INTRODUCTION TO C LANGUAGE

C is a general-purpose high level language that was originally developed by Dennis Ritchie for
the Unix operating system. It was first implemented on the Digital Eqquipment Corporation
PDP-11 computer in 1972.

The Unix operating system and virtually all Unix applications are written in the C language. C
has now become a widely used professional language for various reasons.
• Easy to learn
• Structured language
• It produces efficient programs.
• It can handle low-level activities.
• It can be compiled on a variety of computers.

Facts about C
• C was invented to write an operating system called UNIX.
• C is a successor of B language which was introduced around 1970
• The language was formalized in 1988 by the American National Standard Institue
(ANSI).
• By 1973 UNIX OS almost totally written in C.
• Today C is the most widely used System Programming Language.
• Most of the state of the art software have been implemented using C

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 Why to use C?
C was initially used for system development work, in particular the programs that
make-up the operating system. C was adoped as a system development language
because it produces code that
runs nearly as fast as code written in assembly language. Some examples of the use of
C might be:
• Operating Systems
• Language Compilers
• Assemblers
• Text Editors
• Print Spoolers
• Network Drivers
• Modern Programs
• Data Bases
• Language Interpreters

BASIC STRUCTURE OF C PROGRAMMING

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 1. Documentation section: The documentation section consists of a set of comment lines
giving the name of the program, the author and other details, which the programmer
would like to use later.
2. Link section: The link section provides instructions to the compiler to link functions
from the system library such as using the #include directive.
3. Definition section: The definition section defines all symbolic constants such using
the #define directive.
4. Global declaration section: There are some variables that are used in more than one
function. Such variables are called global variables and are declared in the global
declaration section that is outside of all the functions. This section also declares all the
user-defined functions.
5. main () function section: Every C program must have one main function section. This
section contains two parts; declaration part and executable part
1. Declaration part: The declaration part declares all the variables used in the
executable part.
2. Executable part: There is at least one statement in the executable part. These two
parts must appear between the opening and closing braces. The program
execution begins at the opening brace and ends at the closing brace. The closing
brace of the main function is the logical end of the program. All statements in the
declaration and executable part end with a semicolon.
6. Subprogram section: If the program is a multi-function program then the subprogram
section contains all the user-defined functions that are called in the main () function.
User-defined functions are generally placed immediately after the main () function,
although they may appear in any order.

PROCESS OF COMPILING AND RUNNING C PROGRAM

We will briefly highlight key features of the C Compilation model here.

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The C Compilation Model
The Preprocessor
The Preprocessor accepts source code as input and is responsible for
• removing comments
• Interpreting special preprocessor directives denoted by #. For
example
• #include -- includes contents of a named file. Files usually called header files. e.g
o #include <math.h> -- standard library maths file.
o #include <stdio.h> -- standard library I/O file
• #define -- defines a symbolic name or constant. Macro substitution.
o #define MAX_ARRAY_SIZE 100
C Compiler
The C compiler translates source to assembly code. The source code is received from the
preprocessor.
Assembler
The assembler creates object code. On a UNIX system you may see files with a .o suffix
(.OBJ on MSDOS) to indicate object code files.
Link Editor
If a source file references library functions or functions defined in other source files the link
editor combines these functions (with main()) to create an executable file.
C TOKENS
C tokens are the basic buildings blocks in C language which are constructed together to write a C
program.
Each and every smallest individual unit in a C program is known as C tokens.
C tokens are of six types. They are
Keywords (eg: int, while),
Identifiers (eg: main, total),
Constants (eg: 10, 20),
Strings (eg: ―total‖,―hello‖),
Special symbols (eg: (), {}),
Operators (eg: +, /,-,*)

C KEYWORDS
C keywords are the words that convey a special meaning to the c compiler. The keywords
cannot be used as variable names.
The list of C keywords is given below:

auto break case char const

continue default do double else

enum extern float for goto

if int long register return

short signed sizeof static struct

switch typedef union unsigned void

volatile while
C IDENTIFIERS
Identifiers are used as the general terminology for the names of variables, functions and arrays.
These are user defined names consisting of arbitrarily long sequence of letters and digits with
either a letter or the underscore(_) as a first character.
There are certain rules that should be followed while naming c identifiers:
They must begin with a letter or underscore (_).
They must consist of only letters, digits, or underscore. No other special character is allowed.
It should not be a keyword.
It must not contain white space.
It should be up to 31 characters long as only first 31 characters are significant.
Some examples of c identifiers:
Name Remark
_A9 Valid
Temp.var Invalid as it contains special character other than the underscore
void Invalid as it is a keyword

C CONSTANTS
A C constant refers to the data items that do not change their value during the program
execution. Several types of C constants that are allowed in C are:
Integer Constants
Integer constants are whole numbers without any fractional part. It must have at least one digit
and may contain either + or – sign. A number with no sign is assumed to be positive.
There are three types of integer constants:
Decimal Integer Constants
Integer constants consisting of a set of digits, 0 through 9, preceded by an optional – or + sign.
Example of valid decimal integer constants
341, -341, 0, 8972
Octal Integer Constants
Integer constants consisting of sequence of digits from the set 0 through 7 starting with 0 is said
to be octal integer constants.
Example of valid octal integer constants
010, 0424, 0, 0540
Hexadecimal Integer Constants
Hexadecimal integer constants are integer constants having sequence of digits preceded by 0x or
0X. They may also include alphabets from A to F representing numbers 10 to 15.
Example of valid hexadecimal integer constants
0xD, 0X8d, 0X, 0xbD
It should be noted that, octal and hexadecimal integer constants are rarely used in programming.
Real Constants
The numbers having fractional parts are called real or floating point constants. These may be
represented in one of the two forms called fractional form or the exponent form and may also
have either + or – sign preceding it.
Example of valid real constants in fractional form or decimal notation
0.05, -0.905, 562.05, 0.015
Representing a real constant in exponent form
The general format in which a real number may be represented in exponential or scientific form
is
mantissa e exponent
The mantissa must be either an integer or a real number expressed in decimal notation.
The letter e separating the mantissa and the exponent can also be written in uppercase i.e. E
And, the exponent must be an integer.
Examples of valid real constants in exponent form are:
252E85, 0.15E-10, -3e+8
Character Constants
A character constant contains one single character enclosed within single quotes.
Examples of valid character constants
'a' , 'Z‘ , ‘5'
It should be noted that character constants have numerical values known as ASCII values, for
example, the value of 'A' is 65 which is its ASCII value.
What is ASCII value?

An ASCII value is a code (numeric value) of keys. We put the any character, symbol etc,
than the computer can’t understand. A computer can understand only code and that code
against each key is known as ASCII Code.

Formula:

ASCII Value of a = 32+A

Example 1:
Input:
Enter character: a
Output:
ASCII is: 97
Example 2:
Input:
Enter character: A
Output:
ASCII is: 65

Program:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char ch;

//input character
printf("Enter the character: ");
scanf("%c",&ch);

printf("ASCII is = %d\n", ch);

return 0;
}
 Escape Characters/ Escape Sequences
C allows us to have certain non graphic characters in character constants. Non graphic characters
are those characters that cannot be typed directly from keyboard, for example, tabs, carriage
return, etc.
These non graphic characters can be represented by using escape sequences represented by a
backslash() followed by one or more characters.
NOTE: An escape sequence consumes only one byte of space as it represents a single character.

Escape Sequence Description

a Audible alert(bell)
b Backspace
f Form feed
n New line
r Carriage return
t Horizontal tab
v Vertical tab
\ Backslash
― Double quotation mark
‗ Single quotation mark
? Question mark
Null

STRING CONSTANTS
String constants are sequence of characters enclosed within double quotes. For example,
―“hello” , “1987”, “?...!”.

Every sting constant is automatically terminated with a special character “ ” called the
null character which represents the end of the string.
For example, ― “hello” will represent ― “hello” in the memory.
Thus, the size of the string is the total number of characters plus one for the null character.
Special Symbols
The following special symbols are used in C having some special meaning and thus, cannot be
used for some other purpose.
[] () {} , ; : * … = #
Braces{}: These opening and ending curly braces marks the start and end of a block of code
containing more than one executable statement.
Parentheses(): These special symbols are used to indicate function calls and function
parameters.
Brackets[]: Opening and closing brackets are used as array element reference. These indicate
single and multidimensional subscripts.

VARIABLES
A variable is nothing but a name given to a storage area that our programs can manipulate. Each
variable in C has a specific type, which determines the size and layout of the variable's memory;
the range of values that can be stored within that memory; and the set of operations that can be
applied to the variable.

The name of a variable can be composed of letters, digits, and the underscore character. It must
begin with either a letter or an underscore. Upper and lowercase letters are distinct because C is
case-sensitive. Based on the basic types explained in the previous chapter, there will be the
following basic variable types −
Type Description

char Typically a single octet(one byte). This is an integer type.

int The most natural size of integer for the machine.

float A single-precision floating point value.

double A double-precision floating point value.

void Represents the absence of type.

C programming language also allows defining various other types of variables like
Enumeration, Pointer, Array, Structure, Union, etc.

VariableDefinitioninC
A variable definition tells the compiler where and how much storage to create for the variable.
A variable definition specifies a data type and contains a list of one or more variables of that
type as follows −

type variable_list;
Here, type must be a valid C data type including char, w_char, int, float, double, bool, or any
user-defined object; and variable_list may consist of one or more identifier names separated by
commas. Some valid declarations are shown here −

int i, j, k;
char c, ch;
float f, salary;
double d;
The line int i, j, k; declares and defines the variables i, j, and k; which instruct the compiler to
create variables named i, j and k of type int.

Variables can be initialized (assigned an initial value) in their declaration. The initializer
consists of an equal sign followed by a constant expression as follows −

type variable_name = value;

Some examples are −

extern int d = 3, f = 5; // declaration of d and f.

int d = 3, f = 5; // definition and initializing d and f.
byte z = 22; // definition and initializes z.
char x = 'x'; // the variable x has the value 'x'.
For definition without an initializer: variables with static storage duration are implicitly
initialized with NULL (all bytes have the value 0); the initial value of all other variables are
undefined.
VariableDeclarationinC
A variable declaration provides assurance to the compiler that there exists a variable with the
given type and name so that the compiler can proceed for further compilation without requiring
the complete detail about the variable. A variable definition has its meaning at the time of
compilation only; the compiler needs actual variable definition at the time of linking the
program. A variable declaration is useful when multiple files are used.

OPERATORS AND EXPRESSIONS

C language offers many types of operators. They are,
1. Arithmetic operators
2. Assignment operators
3. Relational operators
4. Logical operators
5. Bit wise operators
6. Conditional operators (ternary operators)
7. Increment/decrement operators
8. Special operators

S.no Types of Operators Description

These are used to perform mathematical calculations

like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
1 Arithmetic_operators and modulus

These are used to assign the values for the variables

2 Assignment_operators in C programs.

These operators are used to compare the value of two

3 Relational operators variables.

4 Logical operators
These operators are used to perform logical
 operations on the given two variables.

These operators are used to perform bit operations on

5 Bit wise operators given two variables.

Conditional (ternary) Conditional operators return one value if condition is

6 operators true and returns another value is condition is false.

Increment/decrement These operators are used to either increase or

7 operators decrease the value of the variable by one.

8 Special operators &, *, sizeof( ) and ternary operators.

ARITHMETIC OPERATORS IN C
C Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical calculations like addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and modulus in C programs.

Arithmetic
S.no Operators Operation Example

1 + Addition A+B

2 – Subtraction A-B

3 * multiplication A*B

4 / Division A/B

5 % Modulus A%B

EXAMPLE PROGRAM FOR C ARITHMETIC OPERATORS

In this example program, two values ―40‖and ―20‖are used to perform arithmetic operations such as
addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, modulus and output is displayed for each
operation.
#include <stdio.h>

int main()

int a=40,b=20, add,sub,mul,div,mod;

add = a+b;

sub = a-b;

mul = a*b;

div = a/b;

mod = a%b;

printf("Addition of a, b is : %d\n", add);

printf("Subtraction of a, b is : %d\n", sub);

printf("Multiplication of a, b is : %d\n", mul);

printf("Division of a, b is : %d\n", div);

printf("Modulus of a, b is : %d\n", mod);

OUTPUT:
Addition of a, b is : 60
Subtraction of a, b is : 20
Multiplication of a, b is : 800
Division of a, b is : 2
Modulus of a, b is : 0

ASSIGNMENT OPERATORS IN C
In C programs, values for the variables are assigned using assignment operators.
For example, if the value ―10‖is to be assigned for the variable ―sum‖,it can be assigned as
―sum= 10;‖

Other assignment operators in C language are given below.

 Operators Example Explanation

Simple
assignment 10 is assigned
operator = sum = 10 to variable sum

sum += This is same as

+= 10 sum = sum + 10

This is same as
-= sum -= 10 sum = sum – 10

sum *= This is same as

*= 10 sum = sum * 10

This is same as
/+ sum /= 10 sum = sum / 10

This is same as
sum %= sum = sum %
%= 10 10

This is same as
sum = sum &
&= sum&=10 10

Compound sum ^= This is same as

assignment ^= 10 sum = sum ^ 10
operators

EXAMPLE PROGRAM FOR C ASSIGNMENT OPERATORS:

In this program, values from 0 – 9 are summed up and total ―45‖is displayed as output.
Assignment operators such as ―=‖and ―+=‖are used in this program to assign the values and to sum
up the values.
# include <stdio.h>

int main()

int Total=0,i;

for(i=0;i<10;i++)

Total+=i; // This is same as Total = Toatal+i

printf("Total = %d", Total);

OUTPUT:

Total = 45

RELATIONAL OPERATORS IN C
Relational operators are used to find the relation between two variables. i.e. to compare the
values of two variables in a C program.

S.no Operators Example Description

x is greater than
1 > x>y y

2 < x<y x is less than y

x is greater than
3 >= x >= y or equal to y

x is less than or
4 <= x <= y equal to y
 5 == x == y x is equal to y

x is not equal to
6 != x != y y

EXAMPLE PROGRAM FOR RELATIONAL OPERATORS IN C

In this program, relational operator (==) is used to compare 2 values whether they are equal
are not.
If both values are equal, output is displayed as ‖values are equal‖. Else, output is displayed as
―values are not equal‖.
Note: double equal sign (==) should be used to compare 2 values. We should not single
equal sign (=).
#include <stdio.h>

int main()

{
int m=40,n=20;

if (m == n)

printf("m and n are equal");

else

printf("m and n are not equal");

OUTPUT:

m and n are not equal

LOGICAL OPERATORS IN C
These operators are used to perform logical operations on the given expressions.
There are 3 logical operators in C language. They are, logical AND (&&), logical OR (||) and
logical NOT (!).

S.no Operators Name Example Description

It returns true
when both
logical conditions
1 && AND (x>5)&&(y<5) are true

It returns true
when at-least
one of the
logical condition is
2 || OR (x>=10)||(y>=10) true

It reverses the
state of the
operand
―((x>5) &&
(y<5))‖

If ―((x>5)
&& (y<5))‖
is true,
logical NOT
operator
logical
makes it false
3 ! NOT !((x>5)&&(y<5))

EXAMPLE PROGRAM FOR LOGICAL OPERATORS IN C:

#include <stdio.h>

int main()

{
int m=40,n=20;

int o=20,p=30;

if (m>n && m !=0)

printf("&& Operator : Both conditions are true\n");

if (o>p || p!=20)

printf("|| Operator : Only one condition is true\n");

if (!(m>n && m !=0))

printf("! Operator : Both conditions are true\n");

else

{
printf("! Operator : Both conditions are true. " \

"But, status is inverted as false\n");

OUTPUT:

&& Operator : Both conditions are true

|| Operator : Only one condition is true
! Operator : Both conditions are true. But, status is inverted as false
CONDITIONAL OR TERNARY OPERATORS IN C
Conditional operators return one value if condition is true and returns another value is condition
is false.
This operator is also called as ternary operator.
Syntax : (Condition? true_value: false_value);

Example : (A > 100 ? 0 : 1);

In above example, if A is greater than 100, 0 is returned else 1 is returned. This is equal to if else
conditional statements.

EXAMPLE PROGRAM FOR CONDITIONAL/TERNARY OPERATORS IN C

#include <stdio.h>

int main()

int x=1, y ;

y = ( x ==1 ? 2 : 0 ) ;

printf("x value is %d\n", x);

printf("y value is %d", y);

}

OUTPUT:

x value is 1
y value is 2