VARDHAMAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

(AUTONOMOUS)
Shamshabad – 501 218, Hyderabad

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

C
PROGRAMMING

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UNIT I

Computer systems:
A Computer is an electronic device which performs operations such as accepts data
As an input, store the data, manipulate or process the data and produce the results an output.
Main task performed by a computer
• Accept the data
• Process or manipulate the data
• Display or store the result in the form of human understanding
• Store the data, instructions and results.

A computer system consists of hardware and software.

Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that comprise a computer system.

Computer software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the
instructions for a computer what to do and how to do it. Software refers to one or more computer
programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purpose

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Basically computer software is of three main types

System Software: System software is responsible for managing a variety of

independent hardware components, so that they can work together. Its purpose is
to unburden the application software programmer from the often complex details of
the particular computer being used, including such accessories as communications
devices, printers, device readers, displays and keyboards, and also to partition the
computer's resources such as memory and processor time in a safe and stable
manner.
• Device drivers
• Operating systems
• Servers
• Utilities
• Window systems

Programming Software: Programming Software usually provides tools to assist a

programmer in writing computer programs, and software using different
programming languages in a more convenient way. The tools include:
• Compilers
• Debuggers
• Interpreters
• Linkers
• Text editors

Application Software: Application software is developed to aid in any task that

benefits from computation. It is a broad category, and encompasses Software of
many kinds, including the internet browser being used to display this page. This
category includes:
• Business software
• Computer aided design
• Databases
• Decision making software
• Educational software
• Image editing

Computing Environment:

Computing Environment is a collection of computers / machines, software, and networks that

support the processing and exchange of electronic information meant to support various types of
computing solutions.

Types of Computing Environments:

 Personal Computing Environment

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  Client Server Environment
 Time sharing Environment
 Distributed Environment

Personal Computing Environment:

All of the computer hardware components are tied together in our personal
computer. A personal computer (PC) is a computer whose original sales price,
size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and intended to be operated
directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator. People generally
relate this term with Microsoft‟s Windows Operating system. Personal computers
generally run on Windows, Mac or some version of Linux operating system.
Desktop: Desktop computer is just another version of Personal Computer intended
for regular use from a single use. A computer that can be fit on a desk can also be
called as desktop.

Time-Sharing Environment:

In the time-sharing environment, all computing must be done by the central computer. The
central computer the shared resources, it manage the shared data and printing. Employees in
large companies often work in what is known as time sharing environment. In the time sharing
environment, many users are connected to one or more computers. These computers may be mini
computers and central mainframes. In this environment the output devices, auxiliary storage
devices are shared by all the users.

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Client/Server Environment
Client/Server computing environment splits the computing function between a
central computer and user‟s computers. The users are given personal computers or
work stations so that some of the computation responsibility can be moved from
the central computer and assigned to the workstations. In the client/server
environment the users micro computers or work stations are called the client. The
central computer which may be a powerful micro computer, minicomputer or
central mainframe system is known as server.

Distributed Computing Environment

A distributed computing environment provides a seamless integration of computing
functions between different servers and clients. The internet provides connectivity
to different servers throughout the world. This environment provides reliable,
scalable and highly available network.

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COMPUTER LANGUAGES
In order to communicate with the computer user also needs to have a language that should be
understood by the computer. For this purpose, different languages are developed for performing
different types of work on the computer. Basically, languages are divided into two categories
according to their interpretation.

1. Low Level Languages.

2. High Level Languages.
Low Level Languages
Low level computer languages are machine codes or close to it. Computer cannot understand
instructions given in high level languages or in English. It can only understand and execute
instructions given in the form of machine language i.e. language of 0 and 1. There are two types
of low level languages:
 Machine Language.
 Assembly Language
Machine Language: It is the lowest and most elementary level of Programming language and
was the first type of programming language to be Developed. Machine Language is basically the
only language which computer Can understand. In fact, a manufacturer designs a computer to
obey just one Language, its machine code, which is represented inside the computer by a String
of binary digits (bits) 0 and 1. The symbol 0 stands for the absence of Electric pulse and 1 for the

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presence of an electric pulse . Since a computer is Capable of recognizing electric signals,
therefore, it understand machine Language.

Advantages of Machine Language

i) It makes fast and efficient use of the computer.
ii) It requires no translator to translate the code i.e. Directly understood by the computer
Disadvantages of Machine Language:
i) All operation codes have to be remembered
iv) These languages are machine dependent i.e. a particular
Machine language can be used on only one type of computer
Assembly Language
It was developed to overcome some of the many inconveniences of machine language. This is
another low level but a very important language in which operation codes and operands are given
in the form of alphanumeric symbols instead of 0‟s and l‟s. These alphanumeric symbols will be
known as mnemonic codes and can have maximum up to 5 letter combination e.g. ADD for
addition, SUB for subtraction, START,LABEL etc. Because of this feature it is also known as
„Symbolic Programming Language‟. This language is also very difficult and needs a lot of
practice to master it because very small
English support is given to this language. The language mainly helps in compiler orientations.
The instructions of the Assembly language will also be converted to machine codes by language
translator to be executed by the computer.

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Advantages of Assembly Language
i) It is easier to understand and use as compared to machine language.
ii)It is easy to locate and correct errors.
iii) It is modified easily
Disadvantages of Assembly Language
i) Like machine language it is also machine dependent.
ii) Since it is machine dependent therefore programmer Should have the knowledge of the
hardware also.
High Level Languages
High level computer languages give formats close to English language and the purpose of
developing high level languages is to enable people to write programs easily and in their own
native language environment (English). High-level languages are basically symbolic languages
that use English words and/or mathematical symbols rather than mnemonic codes. Each
instruction in the high level language is translated into many machine language instructions thus
showing one-to-many translation
Types of High Level Languages
Many languages have been developed for achieving different variety of tasks, some are fairly
specialized others are quite general purpose.
These are categorized according to their use as
a) Algebraic Formula-Type Processing. These languages are oriented towards the
computational procedures for solving mathematical and statistical problem
Examples are
 BASIC (Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).
 FORTRAN (Formula Translation).
 PL/I (Programming Language, Version 1).
 ALGOL (Algorithmic Language).

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  APL (A Programming Language).
b) Business Data Processing:
 These languages emphasize their capabilities for maintaining data processing procedures
and files handling problems. Examples are:
 COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language).
 RPG (Report Program Generator
b) String and List Processing: These are used for string manipulation including search for
patterns, inserting and deleting characters. Examples are:
 LISP (List Processing).
 Prolog (Program in Logic).
Object Oriented Programming Language
In OOP, the computer program is divided into objects. Examples are:
 C++
 Java
e) Visual programming language: these are designed for building Windows-based applications
Examples are:
 Visual Basic
 Visual Java
 Visual C

Advantages of High Level Language

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Following are the advantages of a high level language:
 User-friendly
 Similar to English with vocabulary of words and symbols
 Therefore it is easier to learn.
 They are easier to maintain.
Disadvantages of High Level Language

 A high-level language has to be translated into the machine language by a translator and
thus a price in computer time is paid.
 The object code generated by a translator might be inefficient Compared to an equivalent
assembly language program

Creating and Running Programs:

There are four steps in this process.

1. Writing and editing the program using Text editor (source code).
2. Compile the program using any C compiler.(.bak file)
3. Linking the program with the required library modules(object file)
4. Executing the program. (.Exe file)

Creating and Editing a C Program in C Programming Language compiler:

Writing or creating and editing source program is a first step in c language. Source
code is written in c programming language according to the type of problem or
requirement, in any text editor.

Saving C Program in C Programming Language: Source code is saved on the

secondary storage. Source code is saved as text file. The extension of file must be
".c". Example the file name is "learn c programming language.c"

Compiling C program in C Programming Language: Computer does not

understand c programming language. It understands only 0 and 1 means machine
language. So c programming language code is converted into machine language.
The process of converting source code in to machine code is called compiling.
Compiler is a program that compiles source code. Compiler also detects errors in source
program. If compiling is successful source program is converted into object program. Object
program is saved on disk. The extension of file is ".obj"
Linking in C programming Language: There are many built in functions
available in c programming language. These functions are also called library
functions. These functions are stored in different header files.

Loading program: The process of transferring a program from secondary storage

to main memory for execution is called loading a program. A program called loader

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