Top100CInterviewQuestions&Answers

1)HowdoyouconstructanincrementstatementordecrementstatementinC?

Thereareactuallytwowaysyoucandothis.Oneistousetheincrementoperator++anddecrementoperator.For
example,thestatementx++meanstoincrementthevalueofxby1.Likewise,thestatementxmeanstodecrement
thevalueofxby1.Anotherwayofwritingincrementstatementsistousetheconventional+plussignorminussign.In
thecaseofx++,anotherwaytowriteitisx=x+1.

2)WhatisthedifferencebetweenCallbyValueandCallbyReference?
WhenusingCallbyValue,youaresendingthevalueofavariableasparametertoafunction,whereasCallbyReference
sendstheaddressofthevariable.Also,underCallbyValue,thevalueintheparameterisnotaffectedbywhatever
operationthattakesplace,whileinthecaseofCallbyReference,valuescanbeaffectedbytheprocesswithinthe
function.
3)Somecodersdebugtheirprogramsbyplacingcommentsymbolsonsomecodesinsteadofdeletingit.How
doesthisaidindebugging?

Placingcommentsymbols/**/aroundacode,alsoreferredtoascommentingout,isawayofisolatingsomecodes
thatyouthinkmaybecausingerrorsintheprogram,withoutdeletingthecode.Theideaisthatifthecodeisinfact
correct,yousimplyremovethecommentsymbolsandcontinueon.Italsosavesyoutimeandeffortonhavingtoretype
thecodesifyouhavedeleteditinthefirstplace.

4)WhatistheequivalentcodeofthefollowingstatementinWHILELOOPformat?
1 for(a=1a&lt=100a++)
2
3 printf(&quot%d\n&quot,a*a)

Answer:
1 a=1
2
3 while(a&lt=100){
4
5 printf(&quot%d\n&quot,a*a)
6
7 a++
8
9 }

5)Whatisastack?

Astackisoneformofadatastructure.DataisstoredinstacksusingtheFILO(FirstInLastOut)approach.Atany
particularinstance,onlythetopofthestackisaccessible,whichmeansthatinordertoretrievedatathatisstoredinside
thestack,thoseontheupperpartshouldbeextractedfirst.StoringdatainastackisalsoreferredtoasaPUSH,while
dataretrievalisreferredtoasaPOP.

6)Whatisasequentialaccessfile?
Whenwritingprogramsthatwillstoreandretrievedatainafile,itispossibletodesignatethatfileintodifferentforms.A
sequentialaccessfileissuchthatdataaresavedinsequentialorder:onedataisplacedintothefileafteranother.To
accessaparticulardatawithinthesequentialaccessfile,datahastobereadonedataatatime,untiltherightoneis
reached.

7)Whatisvariableinitializationandwhyisitimportant?

Thisreferstotheprocesswhereinavariableisassignedaninitialvaluebeforeitisusedintheprogram.Without
initialization,avariablewouldhaveanunknownvalue,whichcanleadtounpredictableoutputswhenusedin
computationsorotheroperations.

8Whatisspaghettiprogramming?
Spaghettiprogrammingreferstocodesthattendtogettangledandoverlappedthroughouttheprogram.Thisunstructured
approachtocodingisusuallyattributedtolackofexperienceonthepartoftheprogrammer.Spaghettiprogramingmakes
aprogramcomplexandanalyzingthecodesdifficult,andsomustbeavoidedasmuchaspossible.

9)DifferentiateSourceCodesfromObjectCodes
Sourcecodesarecodesthatwerewrittenbytheprogrammer.ItismadeupofthecommandsandotherEnglishlike
keywordsthataresupposedtoinstructthecomputerwhattodo.However,computerswouldnotbeabletounderstand
sourcecodes.Therefore,sourcecodesarecompiledusingacompiler.Theresultingoutputsareobjectcodes,whichare
inaformatthatcanbeunderstoodbythecomputerprocessor.InCprogramming,sourcecodesaresavedwiththefile
extension.C,whileobjectcodesaresavedwiththefileextension.OBJ
10)InCprogramming,howdoyouinsertquotecharacters(and)intotheoutputscreen?

Thisisacommonproblemforbeginnersbecausequotesarenormallypartofaprintfstatement.Toinsertthequote
characteraspartoftheoutput,usetheformatspecifiers\(forsinglequote),and\(fordoublequote).
11)Whatistheuseofa\0character?
Itisreferredtoasaterminatingnullcharacter,andisusedprimarilytoshowtheendofastringvalue.

12)Whatisthedifferencebetweenthe=symboland==symbol?
The=symbolisoftenusedinmathematicaloperations.Itisusedtoassignavaluetoagivenvariable.Ontheotherhand,
the==symbol,alsoknownasequaltoorequivalentto,isarelationaloperatorthatisusedtocomparetwovalues.
13)Whatisthemodulusoperator?
Themodulusoperatoroutputstheremainderofadivision.Itmakesuseofthepercentage(%)symbol.Forexample:10%
3=1,meaningwhenyoudivide10by3,theremainderis1.

14)Whatisanestedloop?

Anestedloopisaloopthatrunswithinanotherloop.Putitinanothersense,youhaveaninnerloopthatisinsideanouter
loop.Inthisscenario,theinnerloopisperformedanumberoftimesasspecifiedbytheouterloop.Foreachturnonthe
outerloop,theinnerloopisfirstperformed.
15)Whichofthefollowingoperatorsisincorrectandwhy?(>=,<=,<>,==)

<>isincorrect.Whilethisoperatoriscorrectlyinterpretedasnotequaltoinwritingconditionalstatements,itisnotthe
properoperatortobeusedinCprogramming.Instead,theoperator!=mustbeusedtoindicatenotequaltocondition.
16)Compareandcontrastcompilersfrominterpreters.

Compilersandinterpretersoftendealwithhowprogramcodesareexecuted.Interpretersexecuteprogramcodesone
lineatatime,whilecompilerstaketheprogramasawholeandconvertitintoobjectcode,beforeexecutingit.Thekey
differencehereisthatinthecaseofinterpreters,aprogrammayencountersyntaxerrorsinthemiddleofexecution,and
willstopfromthere.Ontheotherhand,compilerscheckthesyntaxoftheentireprogramandwillonlyproceedto
executionwhennosyntaxerrorsarefound.
17)Howdoyoudeclareavariablethatwillholdstringvalues?
Thecharkeywordcanonlyhold1charactervalueatatime.Bycreatinganarrayofcharacters,youcanstorestring
valuesinit.Example:charMyName[50]declaresastringvariablenamedMyNamethatcanholdamaximumof50
characters.
18)Canthecurlybrackets{}beusedtoencloseasinglelineofcode?
Whilecurlybracketsaremainlyusedtogroupseverallinesofcodes,itwillstillworkwithouterrorifyouuseditfora
singleline.Someprogrammerspreferthismethodasawayoforganizingcodestomakeitlookclearer,especiallyin
conditionalstatements.

19)WhatareheaderfilesandwhatareitsusesinCprogramming?
Headerfilesarealsoknownaslibraryfiles.Theycontaintwoessentialthings:thedefinitionsandprototypesoffunctions
beingusedinaprogram.Simplyput,commandsthatyouuseinCprogrammingareactuallyfunctionsthataredefined
fromwithineachheaderfiles.Eachheaderfilecontainsasetoffunctions.Forexample:stdio.hisaheaderfilethat
containsdefinitionandprototypesofcommandslikeprintfandscanf.

20)Whatissyntaxerror?
Syntaxerrorsareassociatedwithmistakesintheuseofaprogramminglanguage.Itmaybeacommandthatwas
misspelledoracommandthatmustwasenteredinlowercasemodebutwasinsteadenteredwithanuppercase
character.Amisplacedsymbol,orlackofsymbol,somewherewithinalineofcodecanalsoleadtosyntaxerror.

21)Whatarevariablesanditwhatwayisitdifferentfromconstants?
Variablesandconstantsmayatfirstlooksimilarinasensethatbothareidentifiersmadeupofonecharacterormore
characters(letters,numbersandafewallowablesymbols).Bothwillalsoholdaparticularvalue.Valuesheldbya
variablecanbealteredthroughouttheprogram,andcanbeusedinmostoperationsandcomputations.Constantsare
givenvaluesatonetimeonly,placedatthebeginningofaprogram.Thisvalueisnotalteredintheprogram.Forexample,
youcanassignedaconstantnamedPIandgiveitavalue3.1415.YoucanthenuseitasPIintheprogram,insteadof
havingtowrite3.1415eachtimeyouneedit.
22)Howdoyouaccessthevalueswithinanarray?

Arrayscontainanumberofelements,dependingonthesizeyougaveitduringvariabledeclaration.Eachelementis
assignedanumberfrom0tonumberofelements1.Toassignorretrievethevalueofaparticularelement,refertothe
elementnumber.Forexample:ifyouhaveadeclarationthatsaysintscores[5],thenyouhave5accessibleelements,
namely:scores[0],scores[1],scores[2],scores[3]andscores[4].
23)CanIuseintdatatypetostorethevalue32768?Why?
No.intdatatypeiscapableofstoringvaluesfrom32768to32767.Tostore32768,youcanuselongintinstead.You
canalsouseunsignedint,assumingyoudontintendtostorenegativevalues.
24)Cantwoormoreoperatorssuchas\nand\tbecombinedinasinglelineofprogramcode?

Yes,itsperfectlyvalidtocombineoperators,especiallyiftheneedarises.Forexample:youcanhaveacodelikeprintf
(Hello\n\n\World\')tooutputthetextHelloonthefirstlineandWorldenclosedinsinglequotestoappearonthenext
twolines.
25)WhyisitthatnotallheaderfilesaredeclaredineveryCprogram?
ThechoiceofdeclaringaheaderfileatthetopofeachCprogramwoulddependonwhatcommands/functionsyouwillbe
usinginthatprogram.Sinceeachheaderfilecontainsdifferentfunctiondefinitionsandprototype,youwouldbeusingonly
thoseheaderfilesthatwouldcontainthefunctionsyouwillneed.Declaringallheaderfilesineveryprogramwouldonly
increasetheoverallfilesizeandloadoftheprogram,andisnotconsideredagoodprogrammingstyle.

26)Whenisthevoidkeywordusedinafunction?
Whendeclaringfunctions,youwilldecidewhetherthatfunctionwouldbereturningavalueornot.Ifthatfunctionwillnot
returnavalue,suchaswhenthepurposeofafunctionistodisplaysomeoutputsonthescreen,thenvoidistobe
placedattheleftmostpartofthefunctionheader.Whenareturnvalueisexpectedafterthefunctionexecution,thedata
typeofthereturnvalueisplacedinsteadofvoid.

27)Whatarecompoundstatements?
Compoundstatementsaremadeupoftwoormoreprogramstatementsthatareexecutedtogether.Thisusuallyoccurs
whilehandlingconditionswhereinaseriesofstatementsareexecutedwhenaTRUEorFALSEisevaluated.Compound
statementscanalsobeexecutedwithinaloop.Curlybrackets{}areplacedbeforeandaftercompoundstatements.

28)WhatisthesignificanceofanalgorithmtoCprogramming?

Beforeaprogramcanbewritten,analgorithmhastobecreatedfirst.Analgorithmprovidesastepbystepprocedureon
howasolutioncanbederived.Italsoactsasablueprintonhowaprogramwillstartandend,includingwhatprocessand
computationsareinvolved.
29)Whatistheadvantageofanarrayoverindividualvariables?
Whenstoringmultiplerelateddata,itisagoodideatousearrays.Thisisbecausearraysarenamedusingonly1word
followedbyanelementnumber.Forexample:tostorethe10testresultsof1student,onecanuse10differentvariable
names(grade1,grade2,grade3grade10).Witharrays,only1nameisused,therestareaccessiblethroughtheindex
name(grade[0],grade[1],grade[2]grade[9]).
30)Writealoopstatementthatwillshowthefollowingoutput:

12

123

1234

12345

Answer:
1 for(a=1a&lt=5i++){
2
3 for(b=1b&lt=ab++)
4
5 printf(&quot%d&quot,b)
6
7 printf(&quot\n&quot)
8
9 }

31)Whatiswronginthisstatement?scanf(%d,whatnumber)

Anampersand&symbolmustbeplacedbeforethevariablenamewhatnumber.Placing&meanswhateverintegervalue
isenteredbytheuserisstoredattheaddressofthevariablename.Thisisacommonmistakeforprogrammers,often
leadingtologicalerrors.
32)HowdoyougeneraterandomnumbersinC?
RandomnumbersaregeneratedinCusingtherand()command.Forexample:anyNum=rand()willgenerateanyinteger
numberbeginningfrom0,assumingthatanyNumisavariableoftypeinteger.

33)Whatcouldpossiblybetheproblemifavalidfunctionnamesuchastolower()isbeingreportedbytheC
compilerasundefined?

Themostprobablereasonbehindthiserroristhattheheaderfileforthatfunctionwasnotindicatedatthetopofthe
program.HeaderfilescontainthedefinitionandprototypeforfunctionsandcommandsusedinaCprogram.Inthecase
oftolower(),thecode#include<ctype.h>mustbepresentatthebeginningoftheprogram.
34)WhatarecommentsandhowdoyouinsertitinaCprogram?
Commentsareagreatwaytoputsomeremarksordescriptioninaprogram.Itcanservesasareminderonwhatthe
programisallabout,oradescriptiononwhyacertaincodeorfunctionwasplacedthereinthefirstplace.Comments
beginwith/*andendedby*/characters.Commentscanbeasingleline,orcanevenspanseverallines.Itcanbeplaced
anywhereintheprogram.

35)Whatisdebugging?

Debuggingistheprocessofidentifyingerrorswithinaprogram.Duringprogramcompilation,errorsthatarefoundwill
stoptheprogramfromexecutingcompletely.Atthisstate,theprogrammerwouldlookintothepossibleportionswherethe
erroroccurred.Debuggingensurestheremovaloferrors,andplaysanimportantroleinensuringthattheexpected
programoutputismet.

36)Whatdoesthe&&operatordoinaprogramcode?
The&&isalsoreferredtoasANDoperator.Whenusingthisoperator,allconditionsspecifiedmustbeTRUEbeforethe
nextactioncanbeperformed.Ifyouhave10conditionsandallbut1failstoevaluateasTRUE,theentirecondition
statementisalreadyevaluatedasFALSE.

37)InCprogramming,whatcommandorcodecanbeusedtodetermineifanumberofoddoreven?
ThereisnosinglecommandorfunctioninCthatcancheckifanumberisoddoreven.However,thiscanbe
accomplishedbydividingthatnumberby2,thencheckingtheremainder.Iftheremainderis0,thenthatnumberiseven,
otherwise,itisodd.Youcanwriteitincodeas:
1 if(num%2==0)
2
3 printf(&quotEVEN&quot)
4
5 else
6
7 printf(&quotODD&quot)

38)Whatdoestheformat%10.2meanwhenincludedinaprintfstatement?
Thisformatisusedfortwothings:tosetthenumberofspacesallottedfortheoutputnumberandtosetthenumberof
decimalplaces.Thenumberbeforethedecimalpointisfortheallottedspace,inthiscaseitwouldallot10spacesforthe
outputnumber.Ifthenumberofspaceoccupiedbytheoutputnumberislessthan10,additionspacecharacterswillbe
insertedbeforetheactualoutputnumber.Thenumberafterthedecimalpointsetsthenumberofdecimalplaces,inthis
case,its2decimalspaces.

39)Whatarelogicalerrorsandhowdoesitdifferfromsyntaxerrors?

Programthatcontainslogicalerrorstendtopassthecompilationprocess,buttheresultingoutputmaynotbethe
expectedone.Thishappenswhenawrongformulawasinsertedintothecode,orawrongsequenceofcommandswas
performed.Syntaxerrors,ontheotherhand,dealwithincorrectcommandsthataremisspelledornotrecognizedbythe
compiler.
40)Whatarethedifferenttypesofcontrolstructuresinprogramming?
Thereare3maincontrolstructuresinprogramming:Sequence,SelectionandRepetition.Sequentialcontrolfollowsatop
tobottomflowinexecutingaprogram,suchthatstep1isfirstperform,followedbystep2,allthewayuntilthelaststepis
performed.Selectiondealswithconditionalstatements,whichmeancodesareexecuteddependingontheevaluationof
conditionsasbeingTRUEorFALSE.Thisalsomeansthatnotallcodesmaybeexecuted,andtherearealternative
flowswithin.Repetitionsarealsoknownasloopstructures,andwillrepeatoneortwoprogramstatementssetbya
counter.
41)Whatis||operatorandhowdoesitfunctioninaprogram?

The||isalsoknownastheORoperatorinCprogramming.Whenusing||toevaluatelogicalconditions,anycondition
thatevaluatestoTRUEwillrendertheentireconditionstatementasTRUE.
42)Cantheiffunctionbeusedincomparingstrings?

No.ifcommandcanonlybeusedtocomparenumericalvaluesandsinglecharactervalues.Forcomparingstring
values,thereisanotherfunctioncalledstrcmpthatdealsspecificallywithstrings.
43)Whatarepreprocessordirectives?

PreprocessordirectivesareplacedatthebeginningofeveryCprogram.Thisiswherelibraryfilesarespecified,which
woulddependonwhatfunctionsaretobeusedintheprogram.Anotheruseofpreprocessordirectivesisthedeclaration
ofconstants.Preprocessordirectivesbeginwiththe#symbol.
44)Whatwillbetheoutcomeofthefollowingconditionalstatementifthevalueofvariablesis10?

s>=10&&s<25&&s!=12
TheoutcomewillbeTRUE.Sincethevalueofsis10,s>=10evaluatestoTRUEbecausesisnotgreaterthan10butis
stillequalto10.s<25isalsoTRUEsince10islessthen25.Justthesame,s!=12,whichmeanssisnotequalto12,
evaluatestoTRUE.The&&istheANDoperator,andfollowstherulethatifallindividualconditionsareTRUE,theentire
statementisTRUE.

45)DescribetheorderofprecedencewithregardstooperatorsinC.
Orderofprecedencedetermineswhichoperationmustfirsttakeplaceinanoperationstatementorconditionalstatement.
Onthetopmostlevelofprecedencearetheunaryoperators!,+,and&.Itisfollowedbytheregularmathematical
operators(*,/andmodulus%first,followedby+and).Nextinlinearetherelationaloperators<,<=,>=and>.Thisis
thenfollowedbythetwoequalityoperators==and!=.Thelogicaloperators&&and||arenextevaluated.Onthelast
levelistheassignmentoperator=.

46)Whatiswrongwiththisstatement?myName=Robin
Youcannotusethe=signtoassignvaluestoastringvariable.Instead,usethestrcpyfunction.Thecorrectstatement
wouldbe:strcpy(myName,Robin)
47)Howdoyoudeterminethelengthofastringvaluethatwasstoredinavariable?

Togetthelengthofastringvalue,usethefunctionstrlen().Forexample,ifyouhaveavariablenamedFullName,youcan
getthelengthofthestoredstringvaluebyusingthisstatement:I=strlen(FullName)thevariableIwillnowhavethe
characterlengthofthestringvalue.
48)Isitpossibletoinitializeavariableatthetimeitwasdeclared?

Yes,youdonthavetowriteaseparateassignmentstatementafterthevariabledeclaration,unlessyouplantochangeit
lateron.Forexample:charplanet[15]=Earthdoestwothings:itdeclaresastringvariablenamedplanet,then
initializesitwiththevalueEarth.
49)WhyisClanguagebeingconsideredamiddlelevellanguage?

ThisisbecauseClanguageisrichinfeaturesthatmakeitbehavelikeahighlevellanguagewhileatthesametimecan
interactwithhardwareusinglowlevelmethods.Theuseofawellstructuredapproachtoprogramming,coupledwith
Englishlikewordsusedinfunctions,makesitactasahighlevellanguage.Ontheotherhand,Ccandirectlyaccess
memorystructuressimilartoassemblylanguageroutines.
50)WhatarethedifferentfileextensionsinvolvedwhenprogramminginC?

SourcecodesinCaresavedwith.Cfileextension.Headerfilesorlibraryfileshavethe.Hfileextension.Everytimea
programsourcecodeissuccessfullycompiled,itcreatesan.OBJobjectfile,andanexecutable.EXEfile.

51)Whatarereservedwords?
ReservedwordsarewordsthatarepartofthestandardClanguagelibrary.Thismeansthatreservedwordshavespecial
meaningandthereforecannotbeusedforpurposesotherthanwhatitisoriginallyintendedfor.Examplesofreserved
wordsareint,void,andreturn.
52)Whatarelinkedlist?
Alinkedlistiscomposedofnodesthatareconnectedwithanother.InCprogramming,linkedlistsarecreatedusing
pointers.Usinglinkedlistsisoneefficientwayofutilizingmemoryforstorage.

53)WhatisFIFO?
InCprogramming,thereisadatastructureknownasqueue.Inthisstructure,dataisstoredandaccessedusingFIFO
format,orFirstInFirstOut.Aqueuerepresentsalinewhereinthefirstdatathatwasstoredwillbethefirstonethatis
accessibleaswell.
54)Whatarebinarytrees?
Binarytreesareactuallyanextensionoftheconceptoflinkedlists.Abinarytreehastwopointers,aleftoneandaright
one.Eachsidecanfurtherbranchtoformadditionalnodes,whicheachnodehavingtwopointersaswell.

55)Notallreservedwordsarewritteninlowercase.TRUEorFALSE?
FALSE.AllreservedwordsmustbewritteninlowercaseotherwisetheCcompilerwouldinterpretthisasunidentified
andinvalid.
56)Whatisthedifferencebetweentheexpression++aanda++?
Inthefirstexpression,theincrementwouldhappenfirstonvariablea,andtheresultingvaluewillbetheonetobeused.
Thisisalsoknownasaprefixincrement.Inthesecondexpression,thecurrentvalueofvariableawouldtheonetobe
usedinanoperation,beforethevalueofaitselfisincremented.Thisisalsoknownaspostfixincrement.

57)WhatwouldhappentoXinthisexpression:X+=15(assumingthevalueofXis5)
X+=15isashortmethodofwritingX=X+15,soiftheinitialvalueofXis5,then5+15=20.
58)InClanguage,thevariablesNAME,name,andNameareallthesame.TRUEorFALSE?
FALSE.Clanguageisacasesensitivelanguage.Therefore,NAME,nameandNamearethreeuniquelydifferent
variables.
59)Whatisanendlessloop?
Anendlessloopcanmeantwothings.Oneisthatitwasdesignedtoloopcontinuouslyuntiltheconditionwithintheloop
ismet,afterwhichabreakfunctionwouldcausetheprogramtostepoutoftheloop.Anotherideaofanendlessloopis
whenanincorrectloopconditionwaswritten,causingthelooptorunerroneouslyforever.Endlessloopsareoftentimes
referredtoasinfiniteloops.
60)Whatisaprogramflowchartandhowdoesithelpinwritingaprogram?
Aflowchartprovidesavisualrepresentationofthestepbystepproceduretowardssolvingagivenproblem.Flowcharts
aremadeofsymbols,witheachsymbolintheformofdifferentshapes.Eachshapemayrepresentaparticularentity
withintheentireprogramstructure,suchasaprocess,acondition,orevenaninput/outputphase.

61)Whatiswrongwiththisprogramstatement?void=10
ThewordvoidisareservedwordinClanguage.Youcannotusereservedwordsasauserdefinedvariable.

62)Isthisprogramstatementvalid?INT=10.50
AssumingthatINTisavariableoftypefloat,thisstatementisvalid.OnemaythinkthatINTisareservedwordandmust
notbeusedforotherpurposes.However,recallthatreservedwordsareexpressinlowercase,sotheCcompilerwillnot
interpretthisasareservedword.
63)Whatareactualarguments?
Whenyoucreateandusefunctionsthatneedtoperformanactiononsomegivenvalues,youneedtopassthesegiven
valuestothatfunction.Thevaluesthatarebeingpassedintothecalledfunctionarereferredtoasactualarguments.

64)Whatisanewlineescapesequence?
Anewlineescapesequenceisrepresentedbythe\ncharacter.Thisisusedtoinsertanewlinewhendisplayingdatain
theoutputscreen.Morespacescanbeaddedbyinsertingmore\ncharacters.Forexample,\n\nwouldinserttwo
spaces.Anewlineescapesequencecanbeplacedbeforetheactualoutputexpressionorafter.
65)Whatisoutputredirection?
Itistheprocessoftransferringdatatoanalternativeoutputsourceotherthanthedisplayscreen.Outputredirection
allowsaprogramtohaveitsoutputsavedtoafile.Forexample,ifyouhaveaprogramnamedCOMPUTE,typingthison
thecommandlineasCOMPUTE>DATAcanacceptinputfromtheuser,performcertaincomputations,thenhavethe
outputredirectedtoafilenamedDATA,insteadofshowingitonthescreen.

66)Whatareruntimeerrors?
Theseareerrorsthatoccurwhiletheprogramisbeingexecuted.Onecommoninstancewhereinruntimeerrorscan
happeniswhenyouaretryingtodivideanumberbyzero.Whenruntimeerrorsoccur,programexecutionwillpause,
showingwhichprogramlinecausedtheerror.
67)Whatisthedifferencebetweenfunctionsabs()andfabs()?
These2functionsbasicallyperformthesameaction,whichistogettheabsolutevalueofthegivenvalue.Abs()isused
forintegervalues,whilefabs()isusedforfloatingtypenumbers.Also,theprototypeforabs()isunder<stdlib.h>,while
fabs()isunder<math.h>.
68)Whatareformalparameters?
InusingfunctionsinaCprogram,formalparameterscontainthevaluesthatwerepassedbythecallingfunction.The
valuesaresubstitutedintheseformalparametersandusedinwhateveroperationsasindicatedwithinthemainbodyof
thecalledfunction.
69)Whatarecontrolstructures?
Controlstructurestakechargeatwhichinstructionsaretobeperformedinaprogram.Thismeansthatprogramflowmay
notnecessarilymovefromonestatementtothenextone,butrathersomealternativeportionsmayneedtobepassinto
orbypassedfrom,dependingontheoutcomeoftheconditionalstatements.

70)Writeasimplecodefragmentthatwillcheckifanumberispositiveornegative.
1 If(num&gt=0)
2
3 printf(&quotnumberispositive&quot)
4
5 else
6
7 printf(&quotnumberisnegative&quot)

71)Whenisaswitchstatementpreferableoveranifstatement?
Theswitchstatementisbestusedwhendealingwithselectionsbasedonasinglevariableorexpression.However,
switchstatementscanonlyevaluateintegerandcharacterdatatypes.
72)Whatareglobalvariablesandhowdoyoudeclarethem?

Globalvariablesarevariablesthatcanbeaccessedandmanipulatedanywhereintheprogram.Tomakeavariable
global,placethevariabledeclarationontheupperportionoftheprogram,justafterthepreprocessordirectivessection.
73)Whatareenumeratedtypes?
Enumeratedtypesallowtheprogrammertousemoremeaningfulwordsasvaluestoavariable.Eachiteminthe
enumeratedtypevariableisactuallyassociatedwithanumericcode.Forexample,onecancreateanenumeratedtype
variablenamedDAYSwhosevaluesareMonday,TuesdaySunday.
74)Whatdoesthefunctiontoupper()do?

Itisusedtoconvertanylettertoitsuppercasemode.Toupper()functionprototypeisdeclaredin<ctype.h>.Notethat
thisfunctionwillonlyconvertasinglecharacter,andnotanentirestring.
75)Isitpossibletohaveafunctionasaparameterinanotherfunction?
Yes,thatisallowedinCprogramming.Youjustneedtoincludetheentirefunctionprototypeintotheparameterfieldofthe
otherfunctionwhereitistobeused.

76)Whataremultidimensionalarrays?
Multidimensionalarraysarecapableofstoringdatainatwoormoredimensionalstructure.Forexample,youcanusea2
dimensionalarraytostorethecurrentpositionofpiecesinachessgame,orpositionofplayersinatictactoeprogram.
77)WhichfunctioninCcanbeusedtoappendastringtoanotherstring?
Thestrcatfunction.Ittakestwoparameters,thesourcestringandthestringvaluetobeappendedtothesourcestring.

78)Whatisthedifferencebetweenfunctionsgetch()andgetche()?
Bothfunctionswillacceptacharacterinputvaluefromtheuser.Whenusinggetch(),thekeythatwaspressedwillnot
appearonthescreen,andisautomaticallycapturedandassignedtoavariable.Whenusinggetche(),thekeythatwas
pressedbytheuserwillappearonthescreen,whileatthesametimebeingassignedtoavariable.

79)Dothesetwoprogramstatementsperformthesameoutput?1)scanf(%c,&letter)2)letter=getchar()
Yes,theybothdotheexactsamething,whichistoacceptthenextkeypressedbytheuserandassignittovariable
namedletter.

80)WhatarestructuretypesinC?
Structuretypesareprimarilyusedtostorerecords.Arecordismadeupofrelatedfields.Thismakesiteasiertoorganize
agroupofrelateddata.
81)Whatdoesthecharactersrandwmeanwhenwritingprogramsthatwillmakeuseoffiles?
rmeansreadandwillopenafileasinputwhereindataistoberetrieved.wmeanswrite,andwillopenafilefor
output.Previousdatathatwasstoredonthatfilewillbeerased.
82)Whatisthedifferencebetweentextfilesandbinaryfiles?

Textfilescontaindatathatcaneasilybeunderstoodbyhumans.Itincludesletters,numbersandothercharacters.On
theotherhand,binaryfilescontain1sand0sthatonlycomputerscaninterpret.

83)isitpossibletocreateyourownheaderfiles?
Yes,itispossibletocreateacustomizedheaderfile.Justincludeinitthefunctionprototypesthatyouwanttouseinyour
program,andusethe#includedirectivefollowedbythenameofyourheaderfile.
84)Whatisdynamicdatastructure?
Dynamicdatastructureprovidesameansforstoringdatamoreefficientlyintomemory.Usingdynamicmemory
allocation,yourprogramwillaccessmemoryspacesasneeded.Thisisincontrasttostaticdatastructure,whereinthe
programmerhastoindicateafixnumberofmemoryspacetobeusedintheprogram.

85)WhatarethedifferentdatatypesinC?
Thebasicdatatypesareint,char,andfloat.Intisusedtodeclarevariablesthatwillbestoringintegervalues.Floatis
usedtostorerealnumbers.Charcanstoreindividualcharactervalues.
86)WhatisthegeneralformofaCprogram?
ACprogrambeginswiththepreprocessordirectives,inwhichtheprogrammerwouldspecifywhichheaderfileandwhat
constants(ifany)tobeused.Thisisfollowedbythemainfunctionheading.Withinthemainfunctionliesthevariable
declarationandprogramstatement.

87)Whatistheadvantageofarandomaccessfile?
Iftheamountofdatastoredinafileisfairlylarge,theuseofrandomaccesswillallowyoutosearchthroughitquicker.If
ithadbeenasequentialaccessfile,youwouldhavetogothroughonerecordatatimeuntilyoureachthetargetdata.A
randomaccessfileletsyoujumpdirectlytothetargetaddresswheredataislocated.
88)Inaswitchstatement,whatwillhappenifabreakstatementisomitted?
Ifabreakstatementwasnotplacedattheendofaparticularcaseportion?Itwillmoveontothenextcaseportion,
possiblycausingincorrectoutput.

89)Describehowarrayscanbepassedtoauserdefinedfunction
Onethingtonoteisthatyoucannotpasstheentirearraytoafunction.Instead,youpasstoitapointerthatwillpointto
thearrayfirstelementinmemory.Todothis,youindicatethenameofthearraywithoutthebrackets.
90)Whatarepointers?
Pointerspointtospecificareasinthememory.Pointerscontaintheaddressofavariable,whichinturnmaycontaina
valueorevenanaddresstoanothermemory.
91)Canyoupassanentirestructuretofunctions?

Yes,itispossibletopassanentirestructuretoafunctioninacallbymethodstyle.However,someprogrammersprefer
declaringthestructureglobally,thenpassavariableofthatstructuretypetoafunction.Thismethodhelpsmaintain
consistencyanduniformityintermsofargumenttype.
92)Whatisgets()function?
Thegets()functionallowsafulllinedataentryfromtheuser.Whentheuserpressestheenterkeytoendtheinput,the
entirelineofcharactersisstoredtoastringvariable.Notethattheenterkeyisnotincludedinthevariable,butinsteada
nullterminator\0isplacedafterthelastcharacter.

93)The%symbolhasaspecialuseinaprintfstatement.Howwouldyouplacethischaracteraspartofthe
outputonthescreen?

Youcandothisbyusing%%intheprintfstatement.Forexample,youcanwriteprintf(10%%)tohavetheoutputappear
as10%onthescreen.
94)Howdoyousearchdatainadatafileusingrandomaccessmethod?
Usethefseek()functiontoperformrandomaccessinput/ouputonafile.Afterthefilewasopenedbythefopen()function,
thefseekwouldrequirethreeparameterstowork:afilepointertothefile,thenumberofbytestosearch,andthepointof
origininthefile.
95)ArecommentsincludedduringthecompilationstageandplacedintheEXEfileaswell?

No,commentsthatwereencounteredbythecompileraredisregarded.Commentsaremostlyfortheguidanceofthe
programmeronlyanddonothaveanyothersignificantuseintheprogramfunctionality.
96)IsthereabuiltinfunctioninCthatcanbeusedforsortingdata?
Yes,usetheqsort()function.Itisalsopossibletocreateuserdefinedfunctionsforsorting,suchasthosebasedonthe
balloonsortandbubblesortalgorithm.
97)Whataretheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofaheap?
Storingdataontheheapisslowerthanitwouldtakewhenusingthestack.However,themainadvantageofusingthe
heapisitsflexibility.Thatsbecausememoryinthisstructurecanbeallocatedandremoveinanyparticularorder.
Slownessintheheapcanbecompensatedifanalgorithmwaswelldesignedandimplemented.
98)HowdoyouconvertstringstonumbersinC?
Youcanwriteyouownfunctionstodostringtonumberconversions,orinsteaduseCsbuiltinfunctions.Youcanuse
atoftoconverttoafloatingpointvalue,atoitoconverttoanintegervalue,andatoltoconverttoalongintegervalue.
99)Createasimplecodefragmentthatwillswapthevaluesoftwovariablesnum1andnum2.
1 inttemp
2
3 temp=num1
4
5 num1=num2
6
7 num2=temp

100)Whatistheuseofasemicolon()attheendofeveryprogramstatement?
Ithastodowiththeparsingprocessandcompilationofthecode.Asemicolonactsasadelimiter,sothatthecompiler
knowswhereeachstatementends,andcanproceedtodividethestatementintosmallerelementsforsyntaxchecking.