**Viva Questions and Answers on C Programming Topics**

MODULE 1

### 1. Introduction to C

**Q1. What is the C programming language?**

A: C is a general-purpose, structured programming language that is widely used for system

and application software development.

**Q2. Who developed C and in which year?**

A: C was developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs in 1972.

**Q3. What are the main features of C?**

A: Simplicity, portability, rich library, low-level memory access, modularity, and efficiency.

**Q4. Why is C called a middle-level language?**

A: Because it combines features of both high-level and low-level languages.

**Q5. What is the structure of a C program?**

A: A typical C program includes headers, main() function, declarations, and statements.

---

### 2. The C Character Set, Identifiers, and Keywords

**Q6. What are the different types of characters used in C?**

A: Letters, digits, special characters, and white spaces.

**Q7. What is the ASCII value of characters in C?**

A: It's a numeric representation of characters (e.g., A = 65).

**Q8. What are identifiers in C?**

A: Names used to identify variables, functions, arrays, etc.

**Q9. What are the rules for naming identifiers?**

A: Must start with a letter or underscore, followed by letters or digits. No spaces or special
characters.

**Q10. What are keywords in C?**

A: Reserved words with special meaning, e.g., int, return, if.

**Q11. How many keywords are there in C?**

A: There are 32 keywords in standard C.

**Q12. Can keywords be used as variable names?**

A: No, they are reserved.

---

### 3. Data Types, Constants, Variables

**Q13. What are the basic data types in C?**

A: int, float, char, double.

**Q14. What is the size of int, float, char, and double?**

A: Typically, int = 4 bytes, float = 4 bytes, char = 1 byte, double = 8 bytes (platform
dependent).

**Q15. What are derived data types?**

A: Arrays, functions, pointers.

**Q16. What is the difference between float and double?**

A: double has more precision and occupies more memory than float.

**Q17. What is a constant?**

A: A value that cannot be changed during program execution.

**Q18. How can you define a constant in C?**

A: Using `#define` or `const` keyword.

**Q19. What is the difference between #define and const?**

A: `#define` is handled by the preprocessor, while `const` is managed by the compiler.

**Q20. What is a variable?**

A: A named memory location used to store data.

**Q21. How do you declare and initialize variables in C?**

A: Example: `int a = 10;`

**Q22. What is the scope and lifetime of a variable?**

A: Scope defines where the variable can be accessed. Lifetime is how long the variable exists
in memory.

---

### 4. Declarations, Expressions, and Statements

**Q23. What is the purpose of a declaration in C?**

A: To specify the type and name of a variable before using it.

**Q24. Can a variable be declared without initialization?**

A: Yes.

**Q25. What is an expression in C?**

A: A combination of variables, constants, and operators that yields a result.

**Q26. What is the difference between expression and statement?**

A: Expression evaluates to a value; statement performs an action.

**Q27. What is a statement in C?**

A: A complete instruction to the compiler.

**Q28. What are different types of statements in C?**

A: Declaration, assignment, control statements, etc.

---

### 5. Data Input and Output

**Q29. What functions are used for single character input and output?**

A: `getchar()` and `putchar()`.

**Q30. What is the purpose of getchar() and putchar()?**

A: To read and write a single character.

**Q31. What is scanf() used for?**

A: For formatted input.

**Q32. How does printf() work?**

A: It is used for formatted output.

**Q33. What are format specifiers in scanf and printf()?**

A: Symbols like %d, %f, %c, %s used to format input/output.

**Q34. How do you take multiple inputs using scanf()?**

A: Example: `scanf("%d %f", &a, &b);`

---

### 6. Operators and Expressions

**Q35. What are arithmetic operators in C?**

A: +, -, \*, /, %

**Q36. What is the result of integer division?**

A: Only the integer part is returned.

**Q37. What is a unary operator?**

A: An operator that operates on a single operand (e.g., ++, --).

**Q38. What is the difference between ++i and i++?**

A: `++i` increments before use; `i++` increments after use.

**Q39. What are relational operators?**

A: <, >, <=, >=, ==, !=

**Q40. What are logical operators?**

A: &&, ||, !

**Q41. What is the difference between == and =?**

A: `==` checks equality; `=` is an assignment.

**Q42. What is an assignment operator?**

A: `=` assigns a value to a variable.

**Q43. What are compound assignment operators?**

A: +=, -=, \*=, /=, etc.

**Q44. What is the conditional operator in C?**

A: It’s a ternary operator: `condition ? expr1 : expr2`

**Q45. What is the syntax of the ternary operator?**

A: `condition ? true_expression : false_expression`

**Q46. What is type conversion?**

A: Converting one data type to another.

**Q47. What is the difference between implicit and explicit type conversion?**

A: Implicit is automatic; explicit uses casting.

**Q48. What is type casting?**

A: Manually converting one data type to another, e.g., `(float)a`

**Q49. What is typedef in C?**

A: Used to create a new name for an existing data type.

**Q50. Give an example of using typedef.**

A: `typedef int Marks;` Now `Marks` can be used instead of `int`.

---

### 7. Introduction to Preprocessor Directives

**Q51. What are preprocessor directives?**

A: Commands that are processed before compilation, starting with `#`.

**Q52. What is the purpose of #include?**

A: To include standard or user-defined header files.

**Q53. What does #define do?**

A: Defines macros or constants.

**Q54. What is the difference between #define and a constant variable?**

A: `#define` is replaced before compilation; `const` is checked at compile time.

**Q55. What is a macro in C?**

A: A fragment of code which has been given a name using `#define`.

**Q56. Can we use conditions inside macros? (e.g., #ifdef, #ifndef)**

A: Yes, used for conditional compilation.

**Q57. What happens during preprocessing?**

A: Header files are included, macros are expanded, conditional compilations are handled.

8. Control Statements

Q58. What is an if-else statement? A: It is a conditional branching statement used to

execute code blocks based on a condition.

Q59. What is the syntax of an if-else statement? A: if(condition) { // code } else { // code }

Q60. What is a switch statement? A: A multi-way branch statement based on the value of
an expression.

Q61. When do we use switch instead of if? A: When we have multiple values to compare
with a single variable.

Q62. What is the purpose of break statement? A: To exit a loop or switch block
prematurely.

Q63. What is the purpose of continue statement? A: To skip the current iteration and move
to the next loop cycle.

Q64. What are the different looping structures in C? A: while, do-while, for.

Q65. What is the difference between while and do-while loop? A: while checks the
condition first; do-while executes the body first.

Q66. What is the syntax of a for loop? A: for(initialization; condition; increment) { // code
}

9. Functions and Storage Classes

Q67. How do you define a function in C? A: With a return type, name, parameters, and
body: int add(int a, int b) { return a + b; }

Q68. How do you access a function? A: By calling it using its name and passing required
arguments.
Q69. What is a function prototype? A: A declaration of a function before its definition: int
add(int, int);

Q70. How do you pass arguments to a function? A: By value (default) or by pointer.

Q71. What are return values and their types? A: The value returned by a function can be
int, float, char, etc.

Q72. What are categories of functions? A: Functions with/without arguments and

with/without return value.

Q73. What is recursion? A: A function calling itself to solve smaller instances of the
problem.

Q74. What are storage classes in C? A: Keywords that define scope, visibility, and lifetime
of variables.

Q75. What is an automatic variable? A: Declared inside a function, has local scope, and is
created/destroyed on function call.

Q76. What is an external variable? A: Declared outside all functions, accessible globally.

Q77. What is a static variable? A: Retains value between function calls.

Q78. What is a register variable? A: Suggested to be stored in a CPU register for faster
access.

10. Arrays and Strings

Q79. What is an array in C? A: An array is a collection of elements of the same type stored
in contiguous memory locations.

Q80. How do you define an array? A: Example: int arr[5];

Q81. How are arrays processed in C? A: Through loops using indexing to access each
element.

Q82. What is a multidimensional array? A: An array with more than one index, like int
matrix[3][3];

Q83. How do you pass a 1-D array to a function? A: By passing the array name: void
display(int arr[])

Q84. How do you pass a 2-D array to a function? A: By specifying column size: void
display(int arr[][3])
Q85. What is a string in C? A: A sequence of characters terminated by a null character \0.

Q86. How is a string stored in C? A: As a 1-D array of characters ending with \0.

Q87. What is the use of puts() and gets()? A: gets() reads a string including spaces; puts()
prints a string.

Q88. What is an array of strings? A: A 2-D array where each row is a string: char
names[3][10];

Q89. How do you handle strings without using string functions? A: By using loops and
character arrays to process each character manually.

11. Pointers

Q95. What is a pointer in C?

A: A pointer is a variable that stores the memory address of another variable.

Q96. How do you declare a pointer in C?

A: data_type *pointer_name; Example: int *ptr;

Q97. How do you assign a value to a pointer?

A: By using the address-of operator &. Example: ptr = &a;

Q98. How do you access the value pointed by a pointer?

A: By using the dereference operator *. Example: *ptr = 10;

Q99. What are the operations that can be performed on pointers?

A: Dereferencing, pointer arithmetic (addition, subtraction), comparison, and assignment.

Q100. How do you pass pointers to a function?

A: By passing the pointer itself, allowing the function to modify the value of the variable at
the memory address. Example:

void modify(int *p) { *p = 5; }

int main() { int x = 10; modify(&x); }

Q101. What is the relation between pointers and one-dimensional arrays?

A: An array name is a pointer to the first element of the array. Example: arr[0] is the same as
*arr.

Q102. Can pointers be used with multidimensional arrays?

A: Yes, pointers can be used to point to the first element of each row in a multidimensional
array.
Q103. What is an array of pointers?
A: It is an array where each element is a pointer. Example: int *arr[5];

Q104. What is the relation between pointers and strings in C?

A: A string is a pointer to the first character of a character array. Example: char *str =
"Hello";

Q105. What is multiple indirection in pointers?

A: It refers to pointers pointing to other pointers, such as int **ptr or char **str. Example:

int a = 10;

int *p = &a;

int **q = &p;

Q106. What is dynamic memory allocation?

A: Dynamic memory allocation allows allocating memory during program execution using
functions like malloc(), calloc(), realloc(), and free().

Q107. What does malloc() do?

A: Allocates a block of memory of a specified size and returns a pointer to the first byte.
Example: int *arr = malloc(sizeof(int) * 5);

Q108. What does calloc() do?

A: Allocates memory for an array of specified elements and initializes them to zero.
Example: int *arr = calloc(5, sizeof(int));

Q109. What does realloc() do?

A: It resizes a previously allocated memory block. Example:

arr = realloc(arr, sizeof(int) * new_size);

Q110. What does free() do?

A: It releases the dynamically allocated memory. Example: free(arr);

12. Structures and Unions

Q111. What is a structure in C?

A: A structure is a user-defined data type that groups different types of variables under a
single name.
Q112. How do you define a structure in C?
A: struct structure_name {

data_type member1;

data_type member2;

};

Q113. How do you declare and initialize a structure variable?

A: struct person { char name[20]; int age; };

struct person p1 = {"John", 30};

Q114. How do you access members of a structure?

A: By using the dot operator. Example: p1.age or p1.name

Q115. What is a user-defined data type?

A: A data type defined by the user, such as struct or union.

Q116. Can structures contain pointers?

A: Yes, structures can contain pointers. Example:

struct person { char *name; int age; };

Q117. How do you pass a structure to a function?

A: Structures can be passed by value or by reference. Passing by reference is done using
pointers. Example:

void func(struct person *p) { printf("%s", p->name); }

Q118. What is a self-referential structure?

A: A structure that contains a pointer to itself. Example:

struct node {

int data;

struct node *next;

};

Q119. What is a union in C?

A: A union is a special data type that allows storing different data types in the same memory
location. All members of a union share the same memory location.
Q120. How do you define and use a union?
A:

union data {

int i;

float f;

char c;

};

union data d1;

d1.i = 10;

Q121. What is the difference between a structure and a union?

A: In a structure, each member has its own memory, while in a union, all members share the
same memory location.

Q122. What is a data file in C?

A: A data file is used to store data permanently on disk, which can be read or written during
program execution.

Q123. How do you open a file in C?

A: Using fopen() function:

FILE *fp = fopen("filename.txt", "mode");

Q124. What are different file opening modes?

A:

• "r" – Open for reading

• "w" – Open for writing (creates new or overwrites)

• "a" – Append to file

• "r+" – Read and write

• "w+" – Write and read (creates or overwrites)

• "a+" – Append and read

Q125. How do you close a file in C?

A: Using fclose() function. Example: fclose(fp);
Q126. How do you read from a file in C?
A: Using functions like fgetc(), fgets(), fscanf(), or fread().

Q127. How do you write to a file in C?

A: Using functions like fputc(), fputs(), fprintf(), or fwrite().

Q128. What are some common file handling functions?

A:

fopen(), fclose()

fgetc(), fputc()

fgets(), fputs()

fprintf(), fscanf()

fread(), fwrite()

feof(), fseek(), ftell()

Q129. What are formatted input/output functions?

A: Functions like fprintf() and fscanf() are used to perform formatted I/O on files, similar to
printf() and scanf().

Q130. How to process a file line-by-line?

A:

char line[100];

while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), fp) != NULL) {

printf("%s", line);

Q131. What is the difference between text and binary files?

A:

• Text file: Human-readable characters. Uses fprintf(), fscanf().

• Binary file: Stores data in binary format. Uses fread(), fwrite().

Q132. How do you read/write binary files?

A: fwrite(&structure, sizeof(structure), 1, fp);

fread(&structure, sizeof(structure), 1, fp);

14. Additional Features of C

Enumeration

Q133. What is an enumeration in C?

A: enum defines a user-defined type consisting of named integer constants. Example:

enum color { RED, GREEN, BLUE };

Q134. Can you assign custom values in enum?

A: Yes.

enum color { RED = 1, GREEN = 3, BLUE = 5 };

Bitwise Operators

Q135. What are bitwise operators in C?

A: Operators that work on bits:

• & (AND)

• | (OR)

• ^ (XOR)

• ~ (NOT)

• << (Left shift)

• >> (Right shift)

Q136. Example of bitwise AND?

A:

int a = 5, b = 3; // 5 = 0101, 3 = 0011

int c = a & b; // c = 0001 => 1

Command Line Parameters

Q137. What are command-line arguments in C?

A: Parameters passed to the main() function via terminal. Syntax:

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

Q138. What is argc and argv[]?

argc: Argument count

argv[]: Argument vector (array of strings)

Macros

Q139. What is a macro in C?

A: A macro is a fragment of code defined by #define and replaced by the preprocessor.

Q140. Example of a macro definition:

A: #define PI 3.14

Q141. What are function-like macros?

A: Macros that take arguments:

#define SQUARE(x) ((x)*(x))

Q142. What are conditional macros?

A: Preprocessor directives that compile code based on conditions.

#ifdef DEBUG

printf("Debugging...\n");

#endif