C Programming Essentials

Table of contents

1. Copyright
   1. Dedication
2. Preface
   1. Why Another New Book on C?
   2. Relevance of C in Today’s World
   3. Features of This Book
   4. Target Audience for This Book
   5. Acknowledgements
3. 1. Introduction
   1. 1.1. Software
   2. 1.2. Systems Software
      1. 1.2.1. Operating Systems
      2. 1.2.2. Other System Software
   3. 1.3. Application Software
   4. 1.4. Program Development Process
   5. 1.5. Algorithms
   6. 1.6. Analysis of Algorithms
   7. 1.7. Flowcharts
   8. 1.8. Programming Language Classifications
      1. 1.8.1. Assembly Language
      2. 1.8.2. High-level Languages
   9. 1.9. Programming Techniques
      1. 1.9.1. Bottom-up Design
      2. 1.9.2. Top-down Design
      3. 1.9.3. Structured Programming
      4. 1.9.4. Modular Design
   10. 1.10. Structured Programming Constructs
   11. 1.11. History of C Language
   12. 1.12. C Language Overview
   13. Summary
   14. New Terminology Checklist
   15. Exercises
4. 2. The Foundation of C
   1. 2.1. Memory and Storage
   2. 2.2. C Character Set
   3. 2.3. C Keywords
   4. 2.4. Whitespaces in C
   5. 2.5. Data Types
      1. 2.5.1. Basic Data Types in C
         1. char
         2. int
         3. float
         4. double
      2. 2.5.2. Basic Data Types with Type Modifiers
      3. 2.5.3. Restrictions on Use of Type Modifiers
   6. 2.6. C Constants
      1. 2.6.1. More on Primary Constants
         1. Integer constants
         2. Real constants
         3. Character constants
      2. 2.6.2. String Constants
   7. 2.7. Variables
   8. 2.8. A Peek at Functions
   9. 2.9. Useful Identifier-Naming Conventions
   10. 2.10. Type-Declaration Statements
   11. 2.11. Operators
       1. 2.11.1. Arithmetic Operators
       2. 2.11.2. Assignment Operator
       3. 2.11.3. Increment and Decrement Operators
       4. 2.11.4. Modulus Division Operator
       5. 2.11.5. Shorthand Operators
       6. 2.11.6. Relational and Logical Operators
       7. 2.11.7. Bitwise Operators
       8. 2.11.8. Ternary Conditional Operator
       9. 2.11.9. sizeof Operator
   12. 2.12. Operator Precedence
   13. 2.13. Type Conversion in Expressions
   14. 2.14. Type Conversion in Assignments
   15. 2.15. Type Casting
   16. 2.16. Comments
   17. 2.17. Functions Revisited
   18. 2.18. Putting It Together (First C Program)
   19. 2.19. Some Standard Library I/O Functions
       1. 2.19.1. The printf Library Function
       2. 2.19.2. The scanf Library Function
       3. 2.19.3. The getchar Library Function
       4. 2.19.4. The putchar Library Function
   20. 2.20. Scope of Identifiers
   21. 2.21. Storage Classes
       1. 2.21.1. Automatic Storage Class
       2. 2.21.2. Register Storage Class
       3. 2.21.3. Static Storage Class
       4. 2.21.4. External Storage Class
   22. 2.22. Storage Type Qualifiers
       1. 2.22.1. const
       2. 2.22.2. volatile
   23. Summary
   24. New Terminology Checklist
   25. Exercises
5. 3. Control
   1. 3.1. The if Statement
      1. 3.1.1. First Form (if Statement)
      2. 3.1.2. Second Form (if–else Statement)
      3. 3.1.3. Extended Form (Nested if Statements)
   2. 3.2. The switch Statement
   3. 3.3. The for Statement
      1. 3.3.1. The Comma Operator
   4. 3.4. The while Statement
   5. 3.5. The do-while Statement
   6. 3.6. The break and continue Statements
   7. 3.7. The Infamous goto
   8. Summary
   9. New Terminology Checklist
   10. Exercises
6. 4. Functions and Recursion
   1. 4.1. Introduction
   2. 4.2. Function Arguments
   3. 4.3. The return Statement Revisited
   4. 4.4. Call-By-Value
   5. 4.5. Stacks in Function Calls
   6. 4.6. Recursion
   7. 4.7. Towers of Hanoi—Case Study of Recursion
   8. 4.8. Efficiency Considerations for Use of Functions
   9. Summary
   10. New Terminology Checklist
   11. Exercises
7. 5. Arrays
   1. 5.1. Need for Arrays
   2. 5.2. Single-Dimensional Arrays
   3. 5.3. Single-Dimensional Array Initialization
   4. 5.4. Multi-Dimensional Arrays
   5. 5.5. Matrices
      1. 5.5.1. Matrix Addition
      2. 5.5.2. Matrix Multiplication
   6. 5.6. Row-Major and Column-Major Order
   7. 5.7. Single-Dimensional Character Arrays (Strings)
   8. 5.8. Initialization of Strings
   9. 5.9. gets( ) and puts( )
   10. 5.10. sscanf( ) and sprintf( )
   11. 5.11. String Functions
       1. 5.11.1. strlen
       2. 5.11.2. strcmp and strncmp
       3. 5.11.3. strcat and strncat
       4. 5.11.4. strcpy and strncpy
   12. 5.12. Two-Dimensional Character Arrays
   13. Summary
   14. New Terminology Checklist
   15. Exercises
8. 6. Pointers
   1. 6.1. Defining a Pointer
   2. 6.2. Scalars for Pointers
   3. 6.3. Pointer Assignments and Expressions
   4. 6.4. Pointer Comparison
   5. 6.5. Passing Pointers to Functions
   6. 6.6. Pointers and Arrays—Pointer Arithmetic
      1. 6.6.1. Two Instances of Pointer Usage
   7. 6.7. Pointers and Two-Dimensional Arrays
   8. 6.8. Arrays of Pointers
   9. 6.9. Pointers to Pointers
   10. 6.10. Pointers to Functions
   11. 6.11. Command-Line Arguments
   12. 6.12. Other Pointer Issues
   13. Summary
   14. New Terminology Checklist
   15. Exercises
9. 7. User-Defined Data Types
   1. 7.1. Structures
   2. 7.2. Declaring a Structure
   3. 7.3. Defining a Structure Variable
   4. 7.4. Initializing and Referencing Structure Members
   5. 7.5. Nesting of Structures
   6. 7.6. Operations on Structures
   7. 7.7. Pointers to Structures
   8. 7.8. Structures and Functions
   9. 7.9. Arrays of Structures
   10. 7.10. Self-Referential Structures
   11. 7.11. Unions
   12. 7.12. Enumerated Data Types
   13. 7.13. Typedef
   14. 7.14. Bit Fields
   15. Summary
   16. New Terminology Checklist
   17. Exercises
10. 8. File Access and Processing
    1. 8.1. Introduction
    2. 8.2. Opening and Closing a Disc File
    3. 8.3. Character Input/Output
    4. 8.4. Error-Handling
    5. 8.5. Reading and Writing a File in Convenient Chunks
    6. 8.6. File Positioning
    7. Summary
    8. New Terminology Checklist
    9. Exercises
11. 9. The C Preprocessor
    1. 9.1. Macro Substitution
    2. 9.2. File Inclusion
    3. 9.3. Conditional Compilation
    4. 9.4. Additional Directives
    5. 9.5. Predefined Preprocessor Identifiers
    6. 9.6. ANSI Standard Header files
    7. Summary
    8. New Terminology Checklist
    9. Exercises
12. A. Common Errors in C
    1. A.1. Types of Errors
       1. Programming Errors
       2. Compile Errors
       3. Link Error
       4. Execution Error
       5. Logical Errors
    2. A.2. Common Instances of Errors
       1. Remember to start and end comments correctly
       2. The assignment operator ‘=’ is often mistaken for the test operator ‘==’
       3. Errors with missing parenthesis
       4. Use of operators may have side effects
       5. Non-terminated comment
       6. Accidental assignment/accidental booleans
       7. Switch statement
       8. Scanf errors
       9. Size of arrays
       10. Integer division
       11. Loop errors
       12. Prototype
       13. Remember brackets with pointers and increment/decrement operators
       14. Errors caused by using a pointer as argument to a function
       15. Non-initialized pointers
       16. String- and character-constant confusions
       17. Comparing strings with relational operators
       18. Strings without NULL terminator
       19. Not leaving room for the NULL terminator
       20. Input/Output errors
       21. EOF
       22. Leaving characters in the input buffer
       23. Returning local array
13. B. More on Bitwise Operators in C
    1. B.1. What, Why, and When?
    2. B.2. Bitwise Operators in Use
14. C. Some Useful Functions from stdlib.h
15. D. Creating Static Library with gcc
16. E. C99—A Brief Introduction
    1. E.1. C99 Outlines
    2. E.2. Some Features Removed In C99
    3. E.3. New Additions In C99
       1. Keywords
       2. Features
    4. E.4. Updation to C99 Standard
    5. E.5. New Keywords
       1. Inline
       2. Restrict
    6. E.6. New Types
       1. Bool
       2. Complex and _Imaginary
       3. Long Long Int
    7. E.7. New Features In C99
       1. Single-line Comments
       2. Variable Declaration Within for Loop
       3. Variable-sized Arrays
       4. Declaration of Variable Within Code
       5. Compound Literals
       6. Flexible-sized Arrays
       7. Designated Initializer
17. F. Practice Problems
    1. F.1. Section – I
       1. Short Questions
    2. F.2. Section – II
       1. Programming Exercises
    3. Solutions for Programming Exercises