C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Q1.Define the scope of static variables.

Static variables in C have the scopes; 1. Static global variables declared at the top level of the C source file have the scope that they can not be visible external to the source file. The scope is limited to that file. 2. Static local variables declared within a function or a block, also known as local static variables, have the scope that, they are visible only within the block or function like local variables. The values assigned by the functions into static local variables during the first call of the function will persist / present / available until the function is invoked again. The static variables are available to the program, not only for the function / block. It has the scope within the current compile. When static variable is declared in a function, the value of the variable is preserved , so that successive calls to that function can use the latest updated value. The static variables are initialized at compile time and kept in the executable file itself. The life time extends across the complete run of the program. Static local variables have local scope. The difference is, storage duration. The values put into the local static variables, will still be present, when the function is invoked next time.

Q2. What are volatile variables?

Volatile variables are like other variables except that the values might be changed at any given point of time only by some external resources. Ex: volatile int number; The value may be altered by some external factor, though if it does not appear to the left of the assignment statement. The compiler will keep track of these volatile variables.

Q3. Explain the meaning of "Segmentation violation".

Segmentation violation usually occurs at the time of a programs attempt for accessing memory location, which is not allowed to access. The following code should create segmentation violation. main() { char *hello = Hello World; *hello = h; } At the time of compiling the program, the string hello world is placed in the binary mark of the program which is read-only marked. When loading, the compiler places the string along with other constants in the read-only segment of the memory. While executing a variable *hello is set to point the character h , is attempted to write the character h into the memory, which cause the segmentation violation. And, compiler does not check for assigning read only locations at compile time.

C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Q4. What is "Bus error"?

A bus error is certain undefined behavior result type. The cause for such error on a system could not be specified by the C language. The memory accessibility which CPU could not address physically, bus error occurs. Also, any fault detected by a device by the computer system can also be a bus error. These errors caused by programs that generate undefined behavior which C language no longer specifies what can happen.

Q5. Define recursion in C.

Calling a function by itself is known as recursion. Any function can call any function including itself. In this scenario, if it happens to invoke a function by itself, it is recursion. One of the instructions in the function is a call to the function itself, usually the last statement. In some ways it is similar to looping. When the result of one time call of a function is the input for the next time call of the function, recursion is one of the best ways. For example, calculating factorial, in which the product of previous digit factorial is the input for the next digits factorial. The process of calling a function by itself is known as recursion. Recursion is generally used when the result of the current function call is the input to the successive call of itself. For example, factorial of a digit. By definition, the factorial of the current digit is the factorial of its previous digit and the digit. In order to get the factorial of the previous digit, the same function should return the factorial. Thus the result of the previous execution of the function is one of the inputs of the current execution. The process continues until an exit condition returns true.

Q6. What does static variable mean in C?

Static variable is available to a C application, throughout the life time. At the time of starting the program execution, static variables allocations takes place first. In a scenario where one variable is to be used by all the functions (which is accessed by main () function), then the variable need to be declared as static in a C program. The value of the variable is persisted between successive calls to functions. One more significant feature of static variable is that, the address of the variable can be passed to modules and functions which are not in the same C file.

Q7. What are bitwise shift operators?

The bitwise operators are used for shifting the bits of the first operand left or right. The number of shifts is specified by the second operator. Expression << or >> number of shifts Ex: number<<3;/* number is an operand - shifts 3 bits towards left*/ number>>2; /* number is an operand shifts 2 bits towards right*/ The variable number must be an integer value. For leftward shifts, the right bits those are vacated are set to 0. For rightward shifts, the left bits those are vacated are filled with 0s based on the type of the first operand after conversion. If the value of number is 5, the first statement in the above example results 40 and stored in the variable number.

C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
If the value of number is 5, the second statement in the above example results 0 (zero) and stored in the variable number.

Q8. Explain the use of bit fieild.

Bit Fields allow the packing of data in a structure. This is especially useful when memory or data storage is at a premium The maximum length of the field should be less than or equal to the integer word length of the computer.some compilers may allow memory overlap for the fields.Some store the next field in the next word. C lets us do this in a structure definition by putting :bit length after the variable: struct pack { unsigned int funny_int:9; }p; Also, Boolean datatype flags can be stored compactly as a series of bits using the bits fields. Each Boolean flag is stored in a separate bit.

Q9. What is the purpose of "register" keyword?

The keyword register instructs the compiler to persist the variable that is being declared , in a CPU register. Ex: register int number; The persistence of register variables in CPU register is to optimize the access. Even the optimization is turned off; the register variables are forced to store in CPU register

Q10. Explain the use of "auto" keyword.

The keyword auto is used extremely rare. A variable is set by default to auto. The declarations: auto int number; and int number; has the same meaning. The variables of type static, extern and register need to be explicitly declared, as their need is very specific. The variables other than the above three are implied to be of auto variables. For better readability auto keyword can be used.

Q11. Compare array with pointer.

The following declarations are NOT the same: char *p; char a[20]; The first declaration allocates memory for a pointer; the second allocates memory for 20 characters

C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Q12. Define pointer in C.

A pointer is an address location of another variable. It is a value that designates the address or memory location of some other value (usually value of a variable). The value of a variable can be accessed by a pointer which points to that variable. To do so, the reference operator (&) is pre-appended to the variable that holds the value. A pointer can hold any data type, including functions.

Q13. What is NULL pointer?

A pointer that points to a no valid location is known as null pointer. Null pointers are useful to indicate special cases. For example, no next node pointer in case of a linked list. An indication of errors that pointers returned from functions

Q14. Define #pragma statements.

The #pragma Directives are used to turn ON or OFF certain features. They vary from compiler to compiler. Examples of pragmas are: #pragma startup // you can use this to execute a function at startup of a program #pragma exit // you can use this to execute a function at exiting of a program #pragma warn rvl // used to suppress return value not used warning #pragma warn par // used to suppress parameter not used warning #pragma warn rch // used to suppress unreachable code warning

Q15. Describe the advantages of using macro.

In modular programming, using functions is advisable when a certain code is repeated several times in a program. However, everytime a function is called the control gets transferred to that function and then back to the calling function. This consumes a lot of execution time. One way to save this time is by using macros. Macros substitute a function call by the definition of that function. This saves execution time to a great extent.

Q16. Explain with an example the self-referential structure.

A self-referential structure is one of the data structures which refer to the pointer to (points) to another structure of the same type. For example, a linked list is supposed to be a self-referential data structure. The next node of a node is being pointed, which is of the same struct type. For example, typedef struct listnode { void *data; struct listnode *next; } linked_list; In the above example, the listnode is a self-referential structure because the *next is of the type sturct listnode.

Q17. Explain structure.

A structure is a user defined data type, which groups a set of data types. It is a collection of variables of different type under single name. A structure provides a convenience to group of related data types. A structure can contain variables, pointers, other structures, arrays or pointers. A structure is defined with the keyword struct

C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Ex: struct employee { int empid; char name[20]; float salary; }; .. .. struct employee Catherina;

Q18. What are the properties of Union?

A union is utilized to use same memory space for all different members of union. Union offers a memory section to be treated for one variable type , for all members of the union. Union allocates the memory space which is equivalent to the member of the union , of large memory occupancy.

Q19. What does static variable mean in C?

static is an access qualifier that limits the scope but causes the variable to exist for the lifetime of the program. This means a static variable is one that is not seen outside the function in which it is declared but which remains until the program terminates. It also means that the value of the variable persists between successive calls to a function. The value of such a variable will remain and may be seen even after calls to a function. One more thing is that a declaration statement of such a variable inside a function will be executed only once.

Q20.
Explain function prototype.
The basic definition of a function is known as function prototype. The signature of the function is same that of a normal function, except instead of containing code, it always ends with semicolon. When the compiler makes a single pass over each and every file that is compiled. If a function call is encountered by the compiler, which is not yet been defined, the compiler throws an error. One of the solution for the above is to restructure the program, in which all the functions appear only before they are called in another function. Another solution is writing the function prototypes at the beginning of the file, which ensures the C compiler to read and process the function definitions, before there is a change of calling the function. If prototypes are declared, it is convenient and comfortable for the developer to write the code of those functions which are just the needed ones.

Q21. What is the purpose of "extern" keyword in a function declaration?

The keyword extern indicates the actual storage of the variable is visible , or body of a function is defined elsewhere, commonly in a separate source code. This extends the scope of the variables or functions to be used across the file scope. Example: extern int number;

C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Q22. Explain the use of fflush() function.

In ANSI, fflush() [returns 0 if buffer successfully deleted / returns EOF on an error] causes the system to empty the buffer associated with the specified output stream. It undoes the effect of any ungetc() function if the stream is open for input. The stream remains open after the call. If stream is NULL, the system flushes all open streams. However, the system automatically deletes buffers when the stream is closed or even when a program ends normally without closing the stream.

Q23. Explain the difference between malloc() and calloc() function.

The following are the differences between malloc() and calloc(): - Byte of memory is allocated by malloc(), whereas block of memory is allocated by calloc(). - malloc() takes a single argument, the size of memory, where as calloc takes two parameters, the number of variables to allocate memory and size of bytes of a single variable - Memory initialization is not performed by malloc() , whereas memory is initialized by calloc(). - malloc(s) returns a pointer with enough storage with s bytes, where as calloc(n,s) returns a pointer with enough contiguous storage each with s bytes.

Q24. The following are the differences between strcpy() and memcpy():
- memcpy() copies specific number of bytes from source to destinatio in RAM, where as strcpy() copies a constant / string into another string. - memcpy() works on fixed length of arbitrary data, where as strcpy() works on null-terminated strings and it has no length limitations. - memcpy() is used to copy the exact amount of data, whereas strcpy() is used of copy variable-length null terminated strings.

Q25. Explain the difference between exit() and _exit() function.

The following are the differences between exit() and _exit() functions: - io buffers are flushed by exit() and executes some functions those are registered by atexit(). - _exit() ends the process without invoking the functions which are registered by atexit().

Q26.