Fundamentals of C Programming

CS 102 - Introduction to Programming

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
University of Moratuwa
Sri Lanka
By: Dilum Bandara
Proof Read By: Dr. Sanath Jayasena & Mr. Samantha Senaratna

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 Table of Content

Chapter 1 – Introduction
1.1 Introduction to Programming 1
1.2 Program Development 1
1.2.1 Define the Problem 1
1.2.2 Outline the Solution 2
1.2.3 Develop the Algorithm 2
1.2.4 Test the Algorithm for Correctness 2
1.2.5 Code the Algorithm 2
1.2.6 Compile 2
1.2.7 Run the Program 2
1.2.8 Test, Document and Maintain the Program 3
1.3 Running a Program 3
1.4 Programming Languages 4
1.5 Overview of C 5
1.6 Steps in Developing a Program in C 5

Chapter 2 – Introduction to C Programming

2.1 An Example C Program 7
2.2 Your First C Program 7
2.3 C Tokens 8
2.4 Displaying Text 9
2.4.1 Escape Codes 10
2.5 Data Types 10
2.5.1 Primitive Data Types 11
2.5.2 Modifiers 11
2.6 Variables 12
2.6.1 Declaring Variables 12
2.6.2 Constants 12
2.7 Displaying Numbers 13
2.8 Formatted Input 15

Chapter 3 – Operators in C
3.1 Assignment Operator 16
3.2 Arithmetic Operators 17
3.2.1 Increment and Decrement Operators 17
3.2.2 Precedence and Associatively of Arithmetic Operators 18
3.3 Relational and Logical Operators 18
3.3.1 Precedence of Relational and Logical Operators 18
3.4 Bitwise Operators 19
3.4.1 Shift Operators 21

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Chapter 4 – Conditional Control Structures
4.1 The if Statement 22
4.2 The if-else Structure 24
4.3 The if-else-if Ladder 24
4.4 Nesting Conditions 26
4.5 Conditional Operator 26
4.6 The switch Construct 27

Chapter 5 – Control Structures

5.1 The for loop 30
5.2 The while Loop 31
5.3 The do-while Loop 32
5.4 Nesting of Loops 33
5.5 The break Keyword 34
5.6 The continue Keyword 35
5.7 The exit Function 35

Chapter 6 – Arrays
6.1 Initialising an Array 36
6.2 Multidimensional Arrays 37

Chapter 7 – Functions
7.1 A Function 38
7.2 Function Prototypes 39
7.3 Function Definition 39
7.4 Passing Variables to Functions 41
7.4.1 The Scope of a Variable 41
7.4.2 Default Parameters 41

Chapter 8 – Pointers
8.1 Declaring Pointers 43
8.2 Text Strings and Pointers 44
8.3 Pointers and Arrays 45

Chapter 9 – Handling Files

9.1 The File Protocol 46
9.1.1 Opening a Connection to a File 46
9.1.2 Closing the Connection to a File 47
9.1.3 Reading Data from a File 47
9.1.4 Writing Data to a File 48

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Annex A – Lab 2 & 3 50
Annex B – Lab 4 55
Annex C – Lab 5 56
Annex D – Lab 6 60
Annex E – Lab 7 61
Annex F – Lab 9 62
Annex G – Lab 10 63
Annex H – Library Functions 64

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 List of Figures

Figure 2.1 – C Tokens 9

List of Tables
Table 2.1 – The C language keywords 8
Table 2.2 – Escape codes 10
Table 2.3 – Basic C data types (on a 32-bit machine) 11
Table 2.4 – Basic C data types and modifiers (on a 32-bit machine) 11
Table 2.5 – The printf conversion specifies 13

Table 3.1 – Arithmetic operators 16

Table 3.2 – Precedence of arithmetic operators 18
Table 3.3 – Relational and logical operators 18
Table 3.4 – Precedence of relational and logical operators 19
Table 3.5 – Bitwise operators 19
Table 3.6 – Precedence of bitwise operators 20
Table 3.7 – Precedence of C operators 21

Table 9.1 – File access modes 46

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 1 - Introduction

1.1 Introduction to Programming

Software refers to a program or set of instructions that instructs a computer to perform some task.
Software can be divided into two major categories called system software and application software.
Systems software includes operating systems and various device drivers. Application software are
used to perform real-world tasks and solve specific problems.
A program is simply a set of instructions that tells a computer how to perform a particular task.
Programs are developed using programming languages. Computer programming is the art of
developing computer programs. Programming is rather like a recipe; a set of instructions that tells a
cook how to make a particular dish. It describes the ingredients (the data) and the sequence of steps
(the process) on how to mix those ingredients.
A programming language provides a set of rules to develop a program. A person who writes a program
using a programming language is called a programmer. His/her job is to convert a solution to a
problem (i.e. algorithm) into set of instructions understood by a computer. The programmer should
also test the program to see whether it is working properly and corrective actions should be taken if
not.

1.2 Program Development

Developing a program involves a set of steps:
1. Define the problem
2. Outline the solution
3. Develop an algorithm1
4. Test the algorithm for correctness
5. Code the algorithm using a suitable programming language
6. Compile and correction of compile errors
7. Run the program on the computer
8. Test, document and maintain the program
Most of these steps are common to any problem solving task. Program development (software
development) may take several hours, days, weeks, months or years. After development, customers
will make use of the system. While in use, the system needs to be maintained. The maintenance phase
will continue for several months, years or even several decades. Therefore software development is
not a onetime task; it is a lifecycle where some of the above steps are reformed again and again. The
steps are discussed in the following.
1.2.1 Define the Problem
First of all the problem should be clearly defined. The problem can be divided into three components:
• Inputs – what do you have?
• Outputs – what do you want to have?
• Processing – how do you go from inputs to outputs?
Programmers should clearly understand “what are the inputs to the program”, “what is expected as
output(s)” and “how to process inputs to generate necessary outputs”. Consider an example where a
computer program is to be written to calculate and display the circumference and area of a circle when
the radious .
• Inputs – the radius (r)
• Outputs – circumference (c) and area (a)
• Processing
§ c = 2pr, a = pr2
1
An algorithm is a sequence actions that is used to solve a problem.

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1.2.2 Outline the Solution
The programmer should define:
• the major steps required to solve the problem
• any subtasks
• the major variables and data structures
• the major control structures (e.g. sequence, selection, repetition loops)2 in the algorithm
• the underlined logic
Consider the above mentioned example. In order to calculate the circumference:
• Variables – radius (r), circumference (c)
• Calculation – c = 2pr
In order to calculate the area:
• Variables – radius (r), area (a)
• Calculation – a = pr2
1.2.3 Develop the Algorithm
The next step is to develop an algorithm that will produce the desired result(s). An algorithm is a
segment of precise steps that describes exactly the tasks to be performed, and the order in which they
are to be carried out to solve a problem. Pseudocode (a structured form of the English language) can
be used to express an algorithm. A suitable algorithm for our example would be:
Start
Input r
Calculate circumference
c = 2 * PI* r
Calculate area
a = PI* r^2
Output c & a
End
In here PI is a constant that represents the value of p.
1.2.4 Test the Algorithm for Correctness
The programmer must make sure that the algorithm is correct. The objective is to identify major logic
errors early, so that they may be easily corrected. Test data should be applied to each step, to check
whether the algorithm actually does what it is supposed to.
Our simple example can be quite easily check by submitting some values for radius (r) and walking
through the algorithm to see whether the resulting output is correct for each input.
1.2.5 Code the Algorithm
After all the design considerations have been met and when the algorithm is finalised code it using a
suitable programming language.
1.2.6 Compile
The next step is to compile (section 1.3) the program. While compiling syntax errors can be identified.
When the written program does not adhere to the programming language rules those are called syntax
errors. These errors occur mostly due to miss typed characters, symbols, missing punctuations, etc. If
there are no syntax errors the program gets compiled and it produces an executable program.
1.2.7 Run the Program
Executable program generated after compiling can then be executed. While the program is running
runtime errors and sometimes logic errors can be identified. Runtime errors occur while executing the
program and those are mostly due to incorrect inputs.

2
Will be introduced later.

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1.2.8 Test, Document and Maintain the Program
Test the running program using test data to make sure program is producing correct output(s). During
this phase logic errors can be found. Logic errors occur due to incorrect algorithms (although you
provide correct inputs you do not get the correct outputs). All the steps involved in developing the
program algorithm and code should be documented for future reference. Programmers should also
maintain and update the program according to new or changing requirements.

1.3 Running a Program

After a program is developed using a programming language, it should be executed by the computer.
Programmers write programmes in human readable languages called high-level languages. However,
the computer understands only 1’s and 0’s (referred as the machine language3 or machine code).
Therefore we need to convert the human readable programs into a machine language before executing.
This is conversion is achieved by a special set of programs called compilers (or interpreters). These
programs convert the high-level language program, into machine language programs.

Figure 1.1 – Converting a human readable program into machine language

Compilers translate a source program (human-readable) into an executable (machine-readable)
program (Figure 1.2). Executable machine code produced by a compiler can be saved in a file
(referred as the executable file) and used whenever necessary. Since the source program is already
compiled, no compilation is needed again unless the source program is modified. The saving on the
compilation time is an advantage that is gain from compiling and therefore these programs run much
faster. Programs written in programming languages such as FORTRAN, COBOL, C, C++ and Pascal
must be compiled before executing.

Figure 1.2 – Compiling and executing a program

Figure 1.3 – Interpretation of a program

As in Figure 1.2 when the executable file is available it can be executed by providing necessary input
data so that it produces the desired outputs.
Interpreters convert a source program and execute it at the same time (Figure 1.3). Each time the
program runs, the interpreter converts high-level language instructions and input data to a machine
readable format and executes the program. This process can be slower than the process which
3
Machine language is the native language of the computer (i.e. what is understood by the hardware).

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compiles the source program before execution. The program need to be converted as well as executed
at the same time. Programs written in languages like BASIC, Perl, Smalltalk, Lisp and VB Script are
interpreted.

1.4 Programming Languages

Programming languages were invented to make programming easier. They became popular because
they are much easier to handle than machine language. Programming languages are designed to be
both high-level and general purpose. A language is high-level if it is independent of the underlying
hardware of a computer. It is general purpose if it can be applied to a wide range of situations. There
are more than two thousand programming languages and some of these languages are general purpose
while others are suitable for specific classes of applications. Languages such as C, C++, Java, C# and
Visual Basic can be used to develop a variety of applications. On the other hand FORTRAN was
initially developed for numerical computing, Lisp for artificial intelligence, Simula for simulation and
Prolog for natural language processing (yet, these languages are general enough to be used for a wide
range of problems.
As microprocessors, programming languages also can be grouped into several generations and
currently we are in the fourth generation. In the early days, computers were programmed using
machine language instructions that the hardware understood directly. Programs written using machine
language belongs to the first generation of programming languages. These programs were hardly
human readable, therefore understanding and modifying them was a difficult task.
Later programs were written in a human readable version of machine code called Assembly language.
Assembly language belongs to the second generation of programming languages. Each Assembly
language instruction directly maps into a machine language instruction (there is a 1-to-1 mapping).
Assembly language programs were automatically translated into machine language by a program
called an assembler. Writing and understanding Assembly language programs were easier than
machine language programs. However even the Assembly language programs tend to be lengthier and
tedious to write. Programs developed in Assembly runs only on a specific type of computer. Further,
programmers were required to have a sound knowledge about computer organization4.
With the introduction of third generation (also referred as 3GL) high-level languages were introduced.
These languages allowed programmers to ignore the details of the hardware. The programs written
using those languages were portable5 to more than one type of hardware. A compiler or an interpreter
was used to translate the high-level code to machine code. Languages such as FORTRAN, COBOL, C
and Pascal belong to the third generation.
All the modern languages such as Visual Basic, VB Script, Java, C# and MatLab belong to the fourth
generation (4GL). Programs written in these languages were more readable and understandable than
the 3GL. They are much closer to natural languages. Source code of the programs written in these
languages is much smaller than other generation of languages (i.e. a single high level language
instruction maps into multiple machine language instructions). However, programs developed in 4GL
generally do not utilize resources optimally. They consume large amount of processing power and
memory and they are generally slower than the programs developed using languages belonging to
other generations. Most of these 4GL support development of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and
responding to events such as movement of the mouse, clicking of mouse or pressing a key on the
keyboard.
Some people think that fifth generation languages are likely to be close to natural languages. Such
languages are one of the major research areas in the filed of Artificial Intelligence.

4
Computer organization describes; the internal organization of a computer, the instruction set, instruction
format, how to make use of registers, allocate and de allocate memory, talking to various I/O devices, etc.
5
Running the same program on machines with different hardware configurations.

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1.5 Overview of C
“C’ seems a strange name for a programming language but it is one of the most widely used languages
in the world. C was introduced by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 at Bell Laboratories as a successor of the
language called B (Basic Combined Programming Language – BCPL). Since C was developed along
with the UNIX operating system it is strongly associated with UNIX. UNIX was developed at Bell
Laboratories and it was written almost entirely in C.
For many years, C was used mainly in academic environments. However with the release of C
compilers for commercial use and increasing popularity of UNIX, it began to gain wide-spread interest
among computer professionals. Various languages such as C++, Visual C++, Java and C# have
branched away from C by adding object-orientation and GUI features. Today C compilers are
available for a number of operating systems including all flavours of UNIX, Linux, MS-DOS,
Windows and Apple Mac.
C is a robust language whose rich set of built-in functions and operations can be used to write any
complex program. C is well suited to write both commercial applications and system software since it
incorporates features of high-level languages and Assembly language. Programs written in C are
efficient and fast. Most C programs are fairly portable; that is with little or no modification and
compiling, C programs can be executed on different operating systems.
The syntax and coding style of C is simple and well structured. Due to this reason most of the modern
languages such as C++, Java and C# inherit C coding style. Therefore it is one of the best languages to
learn the art of programming. C is also suitable for many complex engineering applications.

1.6 Steps in Developing a Program in C

A programmer uses a text editor to create and modify files containing the C source code. A file
containing source code is called a source file (C source files are given the extension .c). After a C
source file has been created, the programmer must invoke the C compiler before the program can be
executed. If the compiler finds no errors in the source code it produces a file containing the machine
code (this file referred as the executable file).
The compilation of a C program is infact a three stages process; preprocessing, compiling and linking.

Figure 1.4 – Compilation process

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Preprocessing is performed by a program called the preprocessor. It modifies the source code (in
memory) according to preprocessor directives (example: # de fine ) embedded in the source code. It
also strips comments and unnecessary white spaces from the source code. Preprocessor does not
modify the source code stored on disk, every thing is done on the copy loaded into the memory.
Compilation really happens then on the code produced by the preprocessor. The compiler translates
the preprocessor-modified source code into object code (machine code). While doing so it may
encounter syntax errors. If errors are found it will be immediately notified to the programmer and
compiling will discontinue. If the compiler finds any non-standard codes or conditions which are
suspicious but legitimate it will notify to the programmer as warnings and it continues to compile. A
well written program should not have any compilation errors or warnings.
Linking is the final step and it combines the program object code with other object codes to produce
the executable file. The other object codes come from run-time libraries, other libraries, or object files
that the programmer has created. Finally it saves the executable code as a file on the disk. If any
linker errors are encountered the executable file will not be generated.

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 2 – Introduction to C Programming

2.1 An Example C Program

In order to see the structure of a C program, it is best to start with a simple program. The following
code is a C program which displays the message “Hello, World!” on the screen.
/* Program-2.1 - My First Program */
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
printf("Hello World!");
}
The heart of this program is the function pr int f , which actually does the work. The C language is
built from functions like pr int f that execute different tasks. The functions must be used in a
framework which starts with the word m a in( ) , followed by the block containing the function(s)
which is marked by braces ({ } ). The m a in( ) is a special function that is required in every C
program.
The first line starting with characters / * and ending with characters * / is a comment. Comments are
used by programmers to add remarks and explanations within the program. It is always a good practice
to comment your code whenever possible. Comments are useful in program maintenance. Most of the
programs that people write needs to be modified after several months or years. In such cases they may
not remember why they have written a program in such a manner. In such cases comments will make a
programmer’s life easy in understanding the source code and the reasons for writing them. Compiler
ignores all the comments and they do not have any effect on the executable program.
Comments are of two types; single line comments and block comments. Single line comments start
with two slashes {/ / } and all the text until the end of the line is considered a comment. Block
comments start with characters / * and end with characters * / . Any text between those characters is
considered a block of comments.
Lines that start with a pound (# ) symbol are called directives for the preprocessor. A directive is not a
part of the actual program; it is used as a command to the preprocessor to direct the translation of the
program. The directive # include appears in all programs as it refers to the standard input output
header file (st dio.h ). Here, the header file st dio.h includes information about the pr in t f( )
function. When using more than one directive each must appear on a separate line.
A header file includes data types, macros, function prototypes, inline functions and other common
declarations. A header file does not include any implementation of the functions declared. The C
preprocessor is used to insert the function definitions into the source files and the actual library file
which contains the function implementation is linked at link time. There are prewritten libraries of
functions such as pr int f( ) to help us. Some of these functions are very complex and long. Use of
prewritten functions makes the programmers life easier and they also allow faster and error free
development (since functions are used and tested by many programmers) development.
The function pr int f is embedded into a statement whose end is marked by a semicolon (; ). Semicolon
indicates the end of a statement to the compiler.
The C language is case sensitive and all C programs are generally written in lowercase letters. Some of
the special words may be written in uppercase letters.

2.2 Your First C Program

Let us write our first real C program. Throughout this course students will be using Linux as the
development platform. A C program written for the Linux platform (or for UNIX) is slightly different
to the program shown earlier. A modified version of the Hello World program is given next.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 7

 /* Program-2.2 - My First Program */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hello World!");
return 0;
}
Similar to the previous program, m a in( ) is placed as the first function; however with a slight
difference. The keyword int is added before the function m a in . The keyword int indicates that
m a in( ) function returns an integer value. Most functions return some value and sometimes this
return value indicates the success or the failure of a function.
Because function m a in( ) returns an integer value, there must be a statement that indicates what this
value is. The statement “r e t ur n 0 ; ” does that; in this case it returns zero (conventionally 0 is
returned to indicate the success of a function).
Use your favorite text editor in Linux and type the above program. Save it as H e lloW or ld.c (all C
source files are saved with the extension .c ). Then use the shell and go to the directory that you have
saved your source file. Use the command gcc H e lloW or ld.c to compiler your program. If there are
no errors an executable file will be created in the same location with the default file name a .ou t . To
execute the program at the prompt type ./ a .ou t (i.e. to execute the a .ou t file in current directory).
When you execute your program it should display “Hello World!” on the screen.

$ vim HelloWorld.c
$ gcc HelloWorld.c
$ ./a.out
Hello World!$

However you will see the prompt ($ ) appearing just after the message “H e llo W or ld! ” you can
avoid this by adding the new line character (\ n ) to the end of the message. Then your modified
program should look like the following:
/* Program-2.3 - My First Program */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hello World!\n");
return 0;
}

2.3 C Tokens
The smallest element identified by the compiler in a source file is called a token. It may be a single
character or a sequence of characters to form a single item. Tokens can be classified as keywords,
literals, identifiers, operators, etc. Literals can be further classified as numeric constants, character
constants and string constants.
Language specific tokens used by a programming language are called keywords. Keywords are also
called as reserved words. They are defined as a part of the programming language therefore cannot be
used for anything else. Any user defined literals or identifiers should not conflict with keywords or
compiler directives. Table 2.1 lists keywords supported by the C language.
Table 2.1 – The C language keywords

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

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Literals are factual data represented in a language. Numeric constants are an uninterrupted sequence of
digits (possibly containing a period). Numerical values such as 123, 10000 and 99.99 are examples.
Character constants represents a single character and it is surrounded by single quotation mark (‘ ).
Characters such as ‘a’, ‘A’, ‘$’ and ‘4’ are examples. A sequence of characters surrounded by double
quotation marks (inverted comma “” ) is called a string constant. A statement such as “I like ice
cream.” is a string constant.
Identifiers are also referred as names. A valid identifier is composed of a letter followed by a sequence
of letters, digits or underscore (_ ) symbols. An identifier must begin with a letter and the rest can be
letters, digits or underscores. Identifies are case sensitive; therefore the identifier a bc is different from
ABC or Abc .
C identifiers can be very long and so it allows descriptive names like “number_of_students” and
“Total_number_of_cars_produced_per_year”. Sometimes a C compiler may consider only the first 32
characters in an identifier. While defining identifiers programmers should follow some of the naming
standards for better readability of the program. One such standard is the use of underscores symbol (_)
to combine two words (example: sub_total).
Operators are used with operands to build expressions. For example “4 + 5 ” is an expression
containing two operands (4 and 5 ) and one operator (+ symbol). C supports large number of
mathematical and logical operators such as + , - , * , / , % , ^ , & , & & , | , | | , etc. Operators will be
discussed in chapter 3.
The C language uses several symbols such as semicolons (; ), colons (: ), commas (, ), apostrophes (‘ ),
quotation marks (“” ), braces ([ ] ), brackets ({ } ), and parentheses (( ) ) to group block of code as a
single unit.

Figure 2.1 – C Tokens

2.4 Displaying Text

The pr int f is the most important function used to display text on the screen. It has two parentheses
which contains the string to be displayed, enclosed in quotation marks. Consider Program-2.4 given
below. It displays two successive statements using the pr int f function.
/* Program-2.4 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hi there");
printf("How are you?");
return 0;
}
If you compile this program and run it, the displayed output is:
Hi thereHow are you? $
How does this happens? The pr int f function first prints the string “Hi there”; the second time pr int f
function starts printing the second string from next position on the screen. This can be modified by

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adding the new line (\ n ) character before the start of the second string or at the end of the first string.
Therefore the modified program can either be Program-2.5a or Program-2.5b.
/* Program-2.5a */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hi there ");
printf("\nHow are you?");
return 0;
}

/* Program-2.5b */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Hi there\n");
printf("How are you?");
return 0;
}
Now the output is
Hi there
How are you?$
By adding another \ n at then end of the second string you can move the prompt ($ ) to the next line.
Exercise 2.1: Write a C program to display the following text on the screen.
University of Moratuwa
Katubedda,
Moratuwa,
Sri Lanka
----------------------
www.mrt.ac.lk
2.4.1 Escape Codes
Escape codes are special characters that cannot be expressed otherwise in the source code such as new
line, tab and single quotes. All of these characters or symbols are preceded by an inverted (back) slash
(\ ). List of such escape codes are given in Table 2.2. Note that each of these escape codes represents
one character, although they consists of two characters.
Table 2.2 – Escape codes

Escape Code Meaning

\a Audible alert (bell)
\b Back space
\f Form feed
\n New line
\t Horizontal tab
\v Vertical tab
\’ Single quote (‘)
\” Double quote (“)
\? Question mark (?)
\\ Backslash (\)

2.5 Data Types

A data type in a programming language is a set of data with values having predefined characteristics
such as integers and characters. The language usually specifies the range of values for a given data

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type, how the values are processed by the computer and how they are stored. Storage representations
and machine instructions to handle data types differ form machine to machine.
The variety of data types available allows the programmer to select the type appropriate to the needs of
the application as well as the machine. C supports a number of data types; if they are not enough
programmers can also define their own data types. C supports three classes of data types:
1. Primitive (or basic) data types – these are the fundamental data types supported by the
language. These can be classified as integer types, floating point types and character types.
2. User defined data types – based on the fundamental data types users can define their own data
types. These include type defined data types (using t y pe de f keyword) and enumerated types
(using e n u m keyword).
3. Derived data types – programmers can derive data types such as arrays, structures, unions and
pointers by combining several data types together.
2.5.1 Primitive Data Types
The C language supports five primitive data types; namely integers (int ) floating point numbers
(floa t ), double precision floating point numbers (double ), characters (cha r ) and void (void ). Many
of these data types can be further extended as long int and long double . Each of these data types
requires different storage capacities and has different range of values depending on the hardware (see
Table 2.3). Character (cha r ) type is considered as an integer type and actual characters are
represented based on their ASCII value.
Table 2.3 – Basic C data types (on a 32-bit machine)

Data Type Size in Bits Range of values

char 8 -128 to +127
int 32 -2147483648 to 2147483647
float 32 3.4e-38 to 3.4e+38 (accuracy up to 7 digits)
double 64 1.7e-308 to 1.7e+308 (accuracy up to 15 digits)
void 0 Without value (null)
Table 2.4 – Basic C data types and modifiers (on a 32-bit machine)

Data Type Size in Bits Range of values

Char 8 -128 to +127
unsigned char 8 0 to 255
signed char 8 -128 to +127
int 32 -2147483648 to +2147483647
signed int 32 -2147483648 to +2147483647
unsigned int 32 0 to 4294967295
short 8 -128 to +127
short int 8 -128 to +127
signed short int 8 -128 to +127
unsigned short int 8 0 to 255
long 32 -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
long int 32 -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
unsigned long 32 0 to 4,294,967,295
signed long 32 -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
float 32 3.4e-38 to 3.4e+38
double 64 1.7e-308 to 1.7e+308 (accuracy up to 15 digits)
long double 80 3.4e-4932 to 1.1e+4932 (accuracy up to 19 digits)
2.5.2 Modifiers
The basic data types can be modified by adding special keywords called data type modifiers to
produce new features or new types. The modifiers are signe d , unsigne d , long and sh or t . For
example sh or t in t represents fairly small integer values and require half the amount of storage as

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 11

regular int numbers. Except with void type, the modifiers can be used with all the basic data types as
shown in Table 2.4.

2.6 Variables
A variable has a value that can change. It is a memory location that can hold a value of a certain data
type. Programmers refer to a variable by its name (identifier) so that it can be accessed during the
course of the program. Programmers cannot use any of the keywords as variable names.
2.6.1 Declaring Variables
In order to use a variable in C, the programmer must first declare it specifying the data type. The most
important restriction on using a variable in C is that they have to be declared at the beginning of the
program. The syntax to declare a new variable is to first write the data type then followed by a valid
variable identifier as given in the following examples:
int a;
float total;
unsigned int index_no;
short int number_of_students;
Above set of expressions declared, variables “a ” as an integer, “t ot a l ” as a floating point number,
“inde x _ no ” as unsigned integer (since there are no negative index numbers) and
“num be r _ of_ st ude nt s ” as a short integer.
Multiple variables belonging to the same data type can be defined as separate set of expressions or by
listing variable names one after the other (should be separated by a coma sign (, )).Consider the
following examples:
int a;
int b;
float total;
float sub_total;
above variables can also be defined as:
int a,b;
float total, sub_total;
After declaring a variable it should be initialised with a suitable value. In C, an uninitialised variable
can contain any garbage value therefore the programmer must make sure all the variables are
initialised before using them in any of the expressions. Initialising a variable can be done while
declaring it, just after declaring it or later within the code (before accessing/evaluating its value within
an expression). In initialising a variable any of the following three approaches are valid:
int a;
a = 10;
or
int a=10;
or
int a;
--------
--------
a = 10;
2.6.2 Constants
The value of a constant cannot be changed after an initial value is assigned to it. The C language
supports two types of constants; namely declared constants and defined constants. Declared constants
are more common and they are defined using the keyword con st . With the con st prefix the
programmer can declare constants with a specific data type exactly as it is done with variables.
const float pi = 3.141;
Programmers can define their own names for constants which are used quite often in a program.
Without having to refer to a variable such a constant can be defined simply by using the # de fin e

12 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

pre-processor directive. These are called defined constants. Following expression illustrates the use of
the # de fine pre-processor directive
#define pi 3.141

2.7 Displaying Numbers

When displaying numbers special care must be given to the data type. Each data type has to be used
with pr int f function in a specific format. In order to display the correct values using the pr int f
function conversion specifiers should be used. They are used to instruct the compiler about the type of
numbers appearing in the program, which in turn determines the suitable memory storage locations.
Table 2.5 – The printf conversion specifiers

Conversion Specifiers Meaning of the output format

%c Character
%d Decimal integer
%e or %E Scientific notation
%f Floating point
%g or %G Scientific notation or floating point (whichever shorter)
%i Decimal integer
%o Octal number
%p Pointer
%s String of characters
%u Unsigned decimal integer
%x or %X Hexadecimal number
%% Display the % sign
The conversion specifiers are also referred as format characters or format specifiers. Table 2.5
summarises conversion specifies supported by the pr int f function. Consider the example given
below:
/* Program-2.6 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("%d\n",128);
printf("%f\n",128.0);
return 0;
}
Executing above program will display the following:
128
128.000000
The first number is of the type integer while the second number is of the type float. Conversion
specifier % d stands for decimal while % f stands for float. Incorrect use of format characters would
result in wrong outputs.
Exercise 2.2: Rewrite Program-2.3 and try swapping the %d and %f. Run your program and observe
the output.
Exercise 2.3: Identify the output of each printf function call given in Program-2.7. Execute the
program and observe the outputs.
Consider Program-2.8 which makes use of variables. In this program variables “a ” and “b ” are
initialised with values 10.0 and 3 and the answer ( b/ a ) is stored in variable “c ”.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 13

 /* Program-2.7 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("%d\n",65*2);
printf("%d\n",65/2);
printf("%f\n",65.0/2);
printf("%c\n",65);
printf("%x\n",255);
return 0;
}

/* Program-2.8 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a = 3;
float b = 10.0;
float c;
c = b/a;
printf("A is %d\n",a); //decimal value
printf("B is %d\n",b); //decimal value
printf("Answer is %f\n",c); //floating point value
return 0;
}
Executing Program-2.8 will display the following:
A is 3
B is 0
Answer is 3.333333
In Program-2.8 you may wish to see the answer appearing in a more manageable form like 3.3 or 3.33
rather than 3.333333. This can be achieved by using modifiers along with the format characters in
order to specify the required field width.
The format % .0 f will suppress all the digits to the right of the decimal point, while the format % .2 f
will display first two digits after that decimal point.
Exercise2.4: Modify Program-2.8 so that it displays an answer which is correct up to 2 decimal points.
Exercise 2.5: Write a program to assign the number 34.5678 to a variable named “number” then
display the number rounded to the nearest integer value and next the number rounded to two decimal
places.
Program-2.9 illustrates the use of character variables.
/* Program-2.9 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
char first_letter;
first_letter = ‘A’;
printf("Character %c\n", first_letter); //display character
printf("ASCII value %d\n", first_letter); //display ASCII value
return 0;
}
Executing Program-2.9 will display the following:
Character A
ASCII value 65

14 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

2.8 Formatted Input
We have already used pr int f function to display formatted output. The sca n f is a similar function
that is used to read data into a program. The sca n f function accepts formatted input from the
keyboard. Program-2.10 demonstrates the use of the sca n f function:
/* Program-2.10 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
float a,b,sum;
scanf("%f", &a); // read 1st number
scanf("%f", &b); // read 2nd number
sum = a + b; // total
printf("a+b = %f\n", sum); //display answer as float
return 0;
}
Three variables are declared (a , b and su m ) in Program-2.10. Values of “a ” and “b ” are to be read
from the keyboard using the sca n f function, while the value of the variable “su m ” is calculated as
the summation of “a ” and “b ”. The sca n f function uses the same set of formatting characters as the
pr int f function to describe the type of expected input.
Note that the sca n f function uses the variables “a ” and “b ”as “& a ” and “& b ”. The symbol “& ” is
called the address of operator. The string “& a ” represents the memory address containing variable
“a” and is called a pointer (see Section 8).
When the program executes, it waits for the user to type the value of “a ” followed by the En t e r key
and then it waits for the value of “b ” followed by another the En t e r key. The supplied input values
can be separated either by pressing En t e r key or by leaving a blank space between the numbers. Both
of the following inputs are valid for Program-2.10.
2
3
Answer > 5.000000
or
2 3
Answer > 5.000000
Exercise 2.6: Modify Program-2.10 so that it displays the answer with only two decimal points.
The sca n f function also supports mixed types of input data. Consider the following line of code:
scanf("%d%f", &a,&b);
The sca n f function accepts variable “a ” as an integer and “b ” as a floating point number.
In certain cases you may want to separate your inputs using a comma (, ) rather than using the En t e r
key or a blank space. In such cases you must include the comma between format characters as:
scanf("%f,%f", &a,&b);
For such a program your inputs should be in the form:
2,3
One deficiency of the sca n f function is that it cannot display strings while waiting for user input.
This will require use of an additional function like the pr int f in order to display a message as a
prompt for the user reminding the required data item.
Exercise 2.7: Modify Program-2.10 so that it displays the following output when executed.
Enter 1st number : 2
Enter 2nd number : 3
Answer > 5

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 15

 3 – Operators in C

Expressions can be built up from literals, variables and operators. The operators define how the
variables and literals in the expression will be manipulated. C supports several types of operators and
they can be classified as:
• Assignment operator
• Arithmetic operators
• Relational operators
• Logical operators
• Bitwise operators
• Special operators
• Pointer operators
Pointer operators and special operators will not be covered in this chapter. They will be introduced
later under relevant sections.
.
3.1 Assignment Operator
The assignment operator is the simple equal sign (=). The assignment operator is used to assign a
value to a variable. The format of an assignment statement is:
va r ia ble - na m e = e x pr e ssion;
The expression can be a single variable or a literal, or it may contain variables, literals and operators.
The assignment operation always takes place from right to left. Consider the following set of
examples:
a = 5; // value of variable ‘a’ becomes 5
a = 5+10; // value of variable ‘a’ becomes 15
a = 5 + b; // value of variable ‘a’ becomes 5 + value of b
a = b + c; // value of variable ‘a’ becomes value of b + value of c
a = (x*x + y*y)/2;
In C lots of shortcuts are possible. For example, instead of the statement,
a = a + b;
the programmer may use the shorthand format:
a += b;
Such operators are called compound assignment operators. The assignment operator can be combined
with the major arithmetic operations such as; +, -, *, / and %. Therefore many similar assignments can
be used such as:
a -= b; // is same as a = a-b;
a *= b; // is same as a = a*b;
a /= b; // is same as a = a/b;
a %= b; // is same as a = a%b;

Table 3.1 – Arithmetic operators

Operator Action
+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
% Modulo division
++ Increment (extended)
-- Decrement (extended)

16 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

3.2 Arithmetic Operators
C supports five major arithmetic operators and two extended (shortcuts) operators (Table 3.1).
Program-3.1 illustrates the usage of major arithmetic operators.
/* Program-3.1 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a,b;
printf("Enter a: ");
scanf("%d", &a); //read value of a
printf("Enter b: ");
scanf("%d", &b); //read value of b

printf("\na+b = %d", a+b); //display sum of a & b

printf("\na-b = %d", a-b); //display subtraction of b from a
printf("\na*b = %d", a*b); //display multiplication of a & b
printf("\na/b = %d", a/b); //display division of a by b
printf("\na%%b = %d", a%b); //display modulus of a divided by b

return 0;
}
Executing Program-3.1 with “a ” as 5 and “b ” as 2 will display the following:
Enter a: 5
Enter b: 2

a+b = 7
a-b = 3
a*b = 10
a/b = 2
a%b = 1
3.2.1 Increment and Decrement Operators
Increment and decrement operators are very useful operators. The operator + + means “add 1” or
“increment by 1”. Similarly operator - - mean “subtract 1” or “decrement by 1”. They are also
equivalent to + = 1 and - = 1 . For example, instead of using the following expression to increment a
variable:
a = a + 1;
you may use:
a +=1; or a++;
Also expression:
a = a - 1;
can be written as:
a -=1; or a--;
Both increment and decrement operators can be used as a prefix or as a suffix. The operator can be
written before the identifier as a prefix (+ + a ) or after the identifier as a suffix (a + + ). In simple
operations such as a + + or + + a both have exactly the same meaning. However in some cases there is
a difference. Consider the following set of statements:
int a, x;
a = 3;
x = ++a;
After executing above segment of code, “a ” will be 4 and “x ” will be 4 .
In line 3, first the variable “a ” is incremented before assigning it to variable “x ”. Consider the
following segment of code.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 17

 int a, x;
a = 3;
x = a++;
After executing above code segment “a ” will be 4 and “x ” will be 3 .
In the second approach in line 3 first “a ” is assigned to “x ” and then “a ” is incremented.
Exercise 3.1 – Predict the values of variables “a”, “b”, “sum1” and “sum2” if the following code
segment is executed.
int a, b;
a = b = 2;
sum1 = a + (++b);
sum2 = a + (b++);
3.2.2 Precedence and Associatively of Arithmetic Operators
Precedence defines the priority of an operator while associativity indicates which variable(s) an
operator is associated with or applied to. Table 3.2 illustrates the precedence of arithmetic operators
and their associativity.
Table 3.2 – Precedence of arithmetic operators

Operator Precedence Associativity

++, -- Highest Right to left
*/% ↓ Left to right
+– Lowest Left to right
In the same expression, if two operators of the same precedence are found, they are evaluated from left
to right, except for increment and decrement operators which are evaluated from right to left.
Parentheses can also be used to change the order of evaluation and it has the highest precedence. It is
recommended to use parentheses to simplify expressions without depending on the precedence.

3.3 Relational and Logical Operators

The relational operators are used to compare values forming relational expressions. The logical
operators are used to connect relational expressions together using the rules of formal logic. Both
types of expressions produce TRUE or FALSE results. In C, FALSE is the zero while any nonzero
number is TRUE. However, the logical and relational expressions produce the value “1” for TRUE
and the value “0” for FALSE. Table 3.3 shows relational and logical operators used in C.
Table 3.3 – Relational and logical operators

Operator Action
Relational Operators
> Greater than
>= Greater than or equal
< Less than
<= Less than or equal
== Equal
!= Not equal
Logical Operators
&& AND
|| OR
! NOT
3.3.1 Precedence of Relational and Logical Operators
As arithmetic operators, relational and logical operators also have precedence. Table 3.4 summarises
the relative precedence of the relational and logical operators. These operators are lower in precedence
than arithmetic operators.

18 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 Table 3.4 – Precedence of relational and logical operators

Operator Precedence Associativity

! Highest Right to left
> >= < <= ↓ Left to right
= = != ↓ Left to right
&& ↓ Left to right
|| Lowest Left to right
For an example consider the following expression:
10 > 8+1
is equivalent to the expression:
10 > (8+1)
In order to understand how logical expressions are evaluated consider the following expression:
a==b && c > d
This expression says that; “(a is equivalent to b ) AN D (c is greater than d )”. In other words this
expression is evaluated as TRUE if both the conditions are met. That is if a = = b is TRUE and c >
d is also TRUE. If AND (& & ) is replaced by logical OR (| | ) operation then only one condition needs
to be TRUE.
Consider another expression (assume both “a” and “b” are integers and their value is 5):
!(a==b)
In this case, since both “a ” and “b ” have similar value 5, the logical value of the expression within the
parenthesis is TRUE. However the NOT operation will negate the result which is TRUE. Therefore
the final result will be FALSE.
In order to see the effect of precedence consider the following expression:
a==b && x==y || m==n
Since equal operator (= = ) has a higher precedence than the logical operators the equality will be
checked first. Then the logical AND operation will be performed and finally logical OR operation will
be performed. Therefore this statement can be rewritten as:
((a==b) && (x==y)) || (m==n)
This expression is evaluated as TRUE if:
• a = = b is evaluated as TRUE and x = = y is evaluated as TRUE
• Or m = = n is evaluated as TRUE.

3.4 Bitwise Operators

Using C you can access and manipulate bits in variables, allowing you to perform low level
operations. C supports six bitwise operators and they are listed in Table 3.5. Their precedence is lower
than arithmetic, relational and logical operators (see Table 3.6).
Table 3.5 – Bitwise operators

Operator Action
& Bitwise AND
| Bitwise OR
^ Bitwise XOR
~ One’s complement
>> Right shift
<< Left shift

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 19

 Table 3.6 – Precedence of bitwise operators

Operator Precedence Associativity

~ Highest Left to right
<< >> ↓ Left to right
& ↓ Left to right
^ ↓ Left to right
| Lowest Left to right
Bitwise AND, OR and XOR operators perform logical AND, OR and XOR operations at the bit level.
Consider following set of expressions:
int a,b,c;
a = 12;
b = 8;
c = a & b;
The bitwise AND operation will be performed at the bit level as follows:
a = 12 à 00001100
b = 8 à 00001000 &
00001000
Then the variable “c ” will hold the result of bitwise AND operation between “a ” and “b ” which is
000010002 (810).
Example 3.1 – Write a C program to convert a given character from uppercase to lowercase and vice
versa.
ASCII values of the uppercase and lowercase characters have a difference of 32. For example, in
ASCII, “A” is represented by 6510 while “a” is represented by 9710 (97-65 = 32). At the bit level, only
difference between the two characters is the 5th bit.
65 = 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 12
97 = 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 12
32 = 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 02
Therefore by inverting the 5th bit of a character it can be changed from uppercase to lowercase and
vice versa. Bitwise XOR operation can be used to invert bits. Therefore any ASCII value XOR with
32 will invert its case form upper to lower and lower to upper. This is the concept used in Program 3.2
which converts a given character from uppercase to lowercase and vice versa.
/* Program-3.2 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
char input;
printf("Character to convert: ");
scanf("%c",&input); //read character
printf("Converted character: %c", input ^ 32); //input XOR 32

return 0;
}
Executing Program-3.2 with character “b” as the input will display the following:
Character to convert: b
Converted character: B
Executing Program-3.2 with character “Q” as the input will display the following:
Character to convert : Q
Converted character : q

20 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

3.4.1 Shift Operators
Shift operators allow shifting of bits either to left or right. We know that 8 is represented in binary as:
8 = 00001000
and when it is shifted by one bit to right, we get:
8 = 00001000 à 00000100 = 4
Similarly when the number is shifted by one bit to left, we get:
16 = 00010000 ß 00001000 = 8
The C right shift (> > ) operator shifts an 8-bit number by one or more bits to right while left shift
(< < ) operator shifts bits to left. Shifting a binary number to left by one bit will multiply it by 2 while
shifting it to right by one bit will divide it by 2. After the shift operation the final result should also be
a 8-bit number, therefore any additional bits are removed and missing bits will be filled with zero.
In general the right shift operator is used in the form:
variable >> number-of-bits
and left shift is given in the form:
variable >> number-of-bits
In the following expression the value in the variable “a” is shift by 2 bits to right:
a >> 2
Table 3.7 summarises all the operators supported by C, their precedences and associativities. However
some operators can be confusing, as they use the same characters (for example, * is used for
multiplication and also to denote pointers). However the following rule will reduce any confusion. The
unary operators (operators with only one operand such as & a (address of a)) have a higher precedence
than the binary operators (operators with two operands such as a * b ). When operators have the same
precedence an expression is evaluated left to right.
Table 3.7 – Precedence of C operators

Operator Precedence Associativity

( ) [ ] -> . Highest Left to right
! ~ ++ -- ↓
&* ↓ Right to left
*/% ↓ Left to right
+- ↓ Left to right
<< >> ↓ Left to right
< <= > >= ↓ Left to right
= = != ↓ Left to right
& ↓ Left to right
^ ↓ Left to right
| ↓ Left to right
&& ↓ Left to right
|| ↓ Left to right
?: ↓ Left to right
= += -= *= /= ↓ Right to left
, Lowest Left to right

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 21

 4 – Conditional Control Structures

A Program is usually not limited to a linear sequence of instructions. In real life, a programme usually
needs to change the sequence of execution according to some conditions. In C, there are many control
structures that are used to handle conditions and the resultant decisions. This chapter introduces if-
e lse and sw it ch constructs.

4.1 The if Statement

A simple condition is expressed in the form:
if ( condit ion)
st a t e m e nt ;
It starts with the keyword if , followed by a condition (a logical expression) enclosed within
parenthesis, followed by the result statement. The resulting statement is executed if the condition is
evaluated as TRUE. Note that there is no semicolon (; ) after the condition expression. Consider the
following example:
if (marks >50)
printf("You have passed the exam!");
If the value of the variable “m a r k s ” is greater than 5 0 , the message “You ha ve pa sse d t he
e x a m ! ” is displayed on the screen; otherwise the statement is skipped and no message is displayed.
Program 4.1 illustrates the use of this in a C program.
/* Program-4.1 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int marks;
printf("Enter marks: ");
scanf("%d", &marks); //get marks

if (marks >50) // if marks >50 display message

printf("You have passed the exam!");

return 0;
}
Executing Program-4.1 with different inputs will behave as follows:
Case 1: Enter marks: 73
You have passed the exam!

Case 2:Enter marks: 34

Case 3:Enter marks: 50

In the second and third cases, the message “You ha ve pa sse d t he e x a m ! ” will not be displayed.
More than one statement can be executed as a result of the condition by embedding set of statements
in a block (between two braces { } ).
Example 4.1 – Write a program which accepts a number (an amount of money to be paid by a
customer in rupees) entered from the keyboard. If the amount is greater than or equal to 1000 rupees, a
5% discount is given to the customer. Then display the final amount that the customer has to pay.
First the program needs to check whether the given amount is greater than or equal to 1000; if it is the
case a 5% discount should be given. Then the final amount needs to be displayed. All these are done
only if the condition is TRUE. So instructions which compute discount and final amount should be
executed as a block. Program 4.2 is an implementation of this.

22 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 /* Program-4.2 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
float amount,final_amount, discount;
printf("Enter amount: ");
scanf("%f", &amount); //get amount

if (amount >= 1000) // if amount >= 1000 give discount

{
discount = amount* 0.05;
final_amount = amount - discount;
printf ("Discount: %.2f", discount);
printf ("\nTotal: %.2f", final_amount);
}

return 0;
}
Executing Program-4.2 with 1250.25 as the keyboard input display the following:
Enter amount: 1250.25
Discount: 62.51
Total: 1187.74
In Program-4.1 if the condition is TRUE, the set of statements inside the block are executed. If the
condition is FALSE (if the amount is less than 1000) those statements will not be executed.
Example 4.2 – Modify Program-4.2 so that it displays the message “No discount…” if the amount is
less than 1000.
Another if clause is required to check whether the amount is less than 1000. The second if clause can
be used before or after the first (existing) if clause. Program-4.3 below has been modified from
Program-4.2 to address this.
/* Program-4.3 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
float amount,final_amount, discount;
printf("Enter amount: ");
scanf("%f", &amount); //get amount

if (amount >= 1000) // if amount >= 1000 give discount

{
discount = amount* 0.05;
final_amount = amount - discount;
printf ("Discount: %.2f", discount);
printf ("\nTotal: %.2f", final_amount);
}
if (amount < 1000) // if amount < 1000 no discount
printf ("No discount...");
return 0;
}
Exercise 4.1 – Modify Program-4.1 so that it displays the message “You are failed!”, if marks are less
than or equal to 50.
In many programs it is required to perform some action when a condition is TRUE and another action
when it is FALSE. In such cases, the if clause can be used to check the TRUE condition and act upon
it. However it does not act upon the FALSE condition. Therefore the expression resulting the FALSE
condition needs to be reorganised. In example 4.2 when we wanted to identify the case where the
amount is not greater than 1000 (the FALSE case) we were checking whether it is less than 1000
(< 1 0 0 0 ).

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 23

The C language allows us to use the if- e lse structure in such scenarios. You can include both the
cases (TRUE and FALSE) using the if- e lse structure.

4.2 The if-else Structure

The if-else structure takes the form:
if ( condit ion)
st a t e m e nt - 1 ;
e lse
st a t e m e nt - 2 ;
When the condition is evaluated, one of the two statements will be executed and then the program
resumes its original flow. Blocks make it possible to use many statements rather than just one. Then
the Program-4.3 can be modified as follows:
/* Program-4.4 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
float amount,final_amount, discount;
printf("Enter amount: ");
scanf("%f", &amount); //get amount

if (amount >= 1000) // if amount >= 1000 give discount

{
discount = amount* 0.05;
final_amount = amount - discount;
printf ("Discount: %.2f", discount);
printf ("\nTotal: %.2f", final_amount);
}
else // else no discount
printf ("No discount...");
return 0;
}
Exercise 4.2 – Modify Program-4.1 so that it displays the message “You have passed the exam!”, if
marks are greater than 50. If not display the message “You have failed!”.
Exercise 4.3 – Write a program to identify whether a number input from the keyboard is even or odd.
If it is even, the program should display the message “Number is even”, else it should display
“Number is odd”.

4.3 The if-else-if Ladder

In certain cases multiple conditions are to be detected. In such cases the conditions and their associated
statements can be arranged in a construct that takes the form:
if ( condit ion - 1 )
st a t e m e nt - 1 ;
e lse if ( condit ion- 2 )
st a t e m e nt - 2 ;
e lse if ( condit ion- 3 )
st a t e m e nt - 3 ;
…
e lse
st a t e m e nt - n ;
The above construct is referred as the if-else-if ladder. The different conditions are evaluated starting
from the top of the ladder and whenever a condition is evaluated as TRUE, the corresponding
statement(s) are executed and the rest of the construct it skipped.
Example 4.3 – Write a program to display the student’s grade based on the following table:

24 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 Marks Grade
>=75 A
> 50 and <75 B
> 25 and <50 C
< 25 F
In this case multiple conditions are to be checked. Marks obtained by a student can only be in one of
the ranges. Therefore if-else-if ladder can be used to implement following program.
/* Program-4.5 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int marks;
printf("Enter marks: ");
scanf("%d", &marks); //read marks

if(marks > 75) // if over 75

printf("Your grade is: A");
else if(marks >= 50 && marks <75) // if between 50 & 75
printf("Your grade is: B");
else if(marks >= 25 && marks <50) // if between 25 & 50
printf("Your grade is: C");
else
printf ("Your grade is: F"); // if less than 25

return 0;
}
Notice that in Program-4.5, some of the conditional expressions inside the if clause are not as simple
as they were earlier. They combine several expressions with logical operators such as AND (& & ) and
OR (| | ). These are called compound relational tests.
Due to the top down execution of the if-else-if ladder Program-4.5 can also be written as follows:
/* Program-4.6 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int marks;
printf("Enter marks: ");
scanf("%d", &marks); //get marks

if(marks > 75)

printf("Your grade is A"); // if over 75
else if(marks >= 50 )
printf("Your grade is B"); // if over 50
else if(marks >= 25 )
printf("Your grade is C"); // if over 25
else
printf ("Your grade is F"); // if not

return 0;
}
In Program-4.6, when the marks are entered from the keyboard the first expression (m a r k s > 7 5 ) is
evaluated. If m a r k s is not greater than 75, the next expression is evaluated to see whether it is greater
than 50. If the second expression is not satisfied either, the program evaluates the third expression and
so on until it finds a TRUE condition. If it cannot find a TRUE expression statement(s) after the e lse
keyword will get executed.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 25

4.4 Nesting Conditions
Sometimes we need to check for multiple decisions. This can be accomplished by two approaches;
using compound relational tests or using nested conditions. When conditions are nested the if-else/if-
else-if construct may contain other if-else/if-else-if constructs within themselves. In nesting you must
be careful to keep track of different if s and corresponding e lse s. Consider the following example:
if (a>=2)
if (b >= 4)
printf("Result 1");
else
printf("Result 2");
An e lse matches with the last if in the same block. In this example the e lse corrosponds to the
second if . Therefore if both a > = 2 AND b > = 4 are TRUE “Re sult 1 ” will be displayed; if a > =
2 is TRUE but if b > = 4 is FALSE “Re su lt 2 ” will be displayed. If a > = 2 is FALSE nothing
will be displayed. To reduce any confusion braces can be used to simplify the source code. Therefore
the above can be rewritten as follows:
if (a>=2)
{
if (b >= 4)
printf("Result 1");
else
printf("Result 2");
}
In the above, if e lse is to be associated with the first if then we can write as follows:
if (a>=2)
{
if (b >= 4)
printf("Result 1");
}
else
printf("Result 2");

Exercise 4.4 – Rewrite the program in Example 4.3 using nested conditions (i.e. using braces ‘{‘ and
‘}’.
Example 4.4 – A car increases it velocity from u ms-1 to v ms-1 within t seconds. Write a program to
calculate the acceleration.
The relationship among acceleration (a), u, v and t can be given as v = u + at . Therefore the
v−u
acceleration can be found by the formula a = . In the program we implement users can input
t
any values for u, v and t. However, to find the correct acceleration t has to be non zero and positive
(since we cannot go back in time and a number should not be divided by zero). So our program should
make sure it accepts only the correct inputs. The Program-4.7 calculates the acceleration given u, v and
t.

4.5 Conditional Operator

Conditional operator (?: ) is one of the special operators supported by the C language. The conditional
operator evaluates an expression and returns one of two values based on whether condition is TRUE or
FALSE. It has the form:
condit ion ? r e sult - 1 : r e sult - 2 ;
If the condition is TRUE the expression returns r e sult - 1 and if not it returns r e su lt - 2 .
Example 4.5 – Consider the following example which determines the value of variable “b” based on
the whether the given input is greater than 50 or not.

26 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 /* Program-4.7 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
float u,v,t,a;
printf("Enter u (m/s): ");
scanf("%f", &u); //get starting velocity
printf("Enter v (m/s): ");
scanf("%f", &v); //get current velocity
printf("Enter t (s) : ");
scanf("%f", &t); //get time

if(t >= 0)
{
a = (v-u)/t;
printf("acceleration is: %.2f m/s", a);
}
else
printf ("Incorrect time");

return 0;
}

/* Program-4.8 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a,b;
printf("Enter value of a: ");
scanf("%d", &a); //get starting velocity
b = a > 50 ? 1 : 2;
printf("Value of b: %d", b);
return 0;
}
Executing Program-4.8 display the following:
Enter value of a: 51
Value of b: 1

Enter value of a: 45
Value of b: 2
If the input is greater than 50 variable “b ” will be assigned “1” and if not it will be assigned “2”.
Conditional operator can be used to implement simple if-else constructs. However use of conditional
operator is not recommended in modern day programming since it may reduce the readability of the
source code.

4.6 The switch Construct

Instead of using if-else-if ladder, the switch construct can be used to handle multiple choices, such as
menu options. The syntax of the switch construct is different from if-else construct. The objective is to
check several possible constant values for an expression. It has the form:
sw it ch ( cont rol variable)
{
ca se const ant - 1:
st at em ent ( s) ;
br e a k ;
ca se const ant - 2:
st at em ent ( s) ;
br e a k ;
…

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 27

 ca se const ant - n:
st at em ent ( s) ;
br e a k ;
de fa u lt :
st at em ent ( s) ;
}
The switch construct starts with the sw it ch keyword followed by a block which contains the
different cases. Switch evaluates the control variable and first checks if its value is equal to
const a nt - 1 ; if it is the case, then it executes the statement(s) following that line until it reaches the
br e a k keyword. When the br e a k keyword is found no more cases will be considered and the control
is transferred out of the switch structure to next part of the program. If the value of the expression is
not equal to const a nt - 1 it will check the value of const a nt - 2 . If they are equal it will execute
relevant statement(s). This process continuous until it finds a matching value. If a matching value is
not found among any ca se s, the statement(s) given after the de fa ult keyword will be executed.
The control variable of the switch must be of the type int , long or cha r (any other datatype is not
allowed). Also note that the value we specify after ca se keyword must be a constant and cannot be a
variable (example: n*2).
Example 4.6 – Write a program to display the following menu on the screen and let the user select a
menu item. Based on the user’s selection display the category of software that the user selected
program belongs to.
Menu
-----------------------------------
1 – Microsoft Word
2 – Yahoo messenger
3 – AutoCAD
4 – Java Games
-----------------------------------
Enter number of your preference:
Program-4.9 implements a solution to the above problem:
/* Program-4.9 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int a;
printf("\t\tMenu");
printf("\n-----------------------------------");
printf("\n1 - Microsoft Word");
printf("\n2 - Yahoo messenger");
printf("\n3 - AutoCAD");
printf("\n4 - Java Games");
printf("\n-----------------------------------");
printf("\nEnter number of your preference: ");

scanf("%d",&a); //read input

switch (a)
{
case 1: //if input is 1
printf("\nPersonal Computer Software");
break;
case 2: //if input is 2
printf("\nWeb based Software");
break;
case 3: //if input is 3
printf("\nScientific Software");
break;
case 4: //if input is 4
printf("\nEmbedded Software");

28 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 break;
default:
printf("\nIncorrect input");
}
return 0;
}
Executing Program-4.9 will display the following:
Menu
-----------------------------------
1 - Microsoft Word
2 - Yahoo messenger
3 - AutoCAD
4 - Java Games
-----------------------------------
Enter number of your preference: 1

Personal Computer Software

Exercise 4.5 – Develop a simple calculator to accept two floating point numbers from the keyboard.
Then display a menu to the user and let him/her select a mathematical operation to be performed on
those two numbers. Then display the answer. A sample run of you program should be similar to the
following:
Enter number 1: 20
Enter number 2: 12
Mathematical Operation
-----------------------------------
1 - Add
2 - Subtract
3 - Multiply
4 - Divide
-----------------------------------
Enter your preference: 2

Answer : 8.00
In certain cases you may need to execute the same statement(s) for several cases of a switch block. In
such cases several cases can be grouped together as follows:
switch (x)
{
case 1:
case 2:
case 3:
printf(“Valid input”);
break;
default:
printf(“Invalid input”);
break;
}

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 29

 5 – Control Structures

A Program is usually not limited to a linear sequence of instructions or conditional structures and it is
sometimes required to execute a statement or a block of statements repeatedly. These repetitive
constructs are called loops or control structures. The C language supports three constructs; namely
for , w hile and do- w hile loops. Rest of this chapter introduces these control structures.

5.1 The for loop

The for loop construct is used to repeat a statement or block of statements a specified number of
times. The general form of a for loop is:
for ( count e r - init ia liza t ion; condit ion; incr e m e nt )
st a t e m e nt ( s) ;
The construct includes the initialization of the counter, the condition and the increment. The main
function of the for loop is to repeat the statement(s) while the condition remains true. The condition
should check for a specific value of the counter. In addition it provides ways to initialize the counter
and increment (or decrement) the counter. Therefore the for loop is designed to perform a repetitive
action for a pre-defined number of times. Consider the following example:
/* Program-5.1 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int counter;
for(counter=1; counter <= 5; counter++) //loop 5 times
{
printf("This is a loop\n");
}

return 0;
}
Execution of program-5.1 displays:
This is a loop
This is a loop
This is a loop
This is a loop
This is a loop
In the above example, the variable “cou n t e r ” starts with an initial value of “1 ”. The second
expression inside the parenthesis determines the number of repetitions of the loop. It reads as; “as long
as the counter is less than or equal to 5 repeat the statement(s)”. The third expression is the
incrimination of the counter; it is achieved by the + + operator. You may also decrement the counter
depending on the requirement, but you have to use suitable control expression and an initial value.
In the first round of execution the “count e r ” is set to “1 ”. Then the expression “count e r < = 5 ” is
evaluated. Since the current value of the “count e r ” is “1 ” expression is evaluated as TRUE.
Therefore the pr int f function gets executed. Then the “count e r ” is incremented by the + + operator
and now its new value becomes “2 ”. At this point the first round of the loop is completed. Then in the
second round the expression is evaluated again. Since the “counter” is “2” the expression will be
TRUE. Therefore the pr in t f function gets executed for the second time. Then the “count e r ” is
incremented once more and its new value becomes “3 ”. This process continues for another 2 rounds.
After a total of five rounds the “cou n t e r ” becomes “6 ”. When the expression is evaluated at the
beginning of the sixth round the “count e r ” is greater than 5 therefore expression becomes FALSE.
Then the loop will terminate and the control is given to rest of the instructions which are outside the
loop.
Exercise 5.1 – Write a C program to display all the integers from 100 to 200.
Example 5.1 – Write a program to calculate the sum of all the even numbers up to 100.

30 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

First even number is 0 and the last even number is 100. By adding 2 to an even number the next even
number can be found. Therefore the counter should be incremented by 2 in each round. Program-5.2 is
an implementation of the above requirement.
/* Program-5.2 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int counter, sum;
sum = 0;
for(counter=0; counter <= 100; (counter += 2)) //increment by 2
{
sum += counter;
}
printf("Total : %d", sum);
return 0;
}
Exercise 5.2 – Modify Program-5.2 such that it computes the sum of all the odd numbers up to 100.
Exercise 5.3 – Write a program to compute the sum of all integers form 1 to 100.
Exercise 5.4 – Write a program to calculate the factorial of any given positive integer.
Each of the three parts inside the parentheses of the f or statement is optional. You may omit any of
them as long as your program contains the necessary statements to take care of the loop execution.
Even the statement(s) inside the loop are optional. You can omit even all the expressions as in the
following example:
for(;;;)
printf("Hello World\n");
This loop is an infinite one (called an infinite loop). It is repeated continuously unless you include a
suitable condition inside the loop block to terminate the execution. If there is no such condition, the
only thing you can do is to abort the program (a program can be aborted by pressing Ct r l+ Br e a k ).
Example 5.2 – Write a program to compute the sum of all integers between any given two numbers.
In this program both inputs should be given from the keyboard. Therefore at the time of development
both initial value and the final value are not known.
/* Program-5.3 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int num1, num2, sum;
sum=0;
printf("Enter first number: ");
scanf("%d", &num1); //read num1
printf("Enter second number: ");
scanf("%d", &num2); //read num2

for(; num1 <= num2; num1++)

{
sum += num1; //sum = sum+num1
}
printf("Total : %d", sum);

return 0;
}

5.2 The while Loop

The w hile loop construct contains only the condition. The programmer has to take care about the
other elements (initialization and incrementing). The general form of the while loop is:

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 31

 w hile ( con dit ion)
{
st a t e m e nt ( s) ;
{
The loop is controlled by the logical expression that appears between the parentheses. The loop
continues as long as the expression is TRUE. It will stop when the condition becomes FALSE it will
stop. You need to make sure that the expression will stop at some point otherwise it will become an
infinite loop. The w hile loop is suitable in cases where the exact number of repetitions is not known
in advance. Consider the following example:
/* Program-5.4 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int num;
printf("Enter number of times to repeat: ");
scanf("%d", &num);
while (num != 0)
{
printf("Hello World!\n");
num--;
}

return 0;
}
Execution of Program-5.4 with 5 as the input will display the following:
Enter number of times to repeat: 5
Hello World!
Hello World!
Hello World!
Hello World!
Hello World!
In Program-5.4 the number of times to loop, depends on the user input. In such cases use of w hile
loop is desirable than the for loop. In program-5.4 variable “n u m ” act as the counter. The conditions
inside the w hile loop check whether the counter is not equal to zero (num != 0 ) if so it will
execute the pr int f function. Next we need to make sure that the program loops only 5 times. That is
achieved by decrementing the counter (n u m - - ) at each round. If the counter is not decremented the
program will loop forever.
Exercise 5.5 – What would happen if we enter -1 as the number of times to loop in Program-5.4?
Modify Program-5.4 so that it works only for positive integers.

5.3 The do-while Loop

Another useful loop is the do- w hile loop. The only difference between the do- w hile loop and
other loops is that in the do- w hile loop the condition comes after the statement(s). It takes the
following form:
do
{
st a t e m e nt ( s) ;
}
w hile ( condit ion) ;
This means that the statement(s) inside the loop will be executed at least once regardless of the
condition being evaluated. Consider the following example:

32 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 /* Program-5.5 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
float price, total;
total = 0 ; //set initial value to 0
do //request for price
{
printf("Enter price (0 to end): ");
scanf("%f", &price); //get price
total += price;
} while (price > 0); // if valid price continue loop

printf("Total : %.2f", total);

return 0;
}
Execution of Program-5.5 with some inputs will display the following:
Enter price (0 to end): 10
Enter price (0 to end): 12.50
Enter price (0 to end): 99.99
Enter price (0 to end): 0
Total : 122.49
Program-5.5 accepts prices of items from the keyboard and then it computes the total. User can enter
any number of prices and the program will add them up. It will terminate only if zero or any negative
number is entered. In order to calculate the total or terminate the program there should be at least one
input from the keyboard. Therefore in this type of a program do- w hile loop is recommended than
the w hile loop.
Exercise 5.6 – Modify Program-4.8 such that it first displays the menu. Then based on the user
selection it should display the correct message. After displaying the correct message it should again
display the menu. The program should exit when the user enter 0.
In summary, the for loop is recommended for cases where the number of repetitions is known in
advance. The w hile loop is recommended for cases where the number of repetitions are unknown or
unclear during the development process. The do- w hile loop is recommended for cases where the
loop to be executed needs to run at least once regardless of the condition. However, each type of loop
can be interchanged with the other two types by including proper control mechanisms.

5.4 Nesting of Loops

Like the conditional structures loops can also be nested inside one another. You can nest loops of any
kind inside another to any depth you want. However having large number of nesting will reduce the
readability of your source code.
Example 5.3 – Write a C program to display the following pattern:
$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$
There are 10 “$” symbols in a single row (10 columns) and there are 5 rows. This can be implemented
by having a two loops one nested inside another which print individual “$” symbols. However the
pr int f function does not support displaying text on a row that you have already printed. Therefore
first you need to fully complete the first row and then you should go to the next. Therefore the loop
which handles printing of individual rows should be the outer loop and one which prints elements
within a row (columns) should be the inner loop. Program-5.6 displays the above symbol pattern.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 33

 /* Program-5.6 */
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int i,j;
for(i=0;i<=5;i++) //outer loop
{
for(j=0;j<=10;j++) // inner loop
{
printf("$");
} // end of inner loop
printf("\n");
} //end of outer loop

return 0;
}
Exercise 5.7 – Write a C program to display the following symbol pattern:
*
**
***
****
*****
******

5.5 The break Keyword

The br e a k keyword is used to terminate a loop, immediately bypassing any conditions. The control
will be transferred to the first statement following the loop block. If you have nested loops, then the
break statement inside one loop transfers the control to the immediate outer loop. The break statement
can be used to terminate an infinite loop or to force a loop to end before its normal termination.
Consider the following example:
/* Program-5.7 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int n;
for(n=10;n>0;n--)
{
printf("Hello World!\n");
if(n == 5)
{
printf("Countdown aborted!");
break;
}
}
return 0;
}
Under normal circumstances the Program-5.7 will display the “H e llo W or ld! ” message 10 times.
Notice that in this example the for loop is written as a decrement rather than an increment. During the
first 5 iterations the program executes normally displaying the message “H e llo W or ld! ”. Then at the
beginning of the sixth iteration variable “n ” becomes “5 ”. Therefore the if condition which evaluates
whether “n= = 5 ” becomes TRUE, so it will execute the pr int f function and then the br e a k
instruction. At this point the loop will terminate because of the br e a k keyword.
Example 5.4 – Write a C program to display the message “Hello World!” 10000 times. The program
should allow users to terminate the program at any time by pressing any key before it displays all the
10000 messages.

34 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

The C function k bhit can be used to check for a keystroke. If a key has been pressed, it returns the
value “1 ” otherwise it returns “0 ”. The k bhit function is defined in the header file con io.h .
/* Program-5.8 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>

int main()
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<=10000;i++) // loop 10000 times
{
printf("Hello World! %d\n",i);
if(kbhit() != 0) // if a key is pressed
{
printf("Loop terminated");
break; //terminate loop
}
}
return 0;
}

5.6 The continue Keyword

The keyword con t in u e causes the program to skip the rest of the loop in the current iteration,
causing it to jump to the next iteration. Consider the following example.
/* Program-5.9 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int i;
for(i=-5;i<=5;i++) // loop from -5 to 5
{
if (i == 0) // if 0 skip
continue;
printf("5 divided by %d is: \t %.2f \n", i, (5.0/i));
}
return 0;
}
In program-5.9, 5 is divided by all the integers from - 5 to + 5. However a number should not be
divided by 0 . In Program-5.9, when “i ” is 0 (when the if condition is TRUE) the con t in u e keyword
is used to skip the rest of the iteration which will skip the pr int f function.

5.7 The exit Function

The e x it function (defined in the header file st dlib.h ) is used to terminate the running program with
a specific exit code. It takes the following form:
e x it ( int e x it - code )
The exit-code is used by the operating systems and may also be used by the calling program. By
convention, an exit-code of 0 indicates a normal exit where as any other value indicates an abnormal
exit or an error. If a program is to be terminated before the r e t u r n 0 ; statement in within the m a in
function following code can be used:
exit (0);
Exercise 5.8 – Write a C program to display a sine table. The program should display all the sine
values from 0 to 360 degrees (at 5 degrees increments) and it should display only 20 rows at a time.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 35

 6 – Arrays

Arrays are a series of elements of the same data type placed consecutively in memory that can be
individually referenced by adding an index to a unique name. Using an array we can store five values
of type int with a single identifier without having to declare five different variables with a different
identifier. Arrays are useful when you store related data items, such as grades received by the students,
sine values of a series of angles, etc. Like any other variable in C an array must be declared before it is
used. The typical declaration of an array is:
da t a - t ype a r r a y- na m e [ no- of- e le m e nt s] ;
Notice that the array name must not be separated from the square brackets containing the index. When
declaring an array, the number of array elements should be constant. As arrays are blocks of static
memory locations of a given size, the compiler must be able to determine exactly how much memory
to allocate at compilation time.

6.1 Initialising an Array

An array will not be initialised when it is declared; therefore its contents are undetermined until we
store some values in it. The following array can hold marks for five subjects.
int marks[5];
The elements of an array can be initialised in two ways. In the first approach, the value of each
element of the array is listed within two curly brackets ({ } ) and a comma (, ) is used to separate one
value from another. For example:
marks[5] = {55, 33, 86, 81, 67};
In the second approach elements of the array can be initialised one at a time. This approach makes use
of the format:
a r r a y- n a m e [ inde x ] ;
For example:
marks[0] = 55;
marks[1] = 33;
marks[2] = 86;
marks[3] = 81;
marks[4] = 67;
In an array index of the first element is considered as zero rather than one. Therefore in an array with
“n” elements first index is “0” and the last index is “n-1”. This confusion can be overcome by
initialising an array with “n+1” elements and neglecting the first element (element with zero index).
Consider the following example:
/* Program-6.1 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int i,sum;
int marks[5]; //array of 5 elements
float average;
sum=0;
for(i=0;i<5;i++)
{
printf("Enter marks for subject %d: ", i+1);
scanf("%d", &marks[i]); //get the marks
}
for(i=0;i<=5;i++) //total marks
{
sum +=marks[i];

36 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 }
average = sum/5.0; //5.0 indicates a float value
printf("Average : %.2f", average);
return 0;
}
Execution of Program-6.1 displays the following:
Enter marks for subject 1: 55
Enter marks for subject 2: 33
Enter marks for subject 3: 86
Enter marks for subject 4: 81
Enter marks for subject 5: 67
Average : 64.60
The Program-6.1 accepts marks for 5 subjects from the keyboard and stores them in an array named
m a r k s . Then in the second loop it computes total of all marks stored in the array and finally it
computes the average.

6.2 Multidimensional Arrays

The type of arrays that we discussed up to now is called a one-dimensional (or single dimensional)
array, as it takes one index and store only one type of data. The array that was used in Program-6.1
hold only marks of one student. It can be extended to store marks of many students using a two-
dimensional array. Such an array is declared in the following form:
da t a - t ype a r r a y- na m e [ size - 1 ] [ size - 2 ] ;
You can declare an array to hold marks of 100 students with store marks of 5 subjects as in the
following example:
int students[100][5];
The first index defines the number of students and the second index defines the number of subjects.
Altogether it declares 500 (100×5) memory locations. Initialising marks of the first student can be
performed in the following manner.
Marks[0][0] = 55;
marks[0][1] = 33;
marks[0][2] = 86;
marks[0][3] = 81;
marks[0][4] = 67;
Similarly we can define arrays with n dimensions and such arrays are called n-dimensional or
multidimensional arrays.
A two-dimensional array is initialised in the same way. The following statement declares and
initialises a two-dimensional array of type int which holds the scores of three students in five different
tests.
int students[3][5]= {
{55, 33, 86, 81, 67},
{45, 46, 86, 30, 47},
{39, 82, 59, 57, 60}
};
Exercise 6.1 – Write a program to store marks of 5 students for 5 subjects given through the keyboard.
Calculate the average of each students marks and the average of marks taken by all the students.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 37

 7 – Functions

The C functions that you have used so far (such as pr int f and sca n f ) are built into the C libraries,
but you can also write your own functions. Therefore functions can be classified as built-in and user
defined. A modular program is usually made up of different functions, each one accomplishing a
specific task such as calculating the square root or the factorial. In general a modular program consists
of the m a in( ) function followed by set of user defined functions as given below:
# include ……
# de fine …..

Pr ot ot ype s of funct ions

int m a in( )
{
……….
}

funct ion_ 1 ( )
{
………..
}

funct ion_ 2 ( )
{
………..
}

…………

funct ion_ n( )
{
………..
}
The source code contains other elements in addition to the function blocks. It starts with the
# include directive, followed by the # de fine directive (if any) then followed by the prototypes of
functions. The prototype is a declaration of a function used in the program. Then comes the program
building block which includes the m a in( ) function and implementation of the user defined
functions.

7.1 A Function
A function is a subprogram that can act on data and return a value. Some functions may accept certain
input parameters (such as pr int f ), some may return a value of a certain data type (such as k bhit ) and
some may accept as well as return a value (sqr t ).
Every C program has at least one function, the m a in( ) . When a program is executed the m a in( ) is
called automatically. The m a in( ) may call other functions and some of them might call other
functions.
Each function has a unique name and when the name is encountered while in execution the control of
the program is transferred to the statement(s) within the function. When the function is ended (returns)
the control is resumed to the next statement following the function call.
Well designed functions perform a specific and easily understood task. Complicated tasks should be
broken down into multiple functions and then each can be called in the proper order.

38 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

7.2 Function Prototypes
Using functions in your program requires that you first declare the function (the prototype). Later you
can implement the function. The prototype tells the compiler in advance about some characteristics
(name of the function, return type and parameters) of a function. A function prototype takes the form:
t ype funct ion- na m e ( t ype a r ge m e nt - 1 , t ype a r gum e nt - 2 , …..) ;
The function prototype is a statement that ends with a semicolon. The function name is any legal
identifier followed by the function parenthesis without any space in between. The function “type” is
the data type of the return value. If the function does not return a value, the data type is defined as
void . The arguments (or parameters) come inside the parenthesis, preceded by their types and
separated by the commas. If the function does not any parameters, it is either kept blank or the word
void is used inside the parenthesises. Following are some examples for prototypes:
void exit(int x);
int kbhit( );
double power(double x, double y);
The first function returns no value and it takes an integer argument. Second prototype returns an
integer value and has no inputs. Third function returns a double value and takes two double values.

7.3 Function Definition

The definition of a function is the actual body of the function. It starts with function header, which is
the same as the function prototype but does not end with a semicolon. The function prototype and the
definition must have exactly the same return type, name and parameter list. If they do not match the
compiler will issue error messages during compilation. Function definition takes the form:
Re t ur n - t ype funct ion - na m e ( t ype a r ge m e nt- 1 , t ype a r gum e nt - 2 , ….. )
{
St a t e m e nt ( s) ;
}
Consider the following function, which accepts an integer as the input and returns its square.
int square(int x)
{
int y;
y = x*x;
return y;
}
Whenever you want to call this function you can include a statement like the following in the program.
b = square(a);
Here, the value of variable “a ” is passed to the function, where it is received by the function as the
value of variable “x ”. The function returns the square as the value of “y ”. The variable “b ” in the
calling function receives the return value.
Example 7.1 – Write a C program to calculate the circumference and area of a circle given its radius.
Implement calculation of circumference and areas as separate functions.
/*Program-7.1 */
#include <stdio.h>
const float pi = 3.141;

float area(float r); //function prototype

float circumference(float r); //function prototype

int main()
{
float radius;
printf("Enter radius: ");
scanf("%f",&radius); //read radius

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 39

 printf("\nArea : %.2f", area(radius));
printf("\nCircumference : %.2f", circumference(radius));
return 0;
}

/* Function computes the area of a circle given its radius*/

float area(float r)
{
return (pi*r*r);
}

/* Function computes the circumference of a circle given radius*/

float circumference(float r)
{
return (2*pi*r);
}
It is also possible to define several functions with the same name but with different parameters. As
given below:
float area(int r);
float area(float r);
Both these functions calculate the area of a circle given the radius. However the first function accepts
an integer as the input while the second function accepts a floating point number. Based on the type of
the given input the program dynamically calls the correct function. Consider the following program:
/*Program-7.2 */
#include <stdio.h>
const float pi = 3.141; //define pi

void area(float r); // function prototype

void area(int r); // function prototype

int main()
{
int radius;
printf("Enter radius: ");
scanf("%d",&radius);

area(radius);
area((float)radius); //convert to float

return 0;
}

void area(float r)
{
printf("\nFloating point input");
printf("\nArea is: %.2f", (pi*r*r));
}

void area(int r)
{
printf("\nInteger input");
printf("\nArea is: %.2f", (pi*r*r));
}
Execution of Program-7.2 displays:
Enter radius: 1

Integer input
Area is: 3.14
Floating point input
Area is: 3.14

40 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Program-7.2 executes each function based on the given input. The program accepts an integer from the
keyboard and when the expression a r e a ( r a dius) ; is executed it calls the function which accepts and
integer as the input parameter and it display the message “I nt e ge r input ” and the area. The
expression a r e a ( ( floa t ) r a dius) ; converts the integer value to a floating point number (this
process is called casting) before calling the function. When it is called since the input is a floating
point value it executes the function which displays the message “Floa t ing point input ”.
Although you can have multiple functions with the same name but with different input parameters,
you cannot have functions with the same name with a different output parameter. It is also possible to
have the same name for functions with different behaviour with different input parameters, however
best practices suggest that no two functions should have the same name unless they perform identical
tasks.

7.4 Passing Variables to Functions

You can use as many functions as you need in your programs and you can call a function from another
or even from it-self. In order to avoid errors when using functions, you have to have a clear
understanding about the mechanism of passing variables from one function to another.
7.4.1 The Scope of a Variable
A variable has a scope, which determines how long it is available to your program (or function) and
where it can be accessed from. Variables declared within a block are scoped only to that block; they
can be accessed only within that block and go out of existence when the execution of the block is
completed.
A variable declared inside a function is called a local variable. Scope of a local variable is limited to
the function. Such variables are not seen by any other functions including the m a in function. When
you pass a variable to a function (such as the variable r a dius in Program-7.1), you are actually
passing a copy of the variable (called passed by value), but not the variable it self. This means that the
value of the passed variable cannot be changed by any other function. Even if you use another variable
with the same name in the function, you still have two local variables isolated from each other.
On the other hand you can also define global variables which are accessible from any function within
the same source file. The global variable can be defined within the program but anywhere outside
function block including the m a in function. For example you can define a global variable
“discount ” as follows:
#include <stdio.h>
float discount; //global variable
float sub_total(float total); //function prototype
int main()
{
....
A variable defined in such a manner is visible to the m a in function and the “sub_ t ot a l ” function.
You can modify its value in either place and read it from another place.
A well written C source code should not have any global variables unless they are specifically required
since an accidental change to a global variable may produce erroneous results.
7.4.2 Default Parameters
For every parameter you declare in a function prototype and declaration the calling function must pass
in a value. The value passed must be of the declared type. Thus if you have a function declared as:
long my_function(int a);
the function must in fact take an integer value as an input. If the function definition differs or if you
pass a value of a wrong data type you will get a compilation error. However when you declare the
function prototype you can define a default value for the parameter as follows:
long my_function(int a = 50);

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 41

The default value is used if no input is supplied to the function. Similarly a function with many input
parameters can have a default value for each parameter.
Exercise 7.1 – Predict the output of each pr int f function in Program-7.3.
/*Program-7.3 */
#include <stdio.h>

void swap1(int x,int y);

void swap2(int x);
int a;

int main()
{
int b,c;
a=5;
b=10;
c=15;
printf("\nValue before 1st function a= %d, b= %d c= %d" ,a,b,c);
swap1(b,c);
printf("\nValue after 1st function a= %d, b= %d c= %d" ,a,b,c);
swap2(b);
printf("\nValue after 2nd function a= %d, b= %d c= %d" ,a,b,c);
printf("Test");
return 0;
}

void swap1(int x, int y)

{
int z;
z = x;
x = y;
y = z;
}

void swap2(int x)
{
int z;
z = x;
x = a;
a = z;
}

42 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 8 – Pointers

Pointers are another important feature of the C language. Although it may appear a little confusing for
a novice programmer they are a powerful tool and handy to use once they are mastered. The power of
C compared to most other languages lies with proper use of pointers. Pointers are useful due to
following reasons:
• They enable us to access a variable that is defined outside a function.
• Pointers are more efficient in handling data tables and sometimes even arrays.
• Pointers tend to reduce the length and complexity of a program.
• They increase the execution speed.
• Use of pointers allows easy access to character strings.
Computers use memory to store both instructions and values of variables of a program. The
computer’s memory is a sequential collection of storage cells with the capacity of a single byte. Each
of these memory cells has an address associated with it.
Whenever a variable is declared the system allocates some memory to hold the value of the variable.
Such memory location can be accessed by providing the memory address. Consider the following
example:
int number = 35;
The above expression allocates a memory location to hold the value of variable “num be r ” that can
hold an integer (4 bytes) and it also initialises the variable. Suppose the address of that memory
location is 2000. Then after executing above expression the memory address 2000 should hold 35.
During execution of the program, the system always associates the name “num be r ” with the
memory address 2000. We may have access to the value “3 5 ” by using either the name “num be r ” or
the address 2000. Since memory addresses are simple numbers, they can also be assigned to some
variables. Such variables that hold memory addresses are called pointers. Therefore a pointer is
nothing but a variable that contains an address which is a location of another variable in memory.

8.1 Declaring Pointers

A pointer is declared using the indirection (* ) operator. The typical declaration of a pointer is:
da t a - t ype * point e r - n a m e ;
If a pointer “a ” is pointing to an integer, it is declared as:
int *a;
Since a pointer is a variable, its value is also stored in another memory location. Therefore in
computation even the address of the pointer can be used.
The location of a variable in memory is system dependent and therefore the address of a variable is not
known directly. The address operator (& ) allow us to retrieve the address from a variable associated
with it. Consider the following example:
/* Program-8.1 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int number = 20;
int *pnt;
pnt = &number;

printf("\nThe number is: %d", number);

printf("\nThe address of the number is: %d", &number);
printf("\nThe pointer is: %d", pnt);
printf("\nThe address of the pointer is: %d", &pnt);
printf("\nThe value of the pointer is: %d", *pnt);

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 43

 return 0;
}
Execution of Program-8.1 displays:
The number is: 20
The address of the number is: 1245064
The pointer is: 1245064
The address of the pointer is: 1245060
The value of the pointer is: 20
The first pr int f function displays the value of variable “num be r ”. The second pr int f statement
displays the address of the memory location occupied by the variable named “num be r ”. The third
statement displays the value of the “pnt ” which is assigned by the expression pnt = & num be r ; .
Note that now the address of variable “num be r ” and value of pointer “pnt ” is the same. The fourth
pr int f function displays the address of the pointer. The final statement displays the value of the
pointer “pnt ” which holds the value of the variable “num be r ”.
Example 8.1 – Write a program to swap two integer numbers using pointers.
/* Program-8.2 */
#include <stdio.h>
void swap(int *a,int *b);

int main()
{
int a,b;
a = 5;
b = 10;

printf("\nBefore swapping a= %d: b= %d", a, b);

swap(&a, &b); //call function
printf("\nAfter swapping a= %d: b= %d", a, b);

return 0;
}

void swap(int *a, int *b)

{
int x;
x = *b;
*b = *a;
*a = x;
}
Execution of Program-8.2 displays:
Before swapping a= 5: b= 10
After swapping a= 10: b= 5

8.2 Text Strings and Pointers

An array of characters is called a string. Strings in C are handled differently than most other
languages. A pointer is used to keep track of a text string stored in memory. It will point to the first
character of the string. By knowing the beginning address and the length of the string, the program can
locate it.
A character pointer is used to point to the first character of a string as given in the following example:
char *a;
a = "Hello World!";
Consider the following example:

44 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 /* Program-8.3 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
char *a;
a = "Hello World";

printf("String: %s\n", a);

printf("First character: %c\n", *a);
printf("Starting memory address: %d\n", a);
printf("First character: %d\n", *a);

return 0;
}
Exaction of Program-8.3 will display:
String: Hello World
First character: H
Starting memory address: 4235496
First character: 72
In Program-8.3 the first pr int f function displays the string pointed by pointer “a ”. The second pr int f
function display the value pointed by pointer “a ” which is the first character of the string. The third
pr int f function displays the starting memory address of the string which is the value of pointer “a ”.
The final pr int f function displays the ASCII value of the first character in the string.

8.3 Pointers and Arrays

An array is a series of elements of the same data type. Pointers can be used to manipulate arrays rather
than using an index. The name of an array points to the first element of the array. If you declare an
array in the following manner:
int marks[5];
you can point to the first element of the array using either one of the following pointers:
marks //first element
&marks[0] //first element
Also the following pairs of pointers are equivalent:
marks+1 == &marks[1]
......
marks+4 == &marks[4]
Or you can use the array name to refer to the contents of the array elements like:
*(marks) //value of 1st element
*(marks+1) //value of 2nd element
Program 8.4 illustrates the use of array name, index and pointers.
/* Program-8.4 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
int marks[5]= {89, 45, 73, 98, 39};

printf("%d\n", marks); //memory address pointed by pointer

printf("%d\n", &marks[0]); //memory address of 1st element
printf("%d\n", *marks); //value pointed by pointer
printf("%d\n", marks[0]); //value of 1st array element
return 0;
}

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 45

 9 – Handling Files

The programs that we developed up to now were neither able to produce permanent output nor were
they able to read data inputs other than from the keyboard. Using files you can save your output data
permanently and retrieve them later.
A file in general is a collection of related records, such as student information, marks obtained in an
exam, employee salaries, etc. Each record is a collection of related items called fields, such as “student
name”, “date of birth”, “subjects registered”, etc. The common operations associated with a file are:
• Read from a file (input)
• Write to a file (output)
• Append to a file (write to the end of a file)
• Update a file (modifying any location within the file)
In C language data is transferred to and from a file in three ways:
• Record input/output (one record at a time)
• String input/output (one string at a time)
• Character input/output (one character at a time)

9.1 The File Protocol

Accessing a file is a three step process:
• Opening a connection to a file
• Reading/writing data from/to the file
• Closing the connection
9.1.1 Opening a Connection to a File
In order to use a file on a disk you must establish a connection with it. A connection can be established
using the fope n function. The function takes the general form:
fope n( file _ na m e , a cce ss_ m ode )
The file _ na m e is the name of the file to be accessed and it may also include the path. The
a cce ss_ m ode defines whether the file is open for reading, writing or appending data. Table 9.1
summarises the access modes supported by fope n function.
Table 9.1 – File access modes

Access mode Description

“r” Open an existing file for reading only.
“w” Open a file for writing only. If the file does not exist create a new one. If the file
exists it will be overwritten.
“a” Open a file for appending only. If the file does not exist create a new one. New
data will be added to the end of the file.
“r+” Open an existing file for reading and writing
“w+” Open a new file for reading and writing
“a+” Open a file for reading and appending. If the file does not exist create a new one.
The following code opens a file named “my file.txt” in the current directory for appending data:
FILE *fp;
fp = fopen("my file.txt", "a");
The function fope n returns a pointer (referred as the file pointer) to the structure6 FI LE which is
defined in the st dio.h headier file. When you open a file it would be better to make sure that the

6
Structures are used to store records with different data types.

46 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

operation is successful. If the establishment of a connection is successful the function returns a pointer
to the file. If an error is encountered while establishing a connection the functions returns N ULL.
9.1.2 Closing the Connection to a File
After a connection to a file is established it can be used to read or write data. When all the file
processing is over the connection should be closed. Closing the connection is important as it writes
any remaining data in the buffer to the output file. The function fclose is used to close the file. For
example:
fclose(fp)
When closing the file the file pointer “fp ” is used as an argument of the function. When a file is
successfully closed the function fclose returns a ze r o and any other value indicates an error.
9.1.3 Reading Data from a File
When reading data from a ASCII file you can either read one character or one string at a time.
Reading Characters from a File
To read one character at a time you can use the ge t c function. It takes the form:
ge t c( file_ point er )
You can assign the output of the function ge t c to an int or cha r variable.
Example 9.1 – Write a program to read the file “my file.txt” which has the message:
Hello World!
This is my first file
The following program reads the file “my file.txt” one character at a time and displays it on the screen.
/* Program-9.1 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;
char c;

fp = fopen("my text.txt", "r"); //open read-only

if(fp != NULL)
{
c = getc(fp); //read the 1st character
while ( c != EOF) //if not the end of file
{
printf("%c",c);
c= getc(fp); //read next character
}
fclose(fp); //close the file
}
else
printf("\nError while opening file...");

return 0;
}
Execution of Program-9.1 will display
Hello World!
This is my first file
In Program-9.1 a connection is first established to the file. Then the expression if( fp != N ULL)
evaluates whether the connection is successful. If it is not successful the program will display the
message “Er r or w hile ope ning file ... ” If it is successful it reads the first character from the file.
If the character is not the end of the file (indicated by the End Of File (EOF) mark) it displays the

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 47

character. Then the program continues to read the rest of the characters in the file until it finds the
EOF mark. Afterwards the connection to the file is closed using the fclose function.
Reading a String from a File
In real-life applications it is more useful to read one string at a time rather than one character. With
every read, the program has to check for the line feed (LF) character so it can find the end of each
string. Also it must check for the EOF mark which comes at the end of the file. The fge t s function
can be used to read a string at a time. The function generally takes the form:
fge t s( st r ing, m a x _ cha r a ct e r s, file _ point e r )
The “st r ing ” is a character array (also called a character buffer) and “m a x _ cha r a ct e r s” define the
maximum number of characters to read form a line. The function fge t s returns a ch a r pointer. It
returns N ULL if EOF mark is encountered. One deficiency in fge t s is that it can only read to a fixed
character buffer, therefore you need to know in advance the maximum number of characters in a
string.
Example 9.2 – Modify Program-9.1 such that it uses the fgets function instead of fgetc function.
Suppose the file does not have more than 100 characters in a line.
/* Program-9.2 */
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;
char buffer[100]; //char array with 100 elements
char *result; // hold the result of the fgets function

fp = fopen("my text.txt", "r"); //open read-only

if(fp != NULL)
{
result = fgets(buffer, 100, fp); //read the 1st string
while(result != NULL) //if not the end of file
{
printf("%s",buffer);
result = fgets(buffer, 100, fp); //read the next string
}
fclose(fp); //close the file
}
else
printf("\nError while opening file");

return 0;
}
9.1.4 Writing Data to a File
You can also write data to file either one character at a time or a string at a time.
Writing Character to a File
To write a character to a file the pu t c function can be used. It has the form:
put c( c, fp)
where c is the character while fp is the file pointer. It returns an int value which indicates the success
or the failure of the function. It returns the int value of the character if it is successful, if not it returns
EOF mark.
Example 9.3 – Write a C program to store the message “Introduction C Programming” in a file named
“message.txt”.
Program-9.3 is an implementation of the above requirement. The function pu t c is used to write
characters in the message to the file. To find the number of characters in the message the st r le n

48 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

function which returns the number of characters in a string is used. A pointer is used to point to the
string and the pointer is incremented by one memory location at a time.
/* Program-9.3 */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
FILE *fp;
int i; //loop counter
char *message;
message = "Introduction C Programming";

fp = fopen("c:\\message.txt", "w"); //open for writing

if(fp != NULL) //if success
{
for (i =0 ; i < strlen(message);i++)
putc(*(message+i),fp); //write character pointed by pointer
fclose(fp); //close the file
}
else
printf("\nError while opening file");

return 0;
}
Writing a String to a File
The advantage of pu t c is that it allows you to control every byte that you write into the file. However
sometimes you may want to write one string at a time. Two functions, namely fpu t s and fpr in t f can
be used for this purpose. The fpr in t f function is identical to the pr int f function only difference
being that it writes to a file rather than to the screen. The format of each function is:
fput s( st r ing, file _ point er)
fpr int f( file _ point e r , “% s”, st r ing)
Exercise 9.1 – Modify Program-9.3 such that it uses the fputs rather than the fputc function to write
the message to the file.
Exercise 9.2 – Develop a simple telephone directory which saves your friends contact information in a
file named directory.txt. The program should have a menu similar to the following:
----------------Menu-------------------------
1. Add new friend.
2. Display contact info.
3. Exit
------------------------------------------------
Enter menu number:
When you press “1” it should request you to enter following data:
---------New friend info--------
Name : Saman
Phone-No: 011-2123456
e-Mail : [email protected]
After adding new contact information it should again display the menu. When you press “2” it should
display all the contact information stored in the directory.txt file as follows:
--------------Contact info---------------
Name Tel-No e-Mail
Kamala 077-7123123 [email protected]
Kalani 033-4100101 [email protected]
Saman 011-2123456 [email protected]
-----------------------------------------

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 49

 Annex A – Lab 2 & 3
Introduction to C Programming

Objectives
• Compile/link C programs on Linux using gcc.
• Correct/fix syntax errors and bugs taking clues from compiler error messages and warnings.
• Debug programs through program testing.
• Learn how to detect programming errors through program testing.

Prerequisites
• Students are expected to be familiar with a text editor on Linux (such as vi or vim).
• A basic understanding of compiling and linking in concept.
• Knowledge in area such as C language syntax, input output function is recommended.

Requirements
•
7
The GNU C and C++ compiler .

Remarks
• This assignment will be continued next week as well.
• No evaluation will be done based on these lab sessions.
• All the source codes and executables related to this lab session should be saved in a folder
named La b2 _ 3 which should be created within your hom e directory.

A.1 Compiling and Linking

In compiler based programming languages like C, the source code must be first compiled and then
linked with the necessary libraries to produce an executable program. The process of compiling and
linking depends on the environment in which it is carried out, the particular compiler or the linker
involved and tools used if any. Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) are software tools which
provide facilities for; editing, compiling, linking and debugging software (will cover in Lab5).
In this section we shall learn how to compile and link a C program using the GNU C and C++ compiler,
gcc. No other tools will be used.
When you invoke gcc, it normally does pre-processing, compilation, assembly and linking. The overall
options allow you to stop this process at an intermediate stage. For example, the - c option says not to
run the linker. Then the output consists of object files output by the assembler.
Step 1: Type the C program given below using text editor such as Kw r it e and then save it as
t e st 1 .c in your hom e directory.
Start Kw r it e as follow; M a in M e nu à Acce ssor ie s à M or e Acce ssor ie s à Kw r it e
/*display Hello World */ //Comments
#include <stdio.h> //Pre-processor directives

int main() //Start main function

{
printf("Hello world!\n"); //use printf function to display message
return 0;
} //End main
Step 2: Open a new terminal with the shell prompt by r ight - click ing on the D e sk t op area and
selecting “ne w Te r m ina l”. Now you can enter any Linux shell command using the shell. Go
to the La b2 _ 3 directory where you saved the program source file t e st 1 .c using cd
command.

7
http://www.gnu.org/

50 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Step 3: Next, to compile and link the program saved in Step 1, enter the following command.
$ gcc test1.c
$
By default, the output of the linker will be saved as a file named a .out in the working
directory. Use the ls command to see whether a .ou t file is created.
$ ls
a.out test1.c
$
Step 4: Lastly, to run the new program, execute the file a .ou t as shown below. 8
$ ./a.out
Hello world!
$
Step 5: Now, go ahead and modify the program given above to display its source code on standard
output.
Hint: Study the use of escape sequences (escape codes) \ n and \ t with pr int f.

A.2 Syntax Errors and Bugs

Programmers been humans more often than not they end up writing incorrect source code.
Some of these errors result in source code that does not confirm to the syntax of the programming
language and are caught by the compiler at compile time. Some others however, surface only at run-
time and cause programs to fail at performing their intended tasks. Such defects in programs are
called bugs and the process of eliminating them is called debugging.

Step 1: The program given below calculates the roots of the quadratic equation ax + bx + c = 0
2

provided that b − 4ax ≥ 0 .

2

Type the following program using a text editor and then save it as t e st 2 .c.
#include <stdio.h> //Pre-processor directives
#include <math.h>

int main() //Start main Function

{
double a, b, c, delta;

printf("Enter a, b, c: );
scanf("%lf %lf %lf", &a, &b, &c); //read a, b and c
double delta = b*b - 4*c;

if (delta < 0) //if complex roots

printf("complex roots!\n");
else //if roots are not complex
{
double t = sqrt(delta); //get the square root
double r1 = (-b -t) / (2*a);
double r2 = (-b + t) / (2*a);
printf("%.2f %.2f\n", r1, r2)
}
return 0;
} //end main
Step 2: Now, to compile the program, enter the command gcc - c t e st 2 .c. The text below also
shows what you may expect next! Notice that we are not trying to link the output of the
compiler yet.

8
Why is it that we have to type ./a.out to execute the file a.out in the working directory? (i.e. why won’t typing
a.out alone work?)

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 51

 $ gcc -c test2.c
test2.c:8:16: warning: multi-line string literals are deprecated
test2.c: In function ‘main’:
test2.c:8: ‘lf’ undeclared (first use in this function)
test2.c:8: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
test2.c:8: for each function it appears in.)

test2.c:9:20: warning: multi-line string literals are deprecated

test2.c:8: parse error before string constant
test2.c:8: stray ’\’ in program
test2.c:14:27: warning: multi-line string literals are deprecated
test2.c:8: stray ’\’ in program
test2.c:19:22: warning: multi-line string literals are deprecated
test2.c:19:22: missing terminating " character
test2.c:8:16: possible start of unterminated string literal
$
All of the above messages are reported by the C compiler when it attempted to compile the
source file, t e st 2 .c. This is because of the errors in the source code. Typically, there will be
two types of messages reported errors and warnings.
Errors, are cases where the supplied source code does not confirm to the syntax of the
language. Warnings on the other hand indicate bad coding practices on part of the
programmer such as unused variables.
The way errors are reported depends on the compiler and the IDE used. In this case we are
not using any IDE and the compiler used is GNU C compiler. Notice that for each syntax error,
the compiler reports the file name and the line number where it found the error.
Step 3: Lets, try to correct some of the errors reported above. Notice that most of the error messages
are concerned with line 8.
Open the file t e st 2 .c in Kw r it e editor and to jump straight to line 8 Comparing the pr int f
statement on line 8 with what you found in the earlier program (i.e. t e st 1 .c) try to figure out
what is wrong and correct it on your own. You may also want to take in to consideration the
following warning:
test2.c:8:16: possible start of unterminated string literal
After fixing line 8, go back and try compiling t est 2 .c again and see whether it compiles
without errors now.
If you corrected the error on line 8 properly, you should now get set of messages similar to the
following:
test2.c: In function ‘main’:
test2.c:10: redeclaration of ‘delta’
test2.c:6: ‘delta’ previously declared here
test2.c:20: parse error before ’}’ token
test2.c:20: parse error before ’}’ token
Given the fact that this error concerns the pr int f statement on line 19, make an attempt to
correct it on your own by comparing this particular pr int f statement with other pr int f
statements that you know to be correct.
After correcting the error, go back to command mode and locate the cursor at the point of first
error, i.e.
test2.c:10: redeclaration of ‘delta’
test2.c:6: ‘delta’ previously declared here
Both the first and the second error messages are in fact caused by the same error. To correct
it, modify the line 10 to be like as shown below.
delta = b*b - 4*c;
Now, recompile the program. If you correctly followed all the above instructions, you should
not get any more error messages.

52 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Step 4: Now, get back to the shell and look for a file with the same file name as your source code file
but having the .o extension instead. This is the object file that the compiler/assembler
produced from your source code file. To obtain an executable program, this file must be linked
with any necessary libraries using an appropriate linker.
Normally, any C program needs to be linked with the standard C library and this is usually
done automatically without you having to specify it explicitly. However any other libraries must
be specified to the linker if they are to be linked with your program.
To link the object file t e st 2 .o with the standard C library enter the following command:
$ gcc test2.o
test2.o: In function ‘main’:
test2.o(.text+0x96): undefined reference to ‘sqrt’
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
$
Here the linker has reported errors. The cause of the problem is the sqr t function. Whenever,
any mathematical functions (i.e. sqrt, sin, cos, etc.) are used, the m a t h library needs to be
linked with your program in addition to the standard C library.
$ gcc -lm test2.o
$
Step 5: If you do not get any errors from the linker, you may run the program by entering the following
command. Press En t e r key after typing the three values for the coefficients a , b and c.
$ ./a.out
Enter a, b, c: 1 -7 12
3.00 4.00
$
Try the program with several more sets of values for a, b and c. Such sets of values used for
testing a program are known as test cases.
Step 6: When developing software, syntax errors are probably the easiest to detect and eliminate.
Referring to the previous step, did the program work correctly? If you tried a test case where a
is not equal to 1, you would notice that it fails.
$ ./a.out
enter a, b, c: 1 -7 12
3.00 4.00
$ ./a.out
enter a, b, c: 2 -14 24
1.00 6.00
$
Step7: Had you paid attention to the expression on line 10, you would have noticed a slight fault. The
expression concerned, calculates the discriminator ( ∆ = b − 4ac ) of the quadratic equation.
2

However, it fails to use the proper formula in calculation.

delta = b * b - 4 * c;
This is an example of a programming error or a bug. Detecting bugs in programs is not an
easy task. Code inspection, where one or more people read someone else’s program, line by
line and program testing, running the program on sample input data (like we did above) are
two techniques which are standard practice in Software Engineering.
Now, go ahead and correct the expression on your own. Once you compile and link the
program, try the test case(s) for which the program failed earlier and see whether it works
correctly now.
Step 8: Next, try the following test case against your program and see how it behaves when a is equal
to zero.
$ ./a.out
enter a, b, c: 0 -7 12
inf inf
$

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 53

 When a program performs an illegal operation at run-time (when it is executing), it is called a
run-time error. In the last example, the program performed a division by zero for the data set
{ 0 , - 7 , 1 2 } . Looking at the source code, it is clearly evident that if the user enters a value of
0 for a, this leads to a division by zero on later in the program (lines 17 and 18). One possible
solution is to check the value the user entered for coefficient a using an if statement. Since
we check before we divide, even if the user enters a value of zero, it does not lead to a
division by zero.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <math.h>

int main()
{
double a, b, c, delta;

printf("Enter a, b, c: ");
scanf("%lf %lf %lf", &a, &b, &c); //read a, b and c

if (a ==0.0 a) // if a zero
printf("Coefficient a should be non-zero.\n");
else // if a not zero
{
delta = b * b - 4 * a * c;
if(delta < 0)
printf("complex roots!\n");
else
{
double t = sqrt(delta);
double r1 = (-b - t) / (2 * a);
double r2 = (-b + t) / (2 * a);
printf("%.2f %.2f\n", r1, r2);
}
}
return 0;
}

Discussion
Try to find answers to following questions (no need of submission).
1. Are all languages compiler based like C?
2. Explain the difference between a compiler error and a warning?
3. What is a bug with reference to software?
4. Does program testing show the presence of bugs or their absence? Explain your answer.
5. Given that you have the C source file test3.c, write down the commands for the following:
a. To compile (compile only) the file using gcc.
b. What are the output files produced by this command?
c. To compile and link the file with the standard C library. What is the name of the
executable produced?
d. Modify the command in (c) to change the name of the executable file to test from its
default name.
e. To link the object file produced in (a) above, with the math library in addition to the
standard C library.
6. What would happen if a program uses library other than the standard C library and the
particular library was not specified to the linker when linking the program?
7. What does GNU stand for?

54 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 Annex B – Lab 4
Conditional Structures (1)
Remarks
• This lab session will be e va lua t e d and it will carry 4% of your final marks.
• All the source codes and executables related to this lab session should be saved in a folder
named La b4 which should be created within your hom e directory. If not ze r o marks will be
given.
• Before you leave the lab make sure you show your instructor that you have saved your file in
La b4 folder.

Exercises
Exercise B.1 – Write a program to input a temperature reading in either Celsius(c) or Fahrenheit(f)
scale and convert it to the other scale. The temperature reading consists of a decimal number
followed by letter ”F” or ”f” if the temperature is in Fahrenheit scale or letter ”C” or ”c” if it is in
Celsius scale. You may use a similar format for the output of the program.
5( f − 32)
Note: c =
9
$ ./a.out
Temperature reading: 100C
212F

$ ./a.out
Temperature reading: 100F
37C
Exercise B.2 – Given a date as a triplet of numbers (y, m , d), with y indicating the year, m the
month (m = 1 for January, m = 2 for February, etc.), and d the day of the month, the
corresponding day of the week f (f = 0 for Sunday, f = 1 for Monday, etc.) can be found as
follows:
(a) if m < 3
(b) let m = m + 12 and let y = y - 1
(c) let a = 2m + 6 (m + 1) / 10
(d) let b = y + y/4 – y/100 + y/400
(e) let f 1 = d + a + b + 1
(t) let f = f 1 mod 7
(g) stop.
Write a program that will read a date and print the corresponding day of the week. All divisions
indicated above are integer divisions.
Discussion
Given that the else clause in the following code fragment belongs to the outer statement, write down 2
possible ways in which it can be implemented properly. No need of submission.
int a, b, c;
. . .
if (a > b )
if (b < c)
{
...
}
else
{
...
}

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 55

 Annex C – Lab 5
Conditional Structures (2)

Objectives
• Develop C programs using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
• Correct/fix syntax errors and bugs taking clues from error messages, warnings and debug
features provided by the IDE.
Prerequisites
• Students are expected to be familiar in developing C program on a Linux platform.
Requirements
• The KDevelop IDE.

Remarks
• This lab session will not be evaluated.
• All the source codes and executables related to this lab session should be saved in a folder
named La b5 which should be created within your hom e directory.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a GUI based application or set of tools that allows a
programmer to write, compile, edit, and in some cases test and debug within an integrated, interactive
environment. These tools provide lot of features that make programming a fun. It may take sometime
for you to understand each and every feature provided by the IDE but it will certainly enhance your
productivity. Some of these tools go beyond conventional program development and testing and even
provide facility to manage various documents related to the project or source code and to keep track of
different versions of the source code. KDevelop is one of the heavily used IDE for developing C/C++
programs in the Linux platform. From this lab session onwards if you prefer you can use KDevelop for
program development.

C.1 Using KDevelop

Step 1: To launch KDevelop use the menu sequence St a r t M e nu à Pr ogr a m m ing à
KD e ve lop.
Step 2: Then the KD e ve lop Se t up window appears. When you use KDevlop for the first time you
need to do bit of initial configuration through the KD e ve lop Se t up window.
First it displays the Welcome message. Just read it and click the N e x t > button.
Step 3: Then it asks you to select the most common syntax highlighting style. Select the radio button
labelled KD e ve lop 2 .0 st yle and click the N e x t > button.
Step 4: Then it asks you to select the layout of the user interface. Select the radio button with the label
Childfr a m e M ode (this is the commonly used layout). However if you prefer you may
select any of the other two layouts given. Then press the N e x t > button.
Step 5: Then you will see list of tools that is installed in your computer. Try to identify some of those
tools and the press the N e x t > button.
Then press N e x t > button three times.
Finally click on the Finish button.
Then Tip of t he D a y message appears. Close the message box by clicking on the Close
button. If you do not wish to receive any more such tips uncheck the checkbox labelled Show
t ips on st a r t up.

56 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

C.2 Your First Program with KDevlop
Step 1: In order to work with KDevlop first you need to create a new project. From the menu select
Pr oj e ct à N ew .
Step 2: Then Applica t ion W iza r d window appears.
Using the Applica t ion W iza r d you can select the type of the application you are
developing. Since we are developing shell based C programs, from the tree select the branch
labelled Te r m ina l and then select C. If you are developing GUI based applications you can
select KDE or GNOME.
Then click on N e x t button.
Step 3: Then it requests you to enter Ge ne r a t e Se t t ings.
Type Fir st I D E in the Pr oj e ct n a m e : textbox.
Set the Pr oj e ct dir e ct or y: to / hom e / fir st ye a r / La b5 / fir st ide . If you have not
already created the Lab5 folder you need to create it.
In the Au t h or : textbox type your name then type your e-Mail address in the Em a il: textbox.
Finally click on the Cr e a t e button.
Step 4: Then KDevelop will create a list of files that are required to develop and run your program.
This process may take few minutes (depending on the type of the application that you are
developing).
When it is finished click the Ex it button.
Step 5: KDevelop will automatically write a part of the program. The code generated by KDevelop may
not be in the same format that we are used to. So if you want you can change some of the
code.
Before you do any changes to the code get familiar with the KDevelop user interface. Identify
various components in your project such as source files, header files, class tree, functions in
your program, contents in the project directory, toolbar, help system, etc.
If you need any clarification about any icon or button in KDevelop you can access the "The
User Manual to KDevelop" by pressing F1 key or using the menu H e lp à Th e Use r
M a nua l t o KD e ve lop.
Step 6: Now go back to your source file named m a in.c. Then do the following changes to the code
(these changes are done just to simplify the code). Your changed code should be similar to
the following:
#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include <config.h>
#endif

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
printf("Hello, world!\n");

return 0;
}

Step 7: Now its time to run your first C program using KDevelop. First you need to compile your
program. Use Build à Com pile File menu or click on the Com pile File icon ( ) on the
toolbar. You may also use the keyboard shortcut Shift + F8 as well.
While compilation you may get waning message about a make file. For the moment forget
about it.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 57

Step 8: Then to execute your program select the Build à Ex e cut e menu or click on the Run icon
( ) on the toolbar. You may also use the function key F9 .
If you program get successfully executed you should see the following message appearing in
the shell.
Hello, world!

Press Enter to continue!

Step 9: Press the En t e r key to terminate your program.

C.3 Locating Errors in a Program

Let us write a program to calculate the factorial of a given number.
Step 1: Create a new C Terminal project named Fa ct I D E. Then type the follwoing program as it is.
int main()
{
int num, fact,i;
fact=0;

printf("Enter number to find factorial: ");

scanf("%d",num);

for(i=1 ; i <=num; i++)

{
fact *= i
}
printf("Factorial of %d is: %d", num, fact);

return 0;
}
Step 2: Compile the program by clicking the Com pile File icon on the toolbar. Then you may see a
list of message (in the messages tab) appearing which may look like the follwoing:
source='main.c' object='main.o' libtool=no \
depfile='.deps/main.Po' tmpdepfile='.deps/main.TPo' \
depmode=gcc3 /bin/sh ../admin/depcomp \
gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -O2 -O0 -g3 -Wall -c `test -f
'main.c' || echo './'`main.c
main.c: In function `main':
main.c:31: warning: format argument is not a pointer (arg 2)
main.c:36: parse error before '}' token
gmake: *** [main.o] Error 1
*** failed ***
It informs you about 2 errors in line 31 and 36 (line number may be different in your program). To go to
the line having an error double click on the message "main.c:31: warning: format argument
is not a pointer (arg 2)". Then the cursor automatically moves to the line.
Step 3: Correct the error in the program.
Step 4: Then go to the next error message and double click on it. Then your cursor will move to the
appropriate line within the program. Correct the error.
Step 5: Then compile your program again. If you correct both errors now your program should compile
without any error or warning and you should see the message "success".
Step 6: Then execute your program by selecting Build à Ex e cut e menu or by pressing F9 key.
Executing about program with 5 as the input will display:
Enter number to find factorial: 5
Factorial of 5 is: 0
Press Enter to continue!

58 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

If you get something similar as above your program is ok. But what about the factorial of 5, is it 0?
Although your program gets compiled successfully now you have a run-time error. These errors can
be tracked by debugging a program.

C.4 Debugging a Program

Step 1: Go back to the source code and place a Br e a k point on the line with the expression
fa ct * = i;. To place a Breakpoint move your mouse pointer near the shaded pane in front of
the Edit or window (area that your write you code) and click on it. Then you should see a
small Blue spot appearing. To clear a Br e a k point select Cle a r All br e a k point s or
D isa ble br e a k point from the pop-up menu (to get the pop-up menu you need to right click
it.

Step 2: To debug you program select D e bug à St a r t menu or click the D e bug icon ( ) on the
toolbar.
If you do not see the she ll appearing select D e bug à St op from the menu or click on the
Stop icon. Then use the Opt ion s à KD e vlop Se t up.. menu open the KD e vlop Se t up
window locate D e bugge r and check the checkbox labelled Ena ble se par a t e t erm ina l
for a pplica t ion i/ o. Then click on the OK button. Now try to debug your program again.
Step 3: When the program request you to enter a number to find the factorial type 5 and press En t e r
key. Then go back to the IDE and locate the small Yellow triangle. This will indicate the current
line that is in execution.
Step 4: Highlight the token n u m and then right click. Then from the pop-up menu select W a t ch:
n u m . This will allow you to check the value of variable num while in debugging mode.
Similarly do it for variables i and fa ct .
On the left hand side of the window you should be able to see the current values of variables
n u m , fa ct and i.
Step 5: Then from the D e bug menu select Run.
Notice that the value of variable i get changed but not other variables.
Step 6: Again select the Run from D e bug menu. You will still see only variable i is getting changed
where as variable fa ct should also get changed. Repeat D e bug à Run menu until you
complete all the 5 loops.

Then select D e bug à St op menu or click the St op icon ( ) to stop debugging your
program.
Now you should be able to understand that there is some error in the statement fa ct * = i;
which is supposed to change the value of variable fa ct . However you did observe that
variable i is getting changed. Then the error should be with the value of fa ct . Do you
remember that the starting value of fact is 0 . If not, debug your program again and see that
fact is always 0 . So regardless of the value of i the multiplication is always 0 . So this is the
error.
Change initial value of variable fa ct to be 1 and Ru n your program again. Now enter 5 and
see whether you are getting the correct answer. Try your program with several other inputs.

Exercise C.1 – Consider Exercise B.2. Modify it so that you use the sw it ch statement to print the
days as Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, .. using the value f derived from the given algorithm.

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 59

 Annex D – Lab 6
Control Structures (1)
Remarks
• This lab session will be e va lua t e d and it will carry 4% of your final marks.
• All the source codes and executables related to this lab session should be saved in a folder
named La b6 which should be created within your hom e directory. If not ze r o marks will be
given.
• Before you leave the lab make sure you show your instructor that you have saved your file in
La b6 folder.
• You can either use a simple text editor or IDE such as KDevelop.

Exercises
Exercise D.1 – Write a program to input a series of positive integers and determine whether they are
prime. The program should terminate if a negative integer is given as the input. A prime
number is a number that is divisible by only one and itself. However one is not considered a
prime number. Execution of your program should produce something similar to the following:
$ ./a.out
1
2
Prime
3
Prime
4
5
Prime
6
-1
$
Exercise D.2 – Write a program to find out whether a given number is a perfect number. The program
should terminate if a negative integer is given as the input. A perfect number is a number
whose factors other than itself add up to itself.
Example: 6 = 1 + 2 + 3, 28 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14
$ ./a.out
6
Perfect
7
28
Perfect
11
-1
$
Exercise D.3 – Write a program to display the following symbol pattern. You must use loops.
******
*****
****
***
**
*
**
***
****
*****
******

60 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 Annex E – Lab 7
Control Structures and Arrays
Remarks
• This lab session will be e va lua t e d and it will carry 4% of your final marks.
• All the source codes and executables related to this lab session should be saved in a folder
named La b7 which should be created within your hom e directory. If not ze r o marks will be
given.
• Before you leave the lab make sure you show your instructor that you have saved your file in
La b7 folder.

Exercises
Exercise E.1 – Write a program to calculate and display the total and the average of 10 integer
numbers input from the keyboard. An example would be as follows:
Enter 10 integers: 5 78 96 54 34 12 3 7 88 5
Total = 382
Average = 38.2
Exercise E.2 – Write a program to find and display the minimum and the maximum among 10
numbers entered from the keyboard. Use a single-dimensional array to store the numbers
entered. The numbers can be non-integers. An example would be as follows:
Enter 10 numbers: 5 7.8 9.6 54 3.4 1.2 3 7 8.8 5
Minimum = 1.2
Maximum = 54
Exercise E.3 – Suppose there are 4 students each having marks of 3 subjects. Write a program to
read the marks from the keyboard and calculate and display the total marks of each student.
Use a 2D (two-dimensional) array to store the marks. An example would be as follows:
Enter the marks of four students, on four rows:
50 60 80
60 75 90
30 49 99
66 58 67

Total marks of four students:

190
225
178
191

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 61

 Annex F – Lab 9
Functions
Remarks
• This lab session will be e va lua t e d and it will carry 4% of your final marks.
• All the source codes and executables related to this lab session should be saved in a folder
named La b9 which should be created within your hom e directory. If not ze r o marks will be
given.
• Before you leave the lab make sure you show your instructor that you have saved your file in
La b0 folder.

Exercises
Exercise F.1 – Write a program to read in two matrices A and B of dimensions 3×4 and 4×3
respectively, and compute and display their product AB (of dimensions 3×3). Assume that the
elements of the matrices are integers. Use functions to while implementing this program.
$ ./a.out
Matrix A:
1 2 4 5
3 3 4 4
4 4 5 5

Matrix B:
1 3 5
7 7 7
3 4 5
3 4 5

Matrix AB:
42 53 64
48 62 76
62 80 98
$
Hint: Define global variables of two-dimensional arrays to store the values of the matrices. Break
down the program in to three main functions to:
• Read in the elements of matrices A and B
• Compute the product of the two matrices
• Display the resultant matrix AB

62 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

 Annex G – Lab 10
File Handling
Remarks
• This lab session will be e va lua t e d and it will carry 4% of your final marks.
• All the source codes and executables related to this lab session should be saved in a folder
named La b1 0 which should be created within your hom e directory. If not zero marks will
be given.
• Before you leave the lab make sure you show your instructor that you have saved your file in
La b1 0 folder.

Exercises
Exercise G.1 – Given a string S of length N from a text file, count the total number of words T, in S.
Use file-handling mechanism of C language to access the files.
Assume words to be delimited by a space, an exclamation mark, a question mark, a comma, a
period, a semicolon and a colon. Further, you may assume that there may be only one word
delimiter at most between any two words in S.
N , the number of characters in S (i.e. length of S), will be at least 1 and at most 100.
The input will be given in the text file pr oble m .in and the output should be written to the text
file pr oble m .out.
An example would be as follows:
problem.in
This is a test.

$ ./a.out
Number of words: 4

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 63

 Annex H - Library Functions

The C language is accomplished by a number of library functions that performs various tasks.
Following is a list of commonly used functions. For a more complete list reader should refer to the
manual (or help) of the version of C compiler that is being used.
H.1 Character Manipulation Functions
Function Header file Prototype description
isalnum ctype.h int isalnum(int character) Determines if the character is alphanumeric. If
true return nonzero value, else 0.
isalpha ctype.h int isalpha(int character) Determines if the character is alphabetic. If true
return nonzero value, else 0.
isascii ctype.h int isascii(int character) Determines if the character is an ASCII
character. If true return nonzero value, else 0.
isdigit ctype.h int isdigit(int character) Determines if the character is a decimal digit. If
true return nonzero value, else 0.
islower ctype.h int islower(int character) Determines if the character is a lowercase. If
true return nonzero value, else 0.
ispunct ctype.h int ispunct(int character) Determines if the character is a punctuation
character. If true return nonzero value, else 0.
isspace ctype.h int isspace(int character) Determines if the character is a whitespace. If
true return nonzero value, else 0.
isupper ctype.h int isupper(int character) Determines if the character is a uppercase. If
true return nonzero value, else 0.
isxdigit ctype.h int isdigit(int character) Determines if the character is a hexadecimal
digit. If true return nonzero value, else 0.
toascii ctype.h int toascii(int character) Convert value of argument to ASCII.
tolower ctype.h int tolower(int character) Convert a character to lowercase.
toupper ctype.h int toupper(int character) Convert a character to uppercase.

H.2 String Manipulation Functions

Function Header file Prototype description
strcmp string.h int strcmp(char *str1, char *str2) Compare 2 strings. Return negative value if str1
< str2, return positive value is str1 > str2 and if
both are identical return 0;
strcmpi string.h int strcmpi(char *str1,char *str2) Compare 2 strings without considering the case.
Return negative value if str1 < str2, return
positive value is str1 > str2 and if both are
identical return 0;
strcpy string.h char *strcpy(char *str1, char Copy str2 to str1.
*str2)
strlen string.h int strlen(char *str) Count the number of characters in a string.

H.3 Mathematical Functions

Function Header file Prototype description
abs stdlib.h int abs(int x) Return absolute value of x.
acos math.h double acos(double radians) Return the arc cosine.

64 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering

asin math.h double asin(double radians) Return the arc sine.
atan math.h double atan(double radians) Return the arc tangent.
ceil math.h double atan(double value) Return a value rounded up to the next higher integer
cos math.h double cos(double radians) Return the cosine.
exp math.h double exp(double x) Raise e to the power x.
fabs math.h double fabs(double x) Return the absolute value of x.
log math.h double log(double x) Return the natural logarithm of x.
log10 math.h double log10(double x) Return the logarithm of x (base 10).
pow math.h double pow(double x, Return x .
y
double y)
sin math.h double sin(double radians) Return the sine.
sqrt math.h double sqrt(double x) Return square root of x.
tan math.h double tan(double radians) Return the tangent.

H.4 I/O Functions

Function Header file Prototype Description
fclose stdio.h int fclose(FILE *fp) Close file pointed by fp.
feof stdio.h int feof(FILE *fp) Determine whether end of file is reached. If so
return none zero else zero is returned.
fgetc stdio.h int fgetc(FILE *fp) Read single character from file.
fgets stdio.h char *fgets(char *buffer, int Read single string from file
sizeofbuffer, FILE *fp)
fopen stdio.h FILE *fopen(char *filename, Open file.
char *accessmode)
fprintf stdio.h int fprintf(FILE *fp, char Send data (arg1, arg2, ..) to file of the given data
*format, arg1, arg2, …) format.
fputc stdio.h Int fputc(char c, FILE *fp) Send character to file.
fputs stdio.h Int fputs(char *string, FILE Send string to file.
*fp)
getc stdio.h int getc(FILE *fp) Enter single character from file.
gets stdio.h char *gets(char *string) Enter string from standard input.
puts stdio.h int *gets(char *string) Send string to standard output.

H.5 Miscellaneous Functions

Function Header file Prototype description
exit stdlib.h void exit(int number) Close all files and buffers and terminate the
program.
kbhit conio.h int kbhit(void) Is a key press. If key is pressed return nonzero
and if not return 0;

© Department of Computer Science and Engineering 65

 Acknowledgements

Some sections in this handout are extracted from:

• Learn C in Three Days by Sam A. Abolrous, BPB Publications
• Programming in ANSI C, Second Edition by E. Balagurusamy, Tata McGraw-Hill

66 © Department of Computer Science and Engineering