C Programming Handouts

The C Language is developed by Dennis Ritchie for creating system applications that
directly interact with the hardware devices such as drivers, kernels, etc.

C programming is considered as the base for other programming languages, that is why
it is known as mother language.

C programming language was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at bell laboratories

of AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph), located in the U.S.A.

Dennis Ritchie is known as the founder of the c language.

Let's see the programming languages that were developed before C language.

Language Year Developed By

Algol 1960 International Group

BCPL 1967 Martin Richard

B 1970 Ken Thompson

Traditional C 1972 Dennis Ritchie

K&RC 1978 Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie

ANSI C 1989 ANSI Committee

ANSI/ISO C 1990 ISO Committee

C99 1999 Standardization Committee

 C Preprocessor Directives
The C preprocessor is a micro processor that is used by compiler to transform your code
before compilation. It is called micro preprocessor because it allows us to add macros.

All preprocessor directives starts with hash # symbol.

Let's see a list of preprocessor directives.

o #include

To write the first c program, open the C console and write the following code:

1. #include <stdio.h>
2. int main(){
3. printf("Hello C Language");
4. return 0;
5. }
 #include <stdio.h> includes the standard input output library functions. The printf()
function is defined in stdio.h .

int main() The main() function is the entry point of every program in c language.

printf() The printf() function is used to print data on the console.

return 0 The return 0 statement, returns execution status to the OS. The 0 value is used
for successful execution and 1 for unsuccessful execution.

printf() and scanf() in C

The printf() and scanf() functions are used for input and output in C language. Both
functions are inbuilt library functions, defined in stdio.h (header file).

printf() function
The printf() function is used for output. It prints the given statement to the console.

The syntax of printf() function is given below:

1. printf("format string",argument_list);

The format string can be %d (integer), %c (character), %s (string), %f (float) etc.

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scanf() function
The scanf() function is used for input. It reads the input data from the console.

1. scanf("format string",argument_list);

Program to print cube of given number

Let's see a simple example of c language that gets input from the user and prints the
cube of the given number.

1. #include<stdio.h>
2. int main(){
3. int number;
4. printf("enter a number:");
5. scanf("%d",&number);
6. printf("cube of number is:%d ",number*number*number);
7. return 0;
8. }

The scanf("%d",&number) statement reads integer number from the console and
stores the given value in number variable.

The printf("cube of number is:%d ",number*number*number) statement prints the

cube of number on the console.

Program to print sum of 2 numbers

Let's see a simple example of input and output in C language that prints addition of 2
numbers.

1. #include<stdio.h>
2. int main(){
3. int x=0,y=0,result=0;
4.
5. printf("enter first number:");
6. scanf("%d",&x);
7. printf("enter second number:");
8. scanf("%d",&y);
9.
10. result=x+y;
11. printf("sum of 2 numbers:%d ",result);
12.
13. return 0;
14. }
 Variables in C
A variable is a name of the memory location. It is used to store data. Its value can be
changed, and it can be reused many times.

It is a way to represent memory location through symbol so that it can be easily

identified.

Let's see the syntax to declare a variable:

1. type variable_list;

The example of declaring the variable is given below:

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1. int a;
2. float b;
3. char c;

Here, a, b, c are variables. The int, float, char are the data types.

We can also provide values while declaring the variables as given below:

1. int a=10,b=20;//declaring 2 variable of integer type

2. float f=20.8;
3. char c='A';

Rules for defining variables

o A variable can have alphabets, digits, and underscore.
o A variable name can start with the alphabet, and underscore only. It can't start with a
digit.
o No whitespace is allowed within the variable name.
o A variable name must not be any reserved word or keyword, e.g. int, float, etc.

Valid variable names:

1. int a;
2. int _ab;
3. int a30;

Invalid variable names:

1. int 2;
2. int a b;
3. int long;

Types of Variables in C
There are many types of variables in c:

1. local variable
2. global variable
3. static variable
4. automatic variable
5. external variable

Local Variable
A variable that is declared inside the function or block is called a local variable.

It must be declared at the start of the block.

1. void function1(){
2. int x=10;//local variable
3. }

You must have to initialize the local variable before it is used.

Global Variable
A variable that is declared outside the function or block is called a global variable. Any
function can change the value of the global variable. It is available to all the functions.

It must be declared at the start of the block.

1. int value=20;//global variable
2. void function1(){
3. int x=10;//local variable
4. }

Static Variable
A variable that is declared with the static keyword is called static variable.

It retains its value between multiple function calls.

1. void function1(){
2. int x=10;//local variable
3. static int y=10;//static variable
4. x=x+1;
5. y=y+1;
6. printf("%d,%d",x,y);
7. }

If you call this function many times, the local variable will print the same value for
each function call, e.g, 11,11,11 and so on. But the static variable will print the
incremented value in each function call, e.g. 11, 12, 13 and so on.

Automatic Variable
All variables in C that are declared inside the block, are automatic variables by default.
We can explicitly declare an automatic variable using auto keyword.

1. void main(){
2. int x=10;//local variable (also automatic)
3. auto int y=20;//automatic variable
4. }

External Variable
We can share a variable in multiple C source files by using an external variable. To
declare an external variable, you need to use extern keyword.
 myfile.h

1. extern int x=10;//external variable (also global)

program1.c

1. #include "myfile.h"
2. #include <stdio.h>
3. void printValue(){
4. printf("Global variable: %d", global_variable);
5. }

Data Types in C
A data type specifies the type of data that a variable can store such as integer, floating,
character, etc.

There are the following data types in C language.

Types Data Types

Basic Data Type int, char, float, double

Derived Data Type array, pointer, structure, union

Enumeration Data Type enum

Void Data Type void

Basic Data Types

The basic data types are integer-based and floating-point based. C language supports
both signed and unsigned literals.

The memory size of the basic data types may change according to 32 or 64-bit
operating system.

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Let's see the basic data types. Its size is given according to 32-bit architecture.

Data Types Memory Size Range

char 1 byte −128 to 127

signed char 1 byte −128 to 127

unsigned char 1 byte 0 to 255

short 2 byte −32,768 to 32,767

signed short 2 byte −32,768 to 32,767

unsigned short 2 byte 0 to 65,535

int 2 byte −32,768 to 32,767

signed int 2 byte −32,768 to 32,767

unsigned int 2 byte 0 to 65,535

short int 2 byte −32,768 to 32,767

signed short int 2 byte −32,768 to 32,767

unsigned short int 2 byte 0 to 65,535

long int 4 byte -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

signed long int 4 byte -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

unsigned long int 4 byte 0 to 4,294,967,295

float 4 byte

double 8 byte

long double 10 byte

C Operators
An operator is simply a symbol that is used to perform operations. There can be many
types of operations like arithmetic, logical, bitwise, etc.

There are following types of operators to perform different types of operations in C

language.

o Arithmetic Operators
o Relational Operators
o Shift Operators
 o Logical Operators
o Bitwise Operators
o Ternary or Conditional Operators
o Assignment Operator
o Misc Operator

Precedence of Operators in C
The precedence of operator species that which operator will be evaluated first and next.
The associativity specifies the operator direction to be evaluated; it may be left to right
or right to left.

Let's understand the precedence by the example given below:

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1. int value=10+20*10;

The value variable will contain 210 because * (multiplicative operator) is evaluated
before + (additive operator).

The precedence and associativity of C operators is given below:

Category Operator Associativity

Postfix () [] -> . ++ - - Left to right

Unary + - ! ~ ++ - - (type)* & sizeof Right to left

Multiplicative */% Left to right

Additive +- Left to right

Shift << >> Left to right

Relational < <= > >= Left to right

Equality == != Left to right

Bitwise AND & Left to right

Bitwise XOR ^ Left to right

Bitwise OR | Left to right

Logical AND && Left to right

Logical OR || Left to right

Conditional ?: Right to left

Assignment = += -= *= /= %=>>= <<= &= ^= |= Right to left

Comma , Left to right