed to hold real numbers
12.45
-3.8
All numbers are signed.
Available in different sizes (number of bytes): float,
double, and long double
Size of float size of double
size of long double

DECLARATION OF FLOATING
POINT VARIABLES
Variables of floating point type can be
defined:
- On separate lines:
double x;
float y;
long double z;
- On the same line:
double x, y;
float y , e;
long double z , r;

QUICK RESPONSE!
Question:
char ch= A;

what is the difference between:

1. printf(%c, ch);
2. printf(%d, ch);

Is void a kind of a data

type?
Yes or No??

DATA TYPE: 6-VOID

The void data type has no

values and no operations.

Operators &
Expressions in C

ABOUT Operators and expressions

They decide the semantics of expression
Meaning of operator given in language system.

Expressions are formed by combining variables with

operators and ALWAYS return a single value in C.
i = 5;
i < j;
a = (a < b);

C supports a rich set of

operators that allow the
programmer to
manipulate variables

Operators- Types

Arithmetic Operators (+, -, *, /, %)

Relational Operators (<, >, <=, >=, ==, !=)
Logical Operators (&&, ||, !)
Bitwise Operators (&, |)
Assignment Operators (=)
Increment/Decrement Operators.
Conditional Operators.
Special operators.

ARITHMETIC OPERATORS
Used for performing numeric calculations
Arithmetic calculations
Use * for multiplication and / for division
Integer division truncates remainder
7 / 5 evaluates to 1

Modulus operator(%) returns the remainder

7 % 5 evaluates to 2

Operator precedence
Some arithmetic operators act before others (i.e., multiplication
before addition)
Use parenthesis when needed

Example: Find the average of three variables a, b and c

Do not use: a + b + c / 3
Use: (a + b + c ) / 3

Arithmetic Operators (Contd.)

Arithmetic
Operators::

Arithmetic Operators (Contd.)

RULES OF OPERATOR PRECEDENCE::
Operator(s)
()

*, /, or %
+ or -

Operation(s)
Parentheses

Order of evaluation (precedence)

Evaluated first. If the parentheses are nested, the
expression in the innermost pair is evaluated first. If there
are several pairs of parentheses on the same level (i.e.,
not nested), they are evaluated left to right.
Multiplication,Divi Evaluated second. If there are several, they are
sion, Modulus
evaluated left to right.
Addition
Evaluated last. If there are several, they are
Subtraction
evaluated left to right.

Arithmetic (summary)

Five simple binary arithmetic operators

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Q.

+ plus c = a + b
- minus c = a - b
* times c = a * b
/ divided by c = a/b
% modulus c = a % b

What are the values of c in each case above if

1. int a = 10, b = 2;
2. float a = 10, b = 2;
3. int a = 10; float b = 2; ??

Relational Operators
Six basic operators for comparison of values in C. These are
typically called relational operators:
1. > greater than
2. < less than
3. >= greater than or equal to
4. <= less than or equal to
5. == is equal to
6. != is NOT equal to
A relational operator compares two values of C built
in data types such as char, int, float
Relational operators return Boolean values:

0 if relation is FALSE

1 if relation is TRUE

Relational (contd.)

Relational (contd.)
Example:
int x=44;
int y=12;
(x == y) // false... Returns 0
(x >= y) // true... Returns 1
(x != y) // true ... Returns 1

Relational Operator Compliments

Among the six relational operators, each one is the
compliment of another operator such as,
> is compliment of <=
< is compliment of >=
== is compliment of !=

LOGICAL OPERATORS

Logical Operators are used to create compound expressions

There are three logical operators in C
1.
2.

||

logical OR
A compound expression formed with || evaluates to 1 (true) if
any one of its components is true

&& logical AND

A compound expression formed with && evaluates to true if

all of its components are true

3. ! logical NOT is used to define a compliment of any given

expression or value or variable

Logical operators, like relational operators, are typically used in

conditional expressions

1.

if ( (a == 1) && (b < 3) || (c == 1) ) etc.

However, these can also be used in regular expressions

Logical operator- Truth Table

Operand-1
(Op1)

Operand-2
(Op2)

Op1 && Op2

(Logical AND)

Op1 | | Op2
(Logical OR)

Non-zero value

Non-zero value

Non-zero value

Non-zero value

Some examples of Logical operators can be::

1.if( age> 55 && salary < 1000)
2.If (number <0 || number >1000)

Relative Precedence
The relative precedence of the relational as well as
logical operators is as follows::

HIGHEST
> >=
== !=
&&

LOWEST | |

!
<

<=

ASSIGNMENT OPERATORS
The operator symbol is the equal sign ( = )
The expression on the right-hand side is evaluated and assigned to
the left-hand variable.

int x = 9;
Assignment operators are used to assign the result of an expression to
a variable. C provides the facility of shorthand assignment operators
of the form::
variable op= expression

Some examples are::

x= x+y can be written as x+=y
a=a*(n+1) can be written as a *= n+1
z= z%d can be written as z%=d

INCREMENT/DECREMENT OPERATORS
In C, we have 2 very useful operators called the
increment & decrement operators:
Increment : ++
Decrement : --

adds 1 to the operand

subtracts 1 from the operand

Both the operators are unary and take the following

form::

++x; OR x++;
--y; OR y--;

Rules for ++ and operators

++ and are unary operators; they require variable as their
operands.
When postfix ++ (or ) is used with a variable in an exp., the
expression is evaluated first using the original value of the
variable and then the variables value is accordingly incremented
or decremented.
When prefix ++ (or ) is used with a variable in an exp.,
firstly, the variables value is accordingly incremented or
decremented and then the expression is evaluated using the new
value of the variable.
The precedence and associativity if ++ & are same as that of
unary + and unary .

CONDITIONAL OPERATORS
The operators ? and : are called conditional operators as
they are used to test the conditions in the conditional
expressions.
Conditional expression ::
Format: <Expression 1> ? <Expression 2> : <Expression 3>
Example:

x ? y : z
Test
Condition

True
expression

False
expression

Use of Conditional Operators

Consider the
following statements:
a= 80;
b= 95;
if(a>b)
z=a;
else
z=b;

Now consider
these
statements:
a=80;
b=95;
z= (a>b) ? a : b;
Both the statements are
resulting the same values.
This is an example of
usage of conditional
expressions

BITWISE OPERATORS
Perform bitwise logical operations across individual bits of a value.

AND
&
OR
|
XOR (exclusive OR)
NOT
~

(1s complement)
Shifts are bitwise operators
SHIFT LEFT <<
SHIFT RIGHT >>

x : 1 0 1 0 (binary)
y : 1 1 0 0 (binary)
x & y : 1 0 0 0 (binary)
x | y : 1 1 1 0 (binary)
x ^ y : 0 1 1 0 (binary)
~x : 0 1 0 1 (binary)

x << y

shift x y-places to the left (add zeros)

x >> y

shift x y-places to the right (sign extend)

THE COMMA ( , ) OPERATOR

This operator is used to link the related expressions together
A comma-linked expression is evaluated from left to right &
the value of the right most expression is the value of combined
expression. Say,
val = ( x=10, y=5, x+y)
x is firstly assigned the value as 10, then y is assigned as 5 and then 15
(10+5) is being assigned to the val

This operator is used in for loops, while loops etc.

FOR loop
for(i=0, j=1; i<=10 ; i++, j++);

WHILE loop
while(c =getchar(), c!= 20)

Interchanging values
z=a, a=b, b=z;

THE SIZEOF OPERATOR

The sizeof operator is used with an operand to return the number
of bytes the operand occupies. The operand may be a variable, a
constant or a data type qualifier.
Its a compile time operator.
Mainly used to find the length of arrays and structs when their
sizes are unknown.
Also used to allocate memory spaces dynamically to different
variables while any program execution.
For example::
k= sizeof (sum);
j= sizeof(long int);
w= sizeof(32767);

Rules of Precedence & Associativity

Precedence rule decides the order in
which different operators are
applied.
Associativity rule decides the order in
which multiple occurrences of the
same operator are applied.

OPERATOR PRECEDENCE/ASSOCIATIVITY
OPERATORS (precedence from HIGHER to LOWER)

ASSOCIATIVITY

( )

left to right

[ ]
~

->

++

<<

--

left to right

Bitwise
Relational
Relational
Bitwise
Bitwise
Bitwise

>

>=

!=

&
^
|

left to right
left to right
left to right
left to right
left to right
left to right

Logical
Logical

&&
||

left to right
left to right

?:
=
,

right to left
left to right

<=

==

(type) sizeof

%
>>

<

&

right to left
+=

-=

*=

/=

%=

&=

^=

|=

<<=

>>=

right to left
left to right