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C4Java 2

This document provides an overview of the C programming language for Java programmers. It discusses the history and differences between C and Java, and covers basic C concepts like keywords, variables, data types, operators, statements and functions.

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C4Java 2

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Anas Melhem

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C for Java Programmers

J. Maassen

Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 History of C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Recommended Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 Dierences between C and Java (overview) . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 Overview of C
2.1 Example program . . .
2.2 Keywords . . . . . . .
2.2.1 Build in types .
2.2.2 Identiers . . .
2.2.3 Variables . . .
2.3 Operators . . . . . . .
2.4 Statements . . . . . .

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3 More about types and functions

3.1 Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3 Enumerations . . . . . . . . . .
3.4 Structures . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5 Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.6 Dening types . . . . . . . . . .
3.7 Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8 Functions . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.8.1 The main function . . .

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4 Creating C programs
4.1 Preprocessor . . . . . .
4.1.1 Dening things .
4.1.2 Testing things . .
4.1.3 Including things
4.2 Header les . . . . . . .
4.3 Libraries . . . . . . . . .
4.3.1 printf . . . . . .
4.4 Getting help . . . . . . .

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4.5
4.6

Compiling . . . . . . .
4.5.1 Makeles . . .
Debugging . . . . . . .
4.6.1 Compiler ags
4.6.2 Assert . . . . .
4.6.3 Debugger . . .

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5 Pointers
5.1 Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2 Creating and using pointers . . . . .
5.3 Pointer types and Arrays . . . . . .
5.4 Pointers and Strings . . . . . . . . .
5.5 More on Strings . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.6 Pointers and Structures . . . . . . .
5.7 Some more on Strings, and Arrays of
5.8 More on Multi-Dimensional Arrays .
5.9 Pointers to Arrays . . . . . . . . . .
5.10 Dynamic Allocation of Memory . . .
5.11 Pointers to Functions . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 1

Introduction
This reader is designed to help Java programmers learn the C programming
language. The focus is on the dierences between C and Java. We assume the
reader has reasonable programming skills.
The practical examples presented in this reader are based on a Unix environment and use the GNU C Compiler (gcc) and related tools. They can be
downloaded from http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc.html.
The text of Chapter 5 is taken from Ted Jensens Tutorial on Pointers and
Arrays in C, which can be downloaded from http://home.netcom.com/
~tjensen/ptr/cpoint.htm.

1.1

History of C

The C programming language was developed in the early 1970s by Brian

Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie. It was based on the B [1] programming
language, which in turn was based on BCPL [3]. The following text is taken
from the paper The Development of the C Language by Dennis M. Ritchie [4].

C came into being in the years 1969-1973, in parallel with the early development of the Unix operating system; the most creative period occurred during
1972. Another spate of changes peaked between 1977 and 1979, when portability
of the Unix system was being demonstrated. In the middle of this second period,
the rst widely available description of the language appeared: The C Programming Language, often called the white book or K&R [Kernighan 78]. Finally,
in the middle 1980s, the language was ocially standardized by the ANSI X3J11
committee, which made further changes. Until the early 1980s, although compilers existed for a variety of machine architectures and operating systems, the
language was almost exclusively associated with Unix; more recently, its use has
spread much more widely, and today it is among the languages most commonly
used throughout the computer industry.

1.2

Recommended Literature

Many book about the C programming languages exists. A few of the more popular ones are:
The C Programming Language, Second Edition
by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988.
ISBN 0-13-110362-8 (paperback), 0-13-110370-9 (hard back).
The C Puzzle Book, Revised edition
by Alan R. Feuer
Addison-Wesley Pub Co., October 1998.
ISBN 0201604612
A Book on C, 4th edition
by Al Kelley, Ira Pohl
Addison-Wesley Pub Co., January 1998.
ISBN 0201183994
There are also a number of books on C specically written for Java programmers, for example:
C for Java Programmers
Tomasz Muldner, Acadia University, Canada
ISBN 0-201-70279-7
Before buying a book, try to nd some reviews rst (e.g., Customer Reviews at
amazon.com) to determine if it ts your needs and is worth the money. You
can also nd a lot of C programming courses, references guides, and FAQs on
the Internet. Here are a few links (in no particular order).
http://www.strath.ac.uk/CC/Courses/NewCcourse/ccourse.html
http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/webmonkeys/book/c_guide/index.html
http://www.cs.ntu.edu.au/sit/resources/cprogram/default.htm
http://www.graylab.ac.uk/doc/tutorials/C/
http://www.1001tutorials.com/c/index.shtml
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq.top.html

1.3

Dierences between C and Java (overview)

Although the syntax of Java and C are very similar, they are very dierent
languages. The following table shows some of the major dierences:

Java
Object-Oriented
Interpreted
Memory Management
References
Exceptions

C
Procedural
Compiled
No Memory Management
Pointers
Error Codes

Object-Oriented vs. Procedural One of the largest dierences between

Java and C is the use of a dierent programming paradigm. Java is an ObjectOriented language. A Java program consists of a collection of objects. These
objects contain the data used in the program, and have methods to perform
operations on this data.
The C language is procedural. A C program consists of a collection of procedures (or functions). The data used by the program can be put into local
variables (inside of a function) or global variables (outside of functions) There
is no notion of objects in C. Just like in Java, there is a special main function,
which is used to start the program.
Interpreted vs. Compiled Java is an interpreted language. Java source
code is transformed to bytecode, which is then loaded by a program called an
interpreter. This program then executes each of the bytecode instructions one
by one, translating them into something the machine understands.
C programs are compiled. Instead being translated to some intermediate format (like bytecode) it is translated directly into machinecode. This machinecode
is directly executed by the processor.
Memory Management vs. No Memory Management In Java, the memory management is done automatically by the system. New objects can be created using the new keyword. When objects are no longer used (i.e., no longer
have any references pointing to them) they are removed by the garbage collector.
In C, the programmer has to do his own memory management. Using the
keyword sizeof and the library calls malloc and free, blocks of memory can be
allocated and freed. This will be explained further in Section 5.10.
References vs. Pointers A reference in Java is a special variable which
references (points-to) an object. Only objects can be referenced. For example,
it is not possible to have a reference to an int.
Pointers in C are in some ways similar to references in Java (they point
to things), but in many ways they are very dierent. Chapter 5 will explain
pointers in more detail.
Exceptions vs. Error Codes Whenever an error occurs in Java, an exception is thrown. C has no exceptions. A function either returns some error code
(when an error is expected), or your program crashes (usually long after the
error has occurred). Section 4.6 describes how you can nd and prevent errors.
5

Chapter 2

Overview of C
2.1

Example program

Lets start out with a simple example program: myprogram.c.

#include <stdio.h>
double value;
/* This is a comment */
int main(void)
{
int local = 0;
value = 0.42;
printf("local = %d value = %f\n", local, value);
return 0;
}
The program starts with the line #include <stdio.h>, which is actually not
C-code, but a preprocessor directive. The preprocessor is a special program
which pre-processes the C program before it is compiled. All statements beginning with # are preprocessor directives. The pre-processor will be explained in
Section 4.1.
The purpose of the #include <stdio.h> statement is similar to an import
in Java. It imports a header le called stdio.h into this program. Header
les contain descriptions (or prototypes) of functions and types which are implemented and dened somewhere else. They usually have the extension .h.
By importing the header le stdio.h, the functions and type described
6

in that le can be used in this le (in this case we are interested in using the
printf function).
The next line double value; denes a global variable. Global variables
are variables which are dened outside the scope of a function. They exist
throughout the lifetime of the program (they are created when the program
starts and destroyed when the program exits). Because they are global, the can
be seen and used in every function in this le.
After the comment /* This is a comment */ (which is similar to a Java
comment) the special startup function int main(void) is declared, which returns an int result, and takes no parameters. In C programs, it is customary
to return an int result from the main function. A result of 0 indicates that
no error has occurred. Any other value indicates an error. When a function is
C takes no parameters, this is indicated by the (void) parameter list.
The int local = 0; line declares a local variable in the main function.
The rules in C for declaring local variables are a little dierent from Java. All
local variables must be declared at the beginning of the function. Declaring
them at a later point will result in a compile time error.
After declaring the local variable, a value is assigned to the global variable in
the statement value = 0.42;. The values of the variables are then printed to
the screen using the printf("local = %d value = %f\n", local, value);
statement. The printf function will be explained in more detail in Section 4.3.1 Finally, a value of 0 is returned (return 0;) to indicate that the
program has nished without any errors.
We can now compile the C program using the following command:
gcc myprogram.c
In this example, the C compiler is called gcc (this stands for GNU C Compiler.
The result is an executable le, called a.out which we can run.
./a.out
Our program then produces the following output:
local = 0 value = 0.420000

2.2

Keywords

There are 32 reserved keywords in the C language:

auto
const
double
oat
int
short
struct
unsigned

break
continue
else
for
long
signed
switch
void

case
default
enum
goto
register
sizeof
typedef
volatile

char
do
extern
if
return
static
union
while

Most of these (like switch and return) are well known from Java and will
not be explained in detail. The ones that are not used in Java will be explained
in the following sections (except for the ones like goto and auto that you will
never need).

2.2.1

Build in types

The C language has the following build in types : char, short, int, long,
float, and long double. There is also an unocial long long type, which
is supported by most compilers. Contrary to the primitive types in Java, most
of the types in C have no xed size. For example: an int in Java is always 32
bits, in C, however, the size of an int is specied as the natural size of a word
on a processor. As a result, an int may be 16 bits on older machines (e.g.,
using the 16 bit Motorola 68000 processor), 32 bits on current machines (e.g.,
using an Intel Pentium) and 64 bits on high-tech machines (e.g., a 64 bit DEC
Alpha processor). An exotic machine, like the Honeywell 6000, even had a 36
bits int.
The following table shows the sizes of Javas primitive types and reasonable
values for Cs types.

type
char
short
int
long
oat
double
boolean
byte
long long
long double

Java
16 bits
16 bits
32 bits
64 bits
32 bits
64 bits
1 bit
8 bits

C
8 bits
16 bits
16, 32 or 64 bits
32 or 64 bits
32 bits
64 bits
(use int)
(use char)
64 bits (unocial)
80, 96 or 128 bits

Some of Javas primitive types do not exist in C. For example, there is no

boolean type in C, normally an int is used instead (but you can use another
type if you like). An value of 0 is interpreted as false, any other value is interpreted as true. As a result, the if, while and for statements expect an
8

int instead of a boolean. For example, the C statement if (1) is equal to

the Java statement if (true). The following code shows some examples. It
also shows some mistakes which are often made in C.
void example(void) {
int y;
int x = 100;
if (x == 4) { }

/* not taken */

if (x) { } /* taken */
while (x) { x--; }
/* MISTAKES */
if (x = 1) { }

while (y) { y--; }

/* repeats 100 times until x is 0 */

/* We forgot an = here ! Now 1 is

* assigned to x, the result is 1,
* so this if is taken !
* This is a SYNTAX error in Java,
* but allowed in C
*/
/* We forgot to initialize y !
* This is a COMPILE error in Java,
* but is allowed in C
*/

}
In Java, all primitive types except boolean are signed (they can have both
positive and negative values). The C language also support unsigned types
(they can only have positive values). The following example shows three ways
of dening an integer.
int i1; /* range -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 */
signed int i2; /* range -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 */
unsigned int i3; /* range 0 to 4,294,967,295 */
Note that a signed int is the same as an int. Floating point values are
always signed.

2.2.2

Identiers

In C, the following rules apply to identiers (the names you give to functions
and variables). An identier,
consists of any uppercase or lowercase characters, numerical digits (0
through 9), and the underscore character ( ).
9

may not begin with a numerical digit or underscore.

is case sensitive.

2.2.3

Variables

We will now briey describe the properties of variables in C. (we have already
seen some examples).
Global Variables When a variable is declared outside of a function it is called
a global variable. Global variables can be seen and used by all the functions
of the le (this is called le scope) and exist throughout the lifetime of the
program. They are created when the program starts and destroyed when the
program exits. There are a number of keywords which modify the behavior of
global variables:
To use a global variable declared in another le, the variable can be redeclared using the extern keyword. For example,
extern int value;
The int value variable will not be created (in this le). The declaration only tells the compiler that there is a int value variable in some
other le.
Constants can be dened by placing the keyword const in front of the
variable declaration.
const int size = 42;
This is similar to the final keyword in Java. Constants in C are usually dened in another way, using the #define preprocessor directive (see
Section 4.1). The const keyword can also be used for local variables.
By placing the static keyword before a global variable, the scope of the
variable (i.e., the places it can be used) is reduced to the le it is declared
in.
static int large;
The variable large can now only be used inside the le it is declared
in, even if it is declared extern in some other le. By using the static
keyword, global variables in dierent les can have the same name without
interfering with each other.
This is very dierent from the static keyword in Java !

Local Variables When a variable is declared in a function it is called a local

variable. Just like in Java, local variables can only be used in the function
they are declared in. Each time the function is called, the local variables of
that function are created. When the function returns, the local variables are
destroyed. Unlike Java, the local variables of a C function, must be declared at
the beginning of the function, before the other statements. There are a number
of keywords which modify the behavior of local variables.
By placing the static keyword before a local variable, the lifetime of the
variable is increased to the lifetime of the program. For example:
void function(void) {
static int count = 0;
count++;
}
The variable count will not be destroyed when the function returns. When
the function is called for the rst time, the count variable is initialized
to 0 (static int count = 0). The function then increments the count
variable to 1 (count++) and returns. The next time the function is called,
the count variable still exists (and has the value 1). It will not be initialized again. The function the now increments the count variable again.
Thus, count count the number of times the function is called. Static local
variables can be seen as global variables which can only be used in a single
function.
Placing the register keyword before a local variable, gives the compiler a
hint that this variable is important for performance and must be accessed
as quickly as possible. The compiler will then try to put this variable into
a hardware register, where it can be accessed quickly (it may not succeed
though!). An example,
void function(void) {
register int important = 0;
volatile int magic = 0;
}
The opposite of register is the volatile keyword. This forces the compiler not to put the variable into a register. This useful for variables which
may be changed unexpectedly (e.g., by some other thread or device). The
volatile keyword can also be used for global variables. You will probably
not need the register and volatile keywords often.

2.3

Operators

We already know most of the C operators from Java. We will therefore only
briey list them.
!exp
exp && exp
exp || exp
exp == exp
exp != exp
exp < exp
exp > exp
exp <= exp
exp >= exp

logical
logical
logical
logical
logical
logical
logical
logical
logical

exp
exp
exp
exp
exp
exp
exp
exp
exp
exp
exp

assignment
addition assignment
subtraction assignment
multiplication assignment
division assignment
modulo assignment
shift right assignment
shift left assignment
bitwise and assignment
bitwise or assignment
bitwise xor assignment

= exp
+= exp
-= exp
*= exp
/= exp
%= exp
>>= exp
<<= exp
&= exp
|= exp
^= exp

exp ? exp : exp

not
and
or
equals
not equals
smaller
greater
smaller or equal
greater or equal

exp++
exp-++exp
--exp
exp +
exp exp *
exp /
exp %

exp
exp
exp
exp
exp

increment
decrement
increment
decrement
addition
subtraction
multiplication
division
modulo

~exp
exp & exp
exp | exp
exp ^ exp

bitwise
bitwise
bitwise
bitwise

not
and
or
xor

exp >> exp

exp << exp

shift right
shift left

conditional operator

Note that the logical operators in Java use boolean values. In C, integer values
are used.

2.4

Statements

The if, while, for and switch statements in C behave in almost the same way
as their Java counterparts. The dierences are:
The expressions in the if, while and for statements do not use boolean
values. Any type will do. A value of 0 is evaluated as false, any non-zero
value is evaluated as true.
The counter variable used in the for statement must be declared in the
beginning of the function, like other local variables.

Chapter 3

More about types and

functions
3.1

Arrays

In Java arrays are a special type of objects. An array variable in Java is a reference to an array object. The memory required for the array object is allocated
at run time, using the new operator. As a result, when the array variable is
declared it is not necessary to specify its size. This can be done when the array
is created. The following statements are Java code.
/* This is Java code */
int [] a1, a2;
a1 = new int[8];
int [] a3 = { 1, 2, 3 };
a2 = a3;
a2[10] = 5; /* throws an exception */
Although arrays in C look similar to the arrays used in Java, the rules are
dierent. In C, you can declare an array like this:
type identifier[size];
/* normal array
*/
type identifier[size1] ... [sizeN]; /* N dimensional array
*/
type identifier[] = { value-list }; /* array with initializer */
The type is the element type of the array, identifier is its name, and size
the number of elements it contains. Note that when an array is declared, the
array brackets must come after the name of the array (this is dierent in Java).
An important dierence between Java an C is that arrays in C are not
references, but just a block of memory with a name attached to it. As with

other variables, the amount of memory needed for an array is determined at

compile time, not at runtime ! As a result, when an array is declared in C, it
size must be must be immediately specied (or the compiler must be able to
calculate it).
After the array is created, its size cannot be changed, because the memory
it uses was reserved at compile time. For the same reason, the array can not
be reassigned to point to a new array. (it is not a reference, just a named block
of memory). When you create an array as a local variable, it will only exist as
long as the function exists. So it is not possible to return an array as a function
result.
It would seem that arrays in C are not as exible as the arrays we now from
Java. Fortunately, there is a (more exible) way to create arrays, by using the
malloc call. This will be described in Chapter 5.
Another dierence between Java and C, is that there is no array bounds
checking in C. Since the array is just a block of memory with a name, it has no
length eld or special methods to check if an array access is within the bounds.
As a result, writing at index 10, 1000 or -5 of an array of length 9 is allowed
in C (although your program will probably crash). The following code shows
some examples of correct an incorrect use of arrays in C.
int a1[5];
/* OK
int a2[] = { 1, 2, 3 };/* OK (size calculated by compiler)

*/
*/

int a5[9];
a5[10]
= 7;
a5[1000] = 9;
a5[-5]
= 5;

/* OOPS, C does not do any array bound

*/
/* checking. It accepts these statements */
/* even though they are clearly WRONG
*/

int a3[];
a3 = a2;
int [] a4 = { 1, 2 }

/* ERROR, needs size

/* ERROR, cannot assign arrays
/* ERROR, wrong notation

*/
*/
*/

int [] function(void) {/* ERROR, can not return an array

int array[5];
return array;
}

void foo(int a[]) {

a[3] = 0;
}

void bar(void) {
int a[5];
foo(a);
}

/* OK, can have an array as a parameter

/* OK, can pass an array as a parameter */

/* because bar() exists longer than foo()*/

3.2

Strings

A String in Java is a special type of object. A String object contains an array

of characters, which contains the actual text of the String. The String objects
also contains methods which allow the programmer to perform operations on
the String.
In C, a string is simply an array of characters. Strings in C are expected
to end with a special character \0 (called nul ). This character is used to nd
the end of the string. As a result, C-strings are always at least one character
longer than the text they contain. Strings can be initialized in a number of ways:
char name0[6];
name0[0] = J;
name0[1] = a;
name0[2] = s;
name0[3] = o;
name0[4] = n;
name0[5] = \0;
char name1[] = { J, a, s, o, n, \0 };
These are normal ways of initializing an array. A string specic form of initialization can also be used.
char name2[6] = "Jason";
char name3[] = "Jason";
char name4[100] = "Not 100 characters long!";
The string "Jason" will be translated by the compiler into special code which
initializes the array. Note that it is not necessary to explicitly write down the
\0 character, this is done for you. As example name3 shows, it is also not
necessary to specify the size of the string if it is immediately initialized. The
compiler will automatically generate a char array which is large enough. It is
also possible to specify that the char array is larger than the string, as example
name4 shows.
Functions to perform operations on strings can be imported using the header
le string.h. Strings will be explained in more detail in Chapter 5.

3.3

Enumerations

Using an enumeration, a series of integer constants can be created. An enumeration is created as follows:
enum identifier {list};
15

The identifier is a name used for the enumeration and is optional. The
list is a list of constant integer variables to be created. The rst variable is
given the value of 0. Each variable is given the value of the previous variable
plus 1. It is also possible to specify your own values. If you have given a name
to your enumeration, it is possible to create a variable of the enumeration type.
enum enumeration-name variable-name1, variable-name2, ...;
Some examples:
/* Creates 3 constants. aap is 0, noot is 1, and mies is 3. */
enum {aap, noot, mies};
/* Creates 5 constants with identifier workdays.
* monday = 42, tuesday = 55, wednesday = 56, etc.
*/
enum workdays {monday = 42, tuesday = 55, wednesday,
thursday, friday };
/* Create a variable of the type workdays */
enum workdays today;
today = tuesday;
today = friday;

3.4

Structures

Structures provide a way to group a number of variables together. It is similar

to a very simple Java object (without any methods). A structure can be dened
as follows:
struct identifier {
type variable_names;
type variable_names;
...
} structure-variables,...;
The identifier is a name used for the structure and is optional. This name can
later be used to create variables of this structure type. The structure contains a
number of variables, each with a type and an variable_name. By specifying a
number of structure-variables it is possible to immediately create variable
of the structure type. If the structure was given name, new variables of the
structure type can be created like this:

struct structure-name variable-name1, variable-name2, ... ;

To access a variable in the structure, you select one of the elds using a record
selector .. Here are some examples:
/* Create a nameless struct and create two variables */
struct {
int val1, val2;
double val3;
} s1, s2;
s1.val1 = 5;
s2.val3 = 4.6;
/* Create a named struct and create the variables afterwards */
struct ComplexNumber {
double real, imag;
};
struct ComplexNumber num;
num.real = 2.5;
num.imag = 0.3;
/* You can even use structs in structs ! */
struct Parameters {
ComplexNumber complex;
double value;
};
struct Parameters param;
param.complex.real = 3.6;
/* ... and create arrays of structs ! */
struct Parameters wow[5];
wow[3].complex.real = 3.6;

3.5

Unions

Unions look very similar to structures. The dierence between them is, that
all variables in a union use the same memory location. When a union variable
is created, enough space is allocated for the largest variable in the union. All
other variables share the same memory. Unions are dened like this:

union identifier {
type variable_names;
type variable_names;
...
} union-variables,...;
union union-name variable-name1, variable-name2, ... ;
Unions are used when a variable can have values of dierent types. Here are
some examples:
/* Create a union of double and int. The size will be 64 bits */
union MyUnion {
int i_value;
double d_value;
};
union MyUnion u;
u.i_value = 6;
u.d_value = 5.4;

/* Overwrites the i_value !! */

/* You can also use a struct in a union, the size will be the
* size of the largest struct, in this case 2 doubles = 128 bits
*/
union Value {
ComplexNumber complex;
double normal;
};
union Value val;
val.normal = 5.7;
val.complex.real = 7.9; /* These two exist at the same time ! */
val.complex.imag = 9.8; /* But overwrite the normal field ! */

3.6

Dening types

Using the typedef keyword, you can dene new names for types. This allows
you to come up with better names for your data structures (and you dont
have to type struct or union every time create a variable). Some examples of
typedef:

/* Define a new type byte, which is actually a char */

typedef char byte;
byte b = 123;
/* Define a new type complex
* (the ComplexNumber struct of the previous section)
*/
typedef struct ComplexNumber complex;
complex var;
var.real = 5.9;
var.imag = 0.1;
/* Define a new type int_or_double
* (the MyUnion union of the previous section)
*/
typedef union MyUnion int_or_double;
int_or_double x;
x.i_value = 5;
x.d_value = 6.4; /* Overwrites the i_value !! */

3.7

Casting

Like Java, the C language supports casting one type to another. For example:
int i;
double d = 6.7;
i = (int) d;
This will cast the double value 6.7 to the int value 5. Casting will come
in handy when working with arrays and function pointers (see Chapter 5).

3.8

Functions

Functions in C are a little dierent from Java methods. A function is declared

in the following way:
type identifier(parameter-list) { function-body }
The type is the type that the function returns (this can not be an array type, see

Section 3.1). The identifier is the name of the function. The parameter-list
is the list of parameters that the function takes separated by commas. If the
function does not have any parameters, then the parameter-list should be
empty (int main()), or use void (int main(void)). When you pass an array
as a parameter to a function, is is automatically converted to a pointer. This
will be explained in Chapter 5.
You can also create a C function with a variable number of parameters. The
parameter list is must then be terminated like this:
int foo(int value, double d, ...) { }
The ... indicates that any number of parameters may follow. To access the
extra parameters, you need functions which can be imported from stdarg.h.
The printf function is an example of a function with a variable number of
arguments (see Section 4.3.1).
If a function is used before it is dened, a prototype must be made, so the
compiler knows what the function looks like. Prototyping normally occurs at
the beginning of the source code or inside of header les (see Section 4.2), and
is done in the following manner:
type identifier(parameter-type-list);
The type and identifier must be exactly the same as the actual function
denition. The names of the parameters do not have to be given here (although
they may be given for the sake of clarity). For example:
int max(int, int); /* prototype */
void example(void)
{
int result = max(5, 8);
}
int max(int one, int two)
{
return (one < two ? two : one);
}
int main(void) {
example();
}
Functions in C are rst class entities. A variables of the type function can
be created, pointers to functions can be passed as parameters, and returned as
a result values. This will be explained in Section 5.11

3.8.1

The main function

Like Java, C programs us a special main function to start the program. The
main function looks like this:
int main(void) { ... }
int main(int argc, char** argv) { ... }
We have already seen the rst form in example programs. The second form
can be used if your program needs command line arguments. It has two parameters. The rst, argc, contains the number of command line arguments passed
to your program. The second, argv, is an array of strings. One string for each
of the arguments. The following program prints it command line arguments:
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
int i;
for (i=0;i<argc;i++) {
printf("%s\n", argv[i]);
}
return 0;
}
/* compile and run */
gcc example.c
./a.out aap noot mies
/* Output*/
a.out
aap
noot
mies
Note that the name of the program, a.out, is passed as the rst command
line argument.

Chapter 4

Creating C programs
We have now shown you some simple examples of programming in the C language. However, to be able to create a real C program, you must know more
about the preprocessor, libraries, the compiler, and how to create header les.

4.1

Preprocessor

The C preprocessor (cpp), is a program which lters your source code before it
is compiled. It is invoked automatically by the compiler so you will not need
to call it yourself. The preprocessor reads all of your C code and reacts to
preprocessor directives. These directives can be recognized because they start
with a # character. It changes your program according to the directives you
use and produces a new copy, which can then be compiled. You can use the
following preprocessor directives:

4.1.1

Dening things

The #define directive can be used to dene constants and macros.

#define identifier replacement-code
#define identifier(parameter-list) (replacement-text)
#undef identifier
After a #define, the preprocessor will replace all occurrences of identifier
with the replacement-code. If you give a (parameter-list) to #define, all
the parameters will be inserted into the replacement-text (this is called a
macro). The #undef can be used to remove a previous #define.

#ifdef identifier
<code>
#else (optional)
<code>
#endif
#ifndef identifier
<code>
#else (optional)
<code>
#endif
The #ifdef, #ifndef, and #else can be used to check if some identifier
is dened. This allows you to conditionally compile certain lines of code. The
following code shows an example:
#define LOOPS 100
/* constant */
#define MAX(A, B) (A < B ? B : A) /* macro */
#define DEBUG2
void function(void) {
int i, j;
#ifdef DEBUG1
/* will only be executed if DEBUG1 is defined */
printf("starting loop\n");
#endif
for (i=0;i<LOOPS;i++) {
#ifdef DEBUG2
/* will only be executed if DEBUG2 is defined */
printf("in loop %d\n", i);
#endif
j = MAX(i, j);
}
}
/* This will be converted to */
void function(void) {
int i, j;
for (i=0;i< 100 ;i++) {
printf("in loop %d\n", i);
j = (i < j ? j : i) ;
}
}

4.1.2

Testing things

The #if, #elif, #else, #endif preprocessing directives can be used to conditionally compile parts of the source code. They have the following syntax:
#if const_exp
#else
#endif
#if const_exp
#elif const_exp
#endif
The value of the const_exp is evaluated in the same way that an if statements evaluates its expression (value 0 is false, other values are true). Note
that this is a dierent behavior than #ifdef. The following shows an example:
#define FIRST 1
#define SECOND 0
void function(void)
{
#if FIRST
printf("first\n");
#endif
#if SECOND
printf("second\n");
#endif
}
/* This will be converted to */
void function(void)
{
printf("first\n");
}

4.1.3

Including things

The #include directives can be used to import a header le into the current le.
#include <filename>
#include "filename"
The header le filename will be copied into the current le at the position
of the #include directive. The <filename> form is used to include system li24

braries (like stdio.h), while the "filename" form is used to include local header
les (when you have a large program split into many smaller les). For example:
#include <stdio.h>
void function(void) {
printf("Hello world\n");
}
/* This will be converted to */
int printf(const char *__format, ...);
int sprintf(char *__s, const char *__format, ...);
... (lots of other function prototypes!)
void function(void) {
printf("Hello world\n");
}
More information about the cpp preprocessor can be found at
http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp.html.

4.2

Header les

We have already shown you some example of how you can use libraries by including header les. It is often useful to use header les when you are writing
a program yourself (e.g., when you are writing a large program you may want
to split it up into multiple smaller .c les). To used the types and functions
of one .c le in another .c le you need to make header les. The following
example shows a simple header le, complex.h.
#ifndef _COMPLEX_HEADER_FILE_
#define _COMPLEX_HEADER_FILE_
struct ComplexNumber {
double real, imag;
};
typedef struct ComplexNumber complex;
complex c_create(double real, double imag);
complex c_add(complex c1, complex c2);
complex c_mult(complex c1, complex c2);
#endif

In this header le, a new complex type is dened, which consists of a struct
of two doubles and can be used to represent a complex number.. The header le
also contains prototypes of the functions c_create, c_add and c_mult which
can be used to create, add and multiply complex numbers.
Because you are not allowed to declare the same types and functions more
than once, a compile time error would occur if a header le is included multiple
times. To prevent this, the header le denes the text _COMPLEX_HEADER_FILE_
the rst time it is included. If it is included again later, the
#ifndef _COMPLEX_HEADER_FILE_ check will fail, and all the text up to the
#endif (the entire header le) is skipped.
/* This is the file complex.c */
#include "complex.h"
complex c_create(double real, double imag)
{
/* create and return a new complex */
}
complex c_add(complex c1, complex c2)
{
/* add two complex and return a new one */
}
complex c_mult(complex c1, complex c2);
{
/* mul two complex and return a new one */
}
The complex.c le contains the actual implementations for the c_create,
c_add and c_mult functions. It includes the complex.h le to nd the denition of the complex type, and the prototypes of the functions. Any other le
that wishes to use the complex type can now include complex.h.

4.3

Libraries

There are a large number of C-libraries available which you can use in your
program. Libraries have a special le format. For example, the library list
would be in the le liblist.a or liblist.so. You must also tell the compiler
that you want to use the library. This is explained in Section 4.5. You can use
the functions in a library by including its header le. The following table list
some of the most frequently used libraries:

stdio.h
stdlib.h
stddef.h
math.h
stdarg.h
string.h
time.h

Input/output functions
Some standard functions and macros
Some standard denitions (types)
Mathematical functions
Functions to use a variable number of parameters
Functions to manipulate strings
Functions related to time

Since we often use the printf function of the stdio.h library, we will describe this function in a little more detail. If you want more information other
functions in the stdio.h library, or any other library, you can use the man pages
described in the next section.

4.3.1

printf

The printf function can be used to print something to the screen. There are a
lot of variations on printf which allows you to print to other destinations (for
example: fprintf prints to a le, sprintf prints to a string). Only printf will
be explained here. The printf function has the following denition:
int printf(const char *format, ...);
The const char *format means that the rst argument of printf must be a
string (called the format string) describing the output. For example:
printf("Hello world\n");

/* Output: Hello World */

int val = 5;
printf("Hello %d world\n", value);

/* Output: Hello 5 World */

char c = a;
printf("val = %d c = %c\n", value, c); /* Output: val = 5 c = a */
char [] world_str = "world";
printf("Hello %s\n", world+str);

/* Output: Hello World */

As you can see, we can directly put any text we want to print into the format string. To print a the value of a parameter, we must specify where we want
to put it in the string, and what the type of the variable should be, using the %
notation. Below are some of the types the printf function can handle.

%d
%u
%x
%c
%f
%s
%%

signed int
unsigned int
hexadecimal unsigned int
character
double and oat
string
to print a %

The next section will describe how you can nd more information about printf
and other functions.

4.4

Getting help

If you are using a Unix system, you can get more information on C libraries and
functions by using the man command. The man command can be used like this:
man -S section subject
The -S section part is optional (but often needed). Information on C libraries and functions can be found in section 3. The subject is the name of
the library or function you want information on. For example:
man -S 3 printf
/* Output */
PRINTF(3)

Linux Programmers Manual

PRINTF(3)

NAME
printf, fprintf, sprintf, snprintf, vprintf, vfprintf,
vsprintf, vsnprintf - formatted output conversion
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
int printf(const char *format, ...);
int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...);
int sprintf(char *str, const char *format, ...);
etc.
You can also visit http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/webmonkeys/book/c guide/ for
a description of some of the libraries in C.

4.5

Compiling

In Section 2.1 we have already shown you an example of how to compile a le:
gcc myprogram.c
The result was an executable le, called a.out which we could run. If we
look at compiling a C program in more detail, we see that it actually consists
of three steps:
1. Preprocessing. The .c le is preprocessed, which copies the header les
into the .c le, handles #define and removes comments.
2. Compiling. The result of the preprocessor is compiled and produces a binary le called myprogram.o. This binary le contains the actual machine
code of your program.
3. Linking. All the binary les of your program (and libraries they use) are
linked together. The linker program combines all the binary les into one
executable. To do this, it has to resolve the extern variables and function
prototypes (For example, it links the call to printf in our example to the
real printf function in took from the library).
Compiling a program in the way we showed in Section 2.1 only works if a
program consists of a single le. If your program is split up into multiple les,
each of these le must be compiled separately, and linked together afterwards.
gcc
gcc
gcc
gcc

-c file1.c
-c file2.c
-c file3.c
file1.o file2.o file3.o -o myprogram

The gcc -c command tells the compiler to compile the le, but to skip the link
phase (which must wait until we have compiled all the les). The compiler will
then produce a .o le for each of the .c les it compiles. When all the les
are compiled, we link them together (using the last command). The compiler
sees that all input les are .o les and no compiling is necessary. It than links
the les together into the executable called myprogram.
The following table shows a few of the options the compiler supports:

-c
-I<dir>
-l<lib>
-L<dir>
-w
-Wall
-O
-O2
-g
-p or -pg

The -I<directory-name> option can be used to add directories to the search

path for the include les. For example:
gcc -I/home/jason/includes -I./includes file.c
This command adds the directories /home/jason/includes and ./includes
to the search path.
Sometimes the compiler needs to be told to include a library when linking
the program. For example:
#include <math.h>
int main(void)
{
double d = cos(1.2);
return 0;
}
/* compile this program */
gcc example.c
/* output */
/tmp/ccBtnHGs.o: In function main:
/tmp/ccBtnHGs.o(.text+0x16): undefined reference to cos
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
When we compile the program example.c, the compiler gives the error undened reference to cos. What is happening here is that the compiler tries to
nd the function cos during linking, but can not nd it in any of the .o les
it knows. This function is part of the library libm.a. To include this library in
the linking you must use the -lm command:
gcc example.c -lm
The program is now compiled and linked successfully. Note that the lib and

.a part of the library name are not specied (only the m part matters). Most
of the functions you will need are in the library libc.a. This library is always
linked with your program automatically.
More information about the command line options of gcc can be found at
http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc 3.html

4.5.1

Makeles

When you are writing large multi-le programs, compiling can become quite
complicated. Just imagine having to compile hundreds of .c les by hand,
and trying to keep track of the dependencies between those les. The make
utility can help you manage these large programs. To use make the programmer has to write a so called Makefile. This Makefile describes which les are
part of the program, the dependencies between them, what complier to use, etc.
The following text shows an example Makefile.
# This is a comment !
#
# myprogram is built from file1.c file2.c and file3.c
CC = gcc
CFLAGS = -Wall
OBJS = file1.o file2.o file3.o
myprogram: $(OBJS)
$(CC) -o myprogram $(OBJS)
# ^^^ This space must be a TAB!!.
The Makefile starts by dening a number of variables:
CC denes the name of the compiler (gcc).
CFLAGS denes what ags the compiler should use (-Wall).
OBJS denes les are part of the program (file1.o file2.o file3.o).
The next line of the Makefile, myprogram: $(OBJS), gives a dependency rule.
It says: to make myprogram, you must rst make OBJS. The make utility will
then look at OBJS, see that it consists of three .o les, and nd the .c les
it needs to compile to generate these .o les.
After the .o les are generated (using the compiler described in CC), make
analyses the next line in the Makefile. This line, $(CC) -o myprogram $(OBJS)
tells make that is should call the compiler again, passing it the parameters
-o myprogram $(OBJS). This command will link all the .o les into a program called myprogram (note that this line starts with a tab). We can now use
this Makefile to compile our program:

make myprogram
/* Output */
gcc -Wall -c file1.c
gcc -Wall -c file2.c
gcc -Wall -c file3.c
gcc -o myprogram file1.o file2.o file3.o
The advantage of using make becomes clear if we type make myprogram again:
make myprogram
/* Output */
make: myprogram is up to date.
The make program sees that myprogram already exists and that there is no reason to compile it again. However, if we change file2.c and type make myprogram:
make myprogram
/* Output */
gcc -Wall -c file2.c
gcc -o myprogram file1.o file2.o file3.o
The make program sees that file2.c has changed. Therefore, it rst recompiles
this le and the links a new myprogram.
To nd more information about make, have a look at the man page (man make)
or go to http://www.gnu.org/manual/make/html mono/make.html.

4.6

Debugging

Since the C language is less strict that Java, it is easier to make mistakes. In
this section, we will briey look at ways to prevent and nd errors.

4.6.1

Compiler ags

The best way of handling errors is to prevent them. The compiler can help
by giving you warnings when sees suspicious code. By turning on the compiler
options -Wall, -W, -Wundef, -Wunreachable-code, -Wshadow and -pedantic,
many frequently made errors can be avoided. A description of these and other
compiler options can be found at http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/
gcc 3.html#SEC11.

4.6.2

Assert

The assert library lets you insert checks into your program so it crashes in a
controlled way. To use assert, include the le assert.h.
void assert (int expression);
This assert function prints an error message to standard output and terminates the program if expression is false (i.e., is equal to zero). This only happens
when the macro NDEBUG is undened.
#include <assert.h>
int main(void)
{
double d = 0.0;
assert(d != 0.0);
d = 100.0/d;
}
/* Output */
a.out: example.c:7: main: Assertion d != 0.0 failed.
Aborted (core dumped)

4.6.3

Debugger

If your program crashes, it produces a core dump. A core dump is a le (called

core), which contains a copy of all the memory your program was using when
it crashed. Using the debugger program gdb, you can inspect your program and
the core dump to see what went wrong. Take the following example:
int main(void)
{
int a, b, c;
a = 0;
b = 0;
c = a / b; /* CRASH */
}

/* compile this program with -g to generate debugging info */

gcc -g x.c
/* run it */
./a.out
Floating point exception (core dumped)
/* run the debugger like this */
gdb a.out core
/* Output */
Copyright 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
...
Program terminated with signal 8, Floating point exception.
Reading symbols from /lib/libc.so.6...done.
Reading symbols from /lib/ld-linux.so.2...done.
#0 0x80483ce in main () at example.c:7
7
c = a / b;
(gdb)
The debugger now tells you that the error occurred at line 7 of example.c
(which contains c = a / b;) and waits for instructions. Note that we compiled the program using the option -g to produce extra information for the
debugger. More information about gdb can be found by typing man gdb or at
http://www.gnu.org/manual/gdb/html chapter/gdb toc.html.

Chapter 5

Pointers
Pointers in C are somewhat similar to references in Java. However, there are a
lot of dierences which make pointers both more powerful and more dangerous
to use that references. To understand how a pointer works, we will st look at
variables in a little more detail.
The text in this Chapter was taken from ed Jensens Tutorial on Pointers and
Arrays in C, which can be found at http://home.netcom.com/~tjensen/ptr/
cpoint.htm.

5.1

Variables

A variable in a program is something with a name, the value of which can vary.
The way the compiler handles variables, is that it assigns a specic block of
memory within the computer to hold the value of that variable. The size of
that block depends on the range over which the variable is allowed to vary (i.e.,
the type of the variable) For example, an integer variable is 4 bytes, and that a
double variable is 8 bytes (note that this depends on the processor architecture
and the compiler used). When we declare a variable we inform the compiler of
two things, the name of the variable and the type of the variable. For example,
we declare a variable of type integer with the name k by writing:
int k;
On seeing the int part of this statement the compiler sets aside 4 bytes of
memory to hold the value of the integer. It also sets up a symbol table. In that
table it adds the symbol k and the relative address (position) in memory where
those 4 bytes were set aside. Thus, later if we write:
k = 2;
we expect that, at run time when this statement is executed, the value 2 will

be placed in that memory location reserved for the storage of the value of k. In
C we refer to a variable such as the integer k as an object (be careful that
object means something dierent that Object in Java!).
In a sense there are two values associated with the object k. One is the
value of the integer stored there (2 in the above example) and the location of k in
the memory (i.e., the address of k). Some texts refer to these two values as the
rvalue (right value, pronounced are value) and lvalue (left value, pronounced
el value) respectively.
In some languages, the lvalue is the value permitted on the left side of
the assignment operator = (i.e., the address where the result of evaluation of
the right side ends up). The rvalue is that which is on the right side of the
assignment statement, the 2 above. Rvalues cannot be used on the left side of
the assignment statement. Thus: 2 = k; is illegal.
Actually, the above denition of lvalue is somewhat modied for C. According to K&R II (page 197) [2]: An object is a named region of storage;
an lvalue is an expression referring to an object. However, at this point, the
denition originally cited above is sucient. As we become more familiar with
pointers we will go into more detail on this.
Now consider:
int j, k;
k = 2;
j = 7;
k = j;

<-- line 1, copy 7 TO the memory position called j

<-- line 2, copy value FROM the memory position
called j TO the to the memory position
called k

In the above, the compiler interprets the j in line 1 as the address of the variable
j (its lvalue) and creates code to copy the value 7 to that address. In line 2,
however, the j is interpreted as its rvalue (since it is on the right hand side of
the assignment operator =). That is, here the j refers to the value stored at
the memory location set aside for j, in this case 7. So, the 7 is copied to the
address designated by the lvalue of k.
In all of these examples, we are using 4 byte integers so all copying of rvalues
from one storage location to the other is done by copying 4 bytes. Had we been
using doubles, we would be copying 8 bytes.
The C language has a special keyword sizeof, which allows the programmer
to retrieve the size of a type (i.e., the number of bytes required to store a value
of that type). This keyword can be used like this:
struct example {
int value1, value2, value3;
};
sizeof(int);
/* result = 4 */
sizeof(struct example); /* result = 12 */
36

5.2

Creating and using pointers

Now, lets say that we have a reason for wanting a variable designed to hold
an address (or lvalue). The size required to hold such a value depends on
the system. On old computers with 64K of memory total, the address of any
point in memory can be contained in 2 bytes. Computers with more memory
would require more bytes to hold an address. Some computers, such as the
PC might require special handling to hold a segment and oset under certain
circumstances. The actual size required is not too important so long as we have
a way of informing the compiler that what we want to store is an address.
Such a variable is called a pointer variable (for reasons which hopefully will
become clearer a little later). In C when we dene a pointer variable we do so
by preceding its name with an asterisk (*). In C we also give our pointer a
type which refers to the type of data stored at the address we will be storing in
our pointer. For example, consider the variable declaration:
int *ptr;
ptr is the name of our variable (just as k was the name of our integer variable). The * informs the compiler that we want a pointer variable (i.e., to
set aside however many bytes is required to store an address in memory). The
int says that we intend to use our pointer variable to store the address of an
integer. Such a pointer is said to point to an integer.
If we dont give ptr a value at its declaration, it is best to initialized it to a
special null value (or null pointer. The actual bit pattern used for a null pointer
depends on the specic system on which the code is developed, and may or may
not be zero. Therefore, to make the source code compatible between various
compilers on various systems, a macro is used to represent a null pointer. That
macro goes under the name NULL. Thus, setting the value of a pointer using the
NULL macro, as with an assignment statement such as ptr = NULL, guarantees
that the pointer has become a null pointer. Similarly, one can test for a null
pointer using if (ptr == NULL).
But, back to using our new variable ptr. Suppose now that we want to store
in ptr the address of our integer variable k. To do this we use the unary &
operator and write:
ptr = &k;
What the & operator does is retrieve the address (lvalue) of k, even though k
is on the right hand side of the assignment operator =, and copies that to the
contents of our pointer ptr. Now, ptr is said to point to k. Bear with us now,
there is only one more operator we need to discuss.

The dereferencing operator is the asterisk and it is used as follows:

*ptr = 7;
will copy 7 to the address pointed to by ptr. Thus if ptr points to (contains the address of) k, the above statement will set the value of k to 7. That
is, when we use the * this way we are referring to the value of that which ptr
is pointing to, not the value of the pointer itself. Similarly, we could write:
printf("%d\n",*ptr);
to print to the screen the integer value stored at the address pointed to by
ptr. One way to see how all this stu ts together would be to run the following
program and then review the code and the output carefully.
/* Program 1.1 from PTRTUT10.TXT

6/10/97 */

#include <stdio.h>
int j, k;
int *ptr;
int main(void)
{
j = 1;
k = 2;
ptr = &k;
printf("j has value %d and is stored at %p\n", j, &j);
printf("k has value %d and is stored at %p\n", k, &k);
printf("ptr has value %p and is stored at %p\n", ptr, &ptr);
printf("value of integer pointed to by ptr is %d\n", *ptr);
return 0;
}
/* Output */
j has value 1 and is stored
k has value 2 and is stored
ptr has value 0x8049734 and
value of integer pointed to

at
at
is
by

0x804972c
0x8049734
stored at 0x8049730
ptr is 2

In C, like in Java, functions always receive a copy of their parameters. Take the
following example:

#include <stdio.h>
/* WRONG */
void swap(int a, int b) {
int temp = a;
a = b;
b = temp;
}
int main(void)
{
int j = 2;
int k = 4;
printf("j has value %d, k has value %d\n", j, k);
swap(j, k);
printf("j has value %d, k has value %d\n", j, k);
}
/* Output */
j has value 2, k has value 4
j has value 2, k has value 4

As you can see, the implementation of the swap function is not correct. When
swap is invoked by main, the local variables j and k are passed as its parameters. Unfortunately, swap only receives copies of their values as parameters.
Therefore, as the output shows, swap only changes the values of the parameters
itself. The values of j and k remain unchanged.
This problem can be solved by creating a swap function that receives pointers to the variables it must swap as parameters (instead of receiving the values
of the variables). For example:
#include <stdio.h>
/* OK */
void swap(int *a, int *b) {
int temp = *a;
*a = *b;
*b = temp;
}

int main(void)
{
int j = 2;
int k = 4;
printf("j has value %d, k has value %d\n", j, k);
swap(&j, &k);
printf("j has value %d, k has value %d\n", j, k);
return 0;
}
/* Output */
j has value 2, k has value 4
j has value 4, k has value 2

In this example the swap function receives the memory locations (i.e., pointers) of the variables it must swap as parameters. Using these pointers, swap
can retrieve the values stored in the variables (using the * operator) and swap
them. Note that the swap function now expects pointers to int variables as
parameters, instead of actual int values. Therefore, main uses the & operator
to pass their memory locations instead of their values.

5.3

Pointer types and Arrays

Okay, lets move on. Let us consider why we need to specify the type of variable
that a pointer points to, as in:
int *ptr;
One reason for doing this is so that later, once ptr points to something, if
we write:
*ptr = 2;
the compiler will know how many bytes to copy into that memory location
pointed to by ptr. If ptr was declared as pointing to an integer, 4 bytes would
be copied, if a double, 8 bytes would be copied. Similarly for oats and chars
the appropriate number will be copied. But, dening the type that the pointer
points to permits a number of other interesting ways a compiler can interpret
code. For example, lets say that we have a block in memory consisting if ten
integers in a row. That is, 40 bytes of memory are set aside to hold 10 integers
(Section 5.10 will explain how this can be done).
Now, lets say we point our integer pointer ptr at the rst of these integers.
Furthermore lets say that integer is located at memory location 100 (decimal).
What happens when we write:

ptr + 1;
Because the compiler knows this is a pointer (i.e., a memory address) and
that it points to an integer (its current address, 100, is the address of an integer), it adds 4 to ptr instead of 1, so the pointer points to the next integer, at
memory location 104. Similarly, were the ptr declared as a pointer to a double,
it would add 8. The same goes for other data types such as oats, chars, or
even user dened data types such as structures. This is obviously not the same
kind of addition that we normally think of. In C it is referred to as addition
using pointer arithmetic, a term which we will come back to later.
Similarly, since ptr++ is both equivalent to ptr + 1, the unary ++ operator
increments the address stored in the pointer by the size of the type pointed to
(i.e., sizeof(type pointed to)).
Since a block of 10 integers located contiguously in memory is, by denition,
an array of integers, this brings up an interesting relationship between arrays
and pointers.
Consider the following:
int my_array[] = {1,23,17,4,-5,100};
Here we have an array containing 6 integers. We refer to each of these integers by means of a subscript to my array (i.e., using my array[0] through
my array[5]). But, we could alternatively access them via a pointer as follows:
int *ptr;
ptr = &my_array[0];

/* point our pointer at the first

integer in our array */

And then we could print out our array either using the array notation or by
dereferencing our pointer. The following code illustrates this:

/* Program 2.1 from PTRTUT10.HTM

6/13/97 */

#include <stdio.h>
int my_array[] = {1,23,17,4,-5,100};
int *ptr;
int main(void)
{
int i;
/* point our pointer to the first element of the array */
ptr = &my_array[0];
for (i = 0; i < 6; i++)
{
printf("my_array[%d] = %d
", i, my_array[i]);
printf("ptr + %d = %d\n", i, *(ptr + i));
}
return 0;

/*<-- A */
/*<-- B */

}
/* Output */
my_array[0]
my_array[1]
my_array[2]
my_array[3]
my_array[4]
my_array[5]

=
=
=
=
=
=

1
ptr + 0 = 1
23
ptr + 1 = 23
17
ptr + 2 = 17
4
ptr + 3 = 4
-5
ptr + 4 = -5
100
ptr + 5 = 100

When we compile and run the above program and we see that lines A and
B print out the same values. Also observe how we dereferenced our pointer in
line B (i.e., we rst added i to it and then dereferenced the new pointer). We
could also have written:
printf("ptr + %d = %d\n", i, *ptr++);
In C, the standard states that wherever we might use &var name[0] we can
replace that with var name, thus in our code where we wrote:
ptr = &my_array[0];
we can write:

ptr = my_array;
to achieve the same result.
This leads many texts to state that the name of an array is a pointer. I
prefer to think the name of the array is the address of rst element in the array. Many beginners (including myself when I was learning) have a tendency
to become confused by thinking of it as a pointer. For example, while we can
write
ptr = my_array;
we cannot write
my_array = ptr;
The reason is that while ptr is a variable, my array is a constant. That is,
the location at which the rst element of my array will be stored cannot be
changed once my array[] has been declared.
Modify the example program above by changing
ptr = &my_array[0];
to
ptr = my_array;
and run it again to verify the results are identical.

5.4

Pointers and Strings

The study of strings is useful to further tie in the relationship between pointers
and arrays. It also makes it easy to illustrate how some of the standard C string
functions can be implemented. Finally it illustrates how and when pointers can
and should be passed to functions.
In C, strings are arrays of characters. This is not necessarily true in other
languages. In Java, BASIC, Pascal, Fortran and various other languages, a
string has its own data type. But in C it does not. In C a string is an array of
characters terminated with a binary zero character (written as \0). To start
o our discussion we will write some code which you would probably never write
in an actual program. Consider, for example:

char my_string[40];
my_string[0]
my_string[1]
my_string[2]
my_string[3]

=
=
=
=

T;
e;
d:
\0;

While one would never build a string like this, the end result is a string in
that it is an array of characters terminated with a nul character. By denition,
in C, a string is an array of characters terminated with the nul character. Be
aware that nul is not the same as NULL. The nul refers to a zero as dened
by the escape sequence \0. That is it occupies one byte of memory. NULL, on
the other hand, is the name of the macro used to initialize null pointers. NULL
is #dened in a header le in your C compiler, nul may not be #dened at all.
Since writing the above code would be very time consuming, C permits two
alternate ways of achieving the same thing. First, one might write:
char my_string[40] = {T, e, d, \0,};
But this also takes more typing than is convenient. So, C permits:
char my_string[40] = "Ted";
When the double quotes are used, instead of the single quotes as was done
in the previous examples, the nul character ( \0 ) is automatically appended
to the end of the string.
In all of the above cases, the same thing happens. The compiler sets aside
an contiguous block of memory 40 bytes long to hold characters and initialized
it such that the rst 4 characters are Ted\0.
Now, consider the following program:

/* Program 3.1 from PTRTUT10.HTM

6/13/97 */

#include <stdio.h>
char strA[80] = "A string to be used for demonstration purposes";
char strB[80];
int main(void)
{
char *pA;
char *pB;

/* a pointer to type character */

/* another pointer to type character */

puts(strA);

/* show string A */

pA = strA;
puts(pA);

/* point pA at string A */
/* show what pA is pointing to */

pB = strB;
/* point pB at string B */
putchar(\n);
/* move down one line on the screen */
while(*pA != \0)
{
*pB++ = *pA++;
}
*pB = \0;
puts(strB);
return 0;

/* line A (see text) */

/* line B (see text) */
/* line C (see text) */
/* show strB on screen */

}
In the above we start out by dening two character arrays of 80 characters
each. Since these are globally dened, they are initialized to all \0s rst.
Then, strA has the rst 42 characters initialized to the string in quotes.
Now, moving into the code, we declare two character pointers and show the
string on the screen. We then point the pointer pA at strA. That is, by means
of the assignment statement we copy the address of strA[0] into our variable pA.
We now use the puts() function (from stdio.h) to show that which is pointed
to by pA on the screen. Consider here that the function prototype for puts() is:
int puts(const char *s);
For the moment, ignore the const. The parameter passed to puts() is a pointer to
(or the address of) the rst character of a string. Thus when we write puts(strA)
we are passing the address of strA[0]. Similarly, when we write puts(pA); we
are passing the same address, since we have set pA = strA;
Given that, follow the code down to the while() statement on line A. Line A
states: While the character pointed to by pA (i.e., *pA) is not a nul character
45

(i.e., the terminating \0), execute line B. Line B states: copy the character
pointed to by pA to the space pointed to by pB. Then, increment pA so it points
to the next character and increment pB so it points to the next space.
When we have copied the last character, pA now points to the terminating
nul character and the loop ends. However, we have not copied the nul character.
And, by denition a string in C must be nul terminated. So, we add the nul
character with line C.
Getting back to the prototype for puts() for a moment, the const used
as a parameter modier informs the user that the function will not modify the
string pointed to by s (i.e., it will treat that string as a constant).
Of course, what the above program illustrates is a simple way of copying
a string. After playing with the above until you have a good understanding
of what is happening, we can proceed to creating our own replacement for the
standard strcpy() function that comes with C. It might look like:
char *my_strcpy(char *destination, char *source)
{
char *p = destination;
while (*source != \0)
{
*p++ = *source++;
}
*p = \0;
return destination;
}
In this case, I have followed the practice used in the standard routine of returning a pointer to the destination.
Again, the function is designed to accept the values of two character pointers
(i.e., addresses), and thus in the previous program we could write:
int main(void)
{
my_strcpy(strB, strA);
puts(strB);
}
I have deviated slightly from the form used in standard C which would have the
prototype:
char *my_strcpy(char *destination, const char *source);
Here the const modier is used to assure the user that the function will not
modify the contents pointed to by the source pointer (this will be checked by
the compiler).
Recall again that a string is nothing more than an array of characters, with
46

the last character being a \0. What we have done above is deal with copying
an array. It happens to be an array of characters but the technique could be
applied to an array of integers, doubles, etc. In those cases, however, we would
not be dealing with strings and hence the end of the array would not be marked
with a special value like the nul character. We could implement a version that
relied on a special value to identify the end. For example, we could copy an
array of positive integers by marking the end with a negative integer. On the
other hand, it is more usual that when we write a function to copy an array of
items other than strings we pass the function the number of items to be copied
as well as the address of the array, e.g. something like the following prototype
might indicate:
void int_copy(int *ptrA, int *ptrB, int len);
where len is the number of integers to be copied. You might want to play with
this idea and create an array of integers and see if you can write the function
int copy() and make it work.
This permits using functions to manipulate large arrays. For example, if
we have an array of 5000 integers that we want to manipulate with a function,
we need only pass to that function the address of the array (and any auxiliary
information such as len above). The array itself does not get passed, only its
address is sent.
This is dierent from passing, say an integer, to a function. When we pass an
integer we make a copy of the integer (i.e., pass a copy of its value). Within the
function any manipulation of the value passed can in no way eect the original
integer. But, with arrays and pointers we can pass the address of a variable,
and manipulate the value that variable directly.

5.5

Pointers and Structures

As explained in Section 3.4, we can declare the form of a block of data containing dierent data types by means of a structure declaration. For example, a
personnel le might contain structures which look something like:
struct tag {
char lname[20];
char fname[20];
int age;
float rate;
};

/*
/*
/*
/*

last name */
first name */
age */
e.g. 12.75 per hour */

Lets say we have a bunch of these structures in a disk le and we want to

read each one out and print out the rst and last name of each one so that we
can have a list of the people in our les. The remaining information will not be
printed out. We will want to do this printing with a function call and pass to

that function a pointer to the structure at hand. For demonstration purposes

I will use only one structure for now. But realize the goal is the writing of the
function, not the reading of the le which, presumably, we know how to do.
For review, recall that we can access structure members with the dot operator as in:
/* Program 5.1 from PTRTUT10.HTM
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
struct tag {
char lname[20];
char fname[20];
int age;
float rate;
};
struct tag my_struct;

/*
/*
/*
/*

6/13/97 */

last name */
first name */
age */
e.g. 12.75 per hour */

/* declare the structure my_struct */

int main(void)
{
strcpy(my_struct.lname,"Jensen");
strcpy(my_struct.fname,"Ted");
printf("%s ", my_struct.fname);
printf("%s\n", my_struct.lname);
return 0;
}
If we have a large number of employees, what we want to do is manipulate
the data in these structures by means of functions. For example we might want
a function print out the name of the employee listed in any structure passed to
it.
Consider the case described. We want a function that will accept as a parameter a pointer to a structure and from within that function we want to access
members of the structure. For example we want to print out the name of the
employee in our example structure.
Okay, so we know that our pointer is going to point to a structure declared
using struct tag. We declare such a pointer with the declaration:
struct tag *st_ptr;
and we point it to our example structure with:
st_ptr = &my_struct;
Now, we can access a given member by de-referencing the pointer. But, how
50

do we de-reference the pointer to a structure? Well, consider the fact that we

might want to use the pointer to set the age of the employee. We would write:
(*st_ptr).age = 63;
Look at this carefully. It says, replace that within the parenthesis with that
which st ptr points to, which is the structure my struct. Thus, this breaks
down to the same as my struct.age. However, this is a fairly often used expression and the designers of C have created an alternate syntax with the same
meaning which is:
st_ptr->age = 63;
We can now add our function to program:
/* Program 5.2 from PTRTUT10.HTM
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

6/13/97 */

struct tag{
char lname[20];
char fname[20];
int age;
float rate;
};

/*
/*
/*
/*
/*

the structure type */

last name */
first name */
age */
e.g. 12.75 per hour */

struct tag my_struct;

/* define the structure */

The show name function receives a pointer to our struct, and uses the ->
operator to access the elds of that struct.

5.7

Some more on Strings, and Arrays of Strings

Lets go back to strings. In the following all assignments are to be understood

as being global (i.e., made outside of any function).
We pointed out in an earlier section that we could write:
char my_string[40] = "Ted";
which would allocate space for a 40 byte array and put the string in the rst 4
bytes (three for the characters in the quotes and a 4th to handle the terminating
\0).
Actually, if all we wanted to do was store the name Ted we could write:
char my_name[] = "Ted";
and the compiler would count the characters, leave room for the nul character and store the total of the four characters in memory the location of which
would be returned by the array name, in this case my name.
In some code, instead of the above, you might see:
char *my_name = "Ted";
which is an alternate approach. There is a dierence between these two. In
the array notation, my name is just the name of a block of memory (containing the string Ted). In other words, it is short for &myname[0] which is the
address of the rst element of the array, and my name is a constant (i.e., it can
not be changed). Only the content of the my name array can be changed during
run time.
In the pointer notation my name is a variable, which points to a block of
memory containing the string Ted. As a result, both my name and the content
of the array referenced by my name can be changed during run time.
As to which is the better method, that depends on what you are going to
do within the rest of the program.
Lets now go one step further and consider what happens if each of these declarations are done within a function as opposed to globally outside the bounds
of any function.

void my_function_A(char *ptr)

{
char a[] = "ABCDE"
...
}

void my_function_B(char *ptr)

{
char *cp = "FGHIJ"
...
}
In the case of my function A, the content, or value(s), of the array a[] is considered to be the data. The array is said to be initialized to the values ABCDE.
In the case of my function B, the value of the pointer cp is considered to be the
data. The pointer has been initialized to point to the string FGHIJ. In both
my function A and my function B the denitions are local variables and thus
the string ABCDE is stored on the stack, as is the value of the pointer cp. The
string FGHIJ can be stored anywhere. On my system it gets stored in the data
segment.
As long as we are discussing the relationship/dierences between pointers
and arrays, lets move on to multi-dimensional arrays. Consider, for example
the array:
char multi[5][10];
Just what does this mean? Lets take multi[5] to be the name of an
array. Then prepending the char and appending the [10] we have an array of 10
characters. But, the name multi[5] is in itself an array indicating that there
are 5 elements each being an array of 10 characters. Hence we have an array of
5 arrays of 10 characters each.
Assume we have lled this two dimensional array with data of some kind. In
memory, it might look as if it had been formed by initializing 5 separate arrays
using something like:
multi[0]
multi[1]
multi[2]
multi[3]
multi[4]

=
=
=
=
=

{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}
{a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j}
{A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J}
{9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0}
{J,I,H,G,F,E,D,C,B,A}

At the same time, individual elements might be addressable using syntax such
as:

multi[0][3] = 3
multi[1][7] = h
multi[4][0] = J
Since arrays are contiguous in memory, our actual memory block for the above
should look like:
0123456789abcdefghijABCDEFGHIJ9876543210JIHGFEDCBA
^
|
+----- starting at the address &multi[0][0]
Note that I did not write multi[0] = 0123456789. Had I done so a terminating \0 would have been implied since whenever double quotes are used a
\0 character is appended to the characters contained within those quotes. Had
that been the case I would have had to set aside room for 11 characters per row
instead of 10.
My goal in the above is to illustrate how memory is laid out for 2 dimensional
arrays. That is, this is a 2 dimensional array of characters, NOT an array of
strings.
Now, the compiler knows how many columns are present in the array so it
can interpret multi + 1 as the address of the a in the 2nd row above. That
is, it adds 10, the number of columns, to get this location. If we were dealing
with integers and an array with the same dimension the compiler would add
10*sizeof(int) which, on my machine, would be 20. Thus, the address of the 9
in the 4th row above would be &multi[3][0] or *(multi + 3) in pointer notation.
To get to the content of the 2nd element in the 4th row we add 1 to this address
and dereference the result as in
*(*(multi + 3) + 1)
With a little thought we can see that:
*(*(multi + row) + col)
multi[row][col]

and
yield the same results.

The following program illustrates this using integer arrays instead of character arrays.

/* Program 6.1 from PTRTUT10.HTM

6/13/97*/

#include <stdio.h>
#define ROWS 5
#define COLS 10
int multi[ROWS][COLS];
int main(void)
{
int row, col;
for (row = 0; row < ROWS; row++)
{
for (col = 0; col < COLS; col++)
{
multi[row][col] = row*col;
}
}
for (row = 0; row < ROWS; row++)
{
for (col = 0; col < COLS; col++)
{
printf("\n%d ",multi[row][col]);
printf("%d ",*(*(multi + row) + col));
}
}
return 0;
}
Because of the double de-referencing required in the pointer version, the name
of a 2 dimensional array is often said to be equivalent to a pointer to a pointer.
With a three dimensional array we would be dealing with an array of arrays
of arrays and some might say its name would be equivalent to a pointer to a
pointer to a pointer. However, here we have initially set aside the block of
memory for the array by dening it using array notation. Hence, we are dealing
with a constant, not a variable. That is we are talking about a xed address not
a variable pointer. The dereferencing function used above permits us to access
any element in the array of arrays without the need of changing the value of
that address (the address of multi[0][0] as given by the symbol multi).

5.8

In the previous section we noted that given

#define ROWS 5
#define COLS 10
int multi[ROWS][COLS];
we can access individual elements of the array multi using either:
multi[row][col]
or
*(*(multi + row) + col)
To understand more fully what is going on, let us replace
*(multi + row)
with X as in:
*(X + col)
Now, from this we see that X is like a pointer since the expression is de-referenced
and we know that col is an integer. Here the arithmetic being used is of a special kind called pointer arithmetic is being used. That means that, since we
are talking about an integer array, the address pointed to by (i.e., value of) X
+ col + 1 must be greater than the address X + col by and amount equal to
sizeof(int).
Since we know the memory layout for 2 dimensional arrays, we can determine
that in the expression multi + row as used above, multi + row + 1 must increase
by value an amount equal to that needed to point to the next row, which in
this case would be an amount equal to COLS * sizeof(int).
That says that if the expression *(*(multi + row) + col) is to be evaluated
correctly at run time, the compiler must generate code which takes into consideration the value of COLS (i.e., the 2nd dimension). Because of the equivalence
of the two forms of expression, this is true whether we are using the pointer
expression as here or the array expression multi[row][col].
Thus, to evaluate either expression, a total of 5 values must be known:
1. The address of the rst element of the array, which is returned by the
expression multi (i.e., the name of the array).
2. The size of the type of the elements of the array, in this case sizeof(int).

3. The 2nd dimension of the array

4. The specic index value for the rst dimension, row in this case.
5. The specic index value for the second dimension, col in this case.
Given all of that, consider the problem of designing a function to manipulate the
element values of a previously declared multidimensional array. For example,
one which would set all the elements of the array multi to the value 1.
void set_value(int m_array[][], /* PROBLEM */
int rows, int cols)
{
int row, col;
for (row = 0; row < rows; row++)
{
for (col = 0; col < cols; col++)
{
m_array[row][col] = 1;
}
}
}
There is a problem with the parameter of this function. If we try to compile it, the compiler gives the following error:
example.c: In function set_value:
example.c:8: arithmetic on pointer to an incomplete type
To calculate the address of the array element m_array[row][col], the compiler needs to know the size of the 2nd dimension of the array. Unfortunately,
there is no way for the compiler to determine how large this dimension is when
the array is passed as a parameter.
The only solution to this problem is to specify (in the parameter list) what
the 2nd dimension of the array is going to be:
void set_value(int m_array[][COLS], int rows)
{
int row, col;
for (row = 0; row < rows; row++)
{
for (col = 0; col < COLS; col++)
{
m_array[row][col] = 1;
}
}
}
57

In fact, in general all dimensions of higher order than one are needed when
dealing with multi-dimensional arrays. That is if we are talking about 3 dimensional arrays, the 2nd and 3rd dimension must be specied in the parameter
denition.

5.9

Pointers to Arrays

Pointers, of course, can be pointed at any type of data object, including

arrays. While that was evident when we discussed program 3.1, it is important
to expand on how we do this when it comes to multi-dimensional arrays.
To review, in Section 5.3 we stated that given an array of integers we could
point an integer pointer at that array using:
int *ptr;
ptr = &my_array[0];

/* point our pointer at the first

integer in our array */

As we stated there, the type of the pointer variable must match the type of
the rst element of the array.
In addition, we can use a pointer as a formal parameter of a function which
is designed to manipulate an array. For example:
int array[3] = {1, 5, 7};
void a_func(int *p);
Some programmers might prefer to write the function prototype as:
void a_func(int p[]);
which would tend to inform others who might use this function that the function is designed to manipulate the elements of an array. Of course, in either
case, what actually gets passed is the value of a pointer to the rst element of
the array, independent of which notation is used in the function prototype or
denition. Note that if the array notation is used, there is no need to pass the
actual dimension of the array since we are not passing the whole array, only the
address to the rst element.
We now turn to the problem of the 2 dimensional array. As stated in the
last section, C interprets a 2 dimensional array as an array of one dimensional
arrays. That being the case, the rst element of a 2 dimensional array of integers is a one dimensional array of integers. And a pointer to a two dimensional
array of integers must be a pointer to that data type. One way of accomplishing
this is through the use of the keyword typedef. typedef assigns a new name
to a specied data type. For example:

typedef unsigned char byte;

causes the name byte to mean type unsigned char. Hence
byte b[10];

would be an array of unsigned characters.

Note that in the typedef declaration, the word byte has replaced that which
would normally be the name of our unsigned char. That is, the rule for using
typedef is that the new name for the data type is the name used in the denition
of the data type. Thus in:
typedef int Array[10];
Array becomes a data type for an array of 10 integers (i.e., Array my arr;
declares my arr as an array of 10 integers) and Array arr2d[5]; makes arr2d an
array of 5 arrays of 10 integers each.
Also note that Array *p1d; makes p1d a pointer to an array of 10 integers.
Because *p1d points to the same type as arr2d, assigning the address of the
two dimensional array arr2d to p1d, the pointer to a one dimensional array of
10 integers is acceptable (i.e., p1d = &arr2d[0]; or p1d = arr2d; are both
correct).
Since the data type we use for our pointer is an array of 10 integers, incrementing p1d by 1 will change its value by 10*sizeof(int) (you can prove this to
yourself by writing and running a simple short program).
Now, while using typedef makes things clearer for the reader and easier on
the programmer, it is not really necessary. What we need is a way of declaring
a pointer like p1d without the need of the typedef keyword. It turns out that
this can be done and that
int (*p1d)[10];
is the proper declaration. Variable p1d here is a pointer to an array of 10
integers just as it was under the declaration using the Array type. Note that
this is dierent from
int *p1d[10];
which would make p1d the name of an array of 10 pointers to type int.

5.10

Dynamic Allocation of Memory

There are times when it is convenient to allocate memory at run time. The
are a number of functions you can use to allocate memory, like malloc() and
calloc() (see man -S 3 malloc). Using this approach permits postponing the
decision on the size of the memory block need to store an array, for example,

until run time. Or it permits using a section of memory for the storage of an
array of integers at one point in time, and then when that memory is no longer
needed it can be freed up for other uses, such as the storage of an array of
structures.
int *iptr;
iptr = malloc(10 * sizeof(int));
if (iptr == NULL)
{
/* ERROR */
}
When memory is allocated, the allocating function (such as malloc()) returns
a pointer. The type of this pointer void (i.e., it points to something without a
type). This void pointer can be assigned to a pointer variable of any type.
The array dimension can now be determined at run time and is not needed
at compile time. That is, the 10 above could be a variable read in from a data
le or keyboard, or calculated based on some need, at run time.
Because of the equivalence between array and pointer notation, once iptr
has been assigned as above, one can use the array notation. For example, one
could write:
int k;
for (k = 0; k < 10; k++)
iptr[k] = 2;
to set the values of all elements to 2.
Even with a reasonably good understanding of pointers and arrays, one place
the newcomer to C is likely to stumble at rst is in the dynamic allocation of
multi-dimensional arrays. In general, we would like to be able to access elements
of such arrays using array notation, not pointer notation, wherever possible.
Depending on the application we may or may not know both dimensions at
compile time. This leads to a variety of ways to go about our task.
As we have seen, when dynamically allocating a one dimensional array its
dimension can be determined at run time. Now, when using dynamic allocation
of higher order arrays, we never need to know the rst dimension at compile
time. Whether we need to know the higher dimensions depends on how we
go about writing the code. Here I will discuss various methods of dynamically
allocating room for 2 dimensional arrays of integers.
First we will consider cases where the 2nd dimension is known at compile
time.
METHOD 1: One way of dealing with the problem is through the use of the
typedef keyword. To allocate a 2 dimensional array of integers recall that the
following two notations result in the same object code being generated:
60

multi[row][col] = 1;

((multi + row) + col) = 1;

It is also true that the following two notations generate the same code:
multi[row]

*(multi + row)

Since the one on the right must evaluate to a pointer, the array notation on
the left must also evaluate to a pointer. In fact multi[0] will return a pointer
to the rst integer in the rst row, multi[1] a pointer to the rst integer of the
second row, etc. Actually, multi[n] evaluates to a pointer to that array of integers that make up the n-th row of our 2 dimensional array. That is, multi can
be thought of as an array of arrays and multi[n] as a pointer to the n-th array
of this array of arrays. Consider now:
/* Program 9.1 from PTRTUT10.HTM

6/13/97 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define COLS 5
typedef int RowArray[COLS];
RowArray *rptr;
int main(void)
{
int nrows = 10;
int row, col;
rptr = malloc(nrows * COLS * sizeof(int));
for (row = 0; row < nrows; row++)
{
for (col = 0; col < COLS; col++)
{
rptr[row][col] = 17;
}
}
return 0;
}
Using this approach, rptr has all the characteristics of an array name name,
(except that rptr is modiable), and array notation may be used throughout
the rest of the program. That also means that if you intend to write a function to modify the array contents, you must use COLS as a part of the formal
parameter in that function, just as we did when discussing the passing of two
61

dimensional arrays to a function.

METHOD 2: In the METHOD 1 above, rptr turned out to be a pointer
to type one dimensional array of COLS integers. It turns out that there is
syntax which can be used for this type without the need of typedef. If we write:
int (*xptr)[COLS];
the variable xptr will have all the same characteristics as the variable rptr
in METHOD 1 above, and we need not use the typedef keyword. Here xptr
is a pointer to an array of integers and the size of that array is given by the
#dened COLS. The parenthesis placement makes the pointer notation predominate, even though the array notation has higher precedence. Had we written
int *xptr[COLS];
we would have dened xptr as an array of pointers holding the number of pointers equal to that #dened by COLS. That is not the same thing at all. However,
arrays of pointers have their use in the dynamic allocation of two dimensional
arrays, as will be seen in the next 2 methods.
METHOD 3: Consider the case where we do not know the number of elements in each row at compile time (i.e., both the number of rows and number
of columns must be determined at run time). One way of doing this would be
to create an array of pointers to type int and then allocate space for each row
and point these pointers at each row (this is the way in which Java handles
multidimensional arrays). Consider:
/* Program 9.2 from PTRTUT10.HTM

6/13/97 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
int nrows = 5;
int ncols = 10;
int row;
int **rowptr;

/* Both nrows and ncols could be evaluated */

/* or read in at run time */

rowptr = malloc(nrows * sizeof(int *));

if (rowptr == NULL)
{
puts("\nFailure to allocate room for row pointers.\n");
exit(0);
}
printf("\n\n\nIndex Pointer(hex) Pointer(dec) Diff.(dec)");
for (row = 0; row < nrows; row++)
{
rowptr[row] = malloc(ncols * sizeof(int));
if (rowptr[row] == NULL)
{
printf("\nFailure to allocate for row[%d]\n",row);
exit(0);
}
printf("\n%d
%p
%d", row, rowptr[row], rowptr[row]);
if (row > 0)
printf("
%d",(int)(rowptr[row] - rowptr[row-1]));
}
return 0;
}
In the above code rowptr is a pointer to pointer to type int. In this case it
points to the rst element of an array of pointers to type int. Consider the
number of calls to malloc():
To get the array of pointers
To get space for the rows
Total

1
5
----6

call
calls
calls

If you choose to use this approach note that while you can use the array notation
to access individual elements of the array (e.g., rowptr[row][col] = 17;), it
does not mean that the data in the two dimensional array is contiguous in
memory.
You can, however, use the array notation just as if it were a continuous block
of memory. For example, you can write:
rowptr[row][col] = 176;
just as if rowptr were the name of a two dimensional array created at compile
time. Of course row and col must be within the bounds of the array you have
created, just as with an array created at compile time. More information on
63

creating multidimensional arrays can be found at http://home.netcom.com/

~tjensen/ptr/cpoint.htm.

5.11

Pointers to Functions

Up to this point we have been discussing pointers to data objects. C also permits
the declaration of pointers to functions. Pointers to functions have a variety of
uses and some of them will be discussed here.
Consider the following real problem. You want to write a function that is
capable of sorting virtually any collection of data that can be stored in an array.
This might be an array of strings, or integers, or oats, or even structures. The
sorting algorithm can be the same for all. For example, it could be a simple
bubble sort algorithm, or the more complex shell or quick sort algorithm. Well
use a simple bubble sort for demonstration purposes.
Sedgewick [5] has described the bubble sort using C code by setting up
a function which when passed a pointer to the array would sort it. If we call
that function bubble(), a sort program is described by bubble 1.c, which follows:
/* Program bubble_1.c from PTRTUT10.HTM
#include <stdio.h>
int arr[10] = { 3,6,1,2,3,8,4,1,7,2};
void bubble(int a[], int N);
int main(void)
{
int i;
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
bubble(arr,10);
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
return 0;
}

6/13/97 */

void bubble(int a[], int N)

{
int i, j, t;
for (i = N-1; i >= 0; i--)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
{
if (a[j-1] > a[j])
{
t = a[j-1];
a[j-1] = a[j];
a[j] = t;
}
}
}
}
The bubble sort is one of the simpler sorts. The algorithm scans the array
from the second to the last element comparing each element with the one which
precedes it. If the one that precedes it is larger than the current element, the
two are swapped so the larger one is closer to the end of the array. On the rst
pass, this results in the largest element ending up at the end of the array. The
array is now limited to all elements except the last and the process repeated.
This puts the next largest element at a point preceding the largest element.
The process is repeated for a number of times equal to the number of elements
minus 1. The end result is a sorted array.
Here our function is designed to sort an array of integers. Thus in line 1 we
are comparing integers and in lines 2 through 4 we are using temporary integer
storage to store integers. What we want to do now is see if we can convert this
code so we can use any data type (i.e., not be restricted to integers).
At the same time we dont want to have to analyze our algorithm and the
code associated with it each time we use it. We start by removing the comparison from within the function bubble() so as to make it relatively easy to
modify the comparison function without having to re-write portions related to
the actual algorithm. This results in bubble 2.c:

/* Program bubble_2.c from PTRTUT10.HTM

6/13/97 */

/* Separating the comparison function */

#include <stdio.h>
int arr[10] = { 3,6,1,2,3,8,4,1,7,2};
void bubble(int a[], int N);
int compare(int m, int n);
int main(void)
{
int i;
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
bubble(arr,10);
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
return 0;
}
void bubble(int a[], int N)
{
int i, j, t;
for (i = N-1; i >= 0; i--)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
{
if (compare(a[j-1], a[j]))
{
t = a[j-1];
a[j-1] = a[j];
a[j] = t;
}
}
}
}
int compare(int m, int n)
{
return (m > n);
}

If our goal is to make our sort routine data type independent, one way of doing
this is to use pointers to type void to point to the data instead of using the
integer data type. As a start in that direction lets modify a few things in the
above so that pointers can be used. To begin with, well stick with pointers to
type integer.
/* Program bubble_3.c from PTRTUT10.HTM
#include <stdio.h>
int arr[10] = { 3,6,1,2,3,8,4,1,7,2};
void bubble(int *p, int N);
int compare(int *m, int *n);
int main(void)
{
int i;
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
bubble(arr,10);
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
return 0;
}
int compare(int *m, int *n)
{
return (*m > *n);
}

6/13/97 */

void bubble(int *p, int N)

{
int i, j, t;
for (i = N-1; i >= 0; i--)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
{
if (compare(&p[j-1], &p[j]))
{
t = p[j-1];
p[j-1] = p[j];
p[j] = t;
}
}
}
}
Note the changes. We are now passing a pointer to an integer (or array of
integers) to bubble(). And from within bubble we are passing pointers to the
elements of the array that we want to compare to our comparison function. And,
of course we are dereferencing these pointer in our compare() function in order
to make the actual comparison. Our next step will be to convert the pointers in
bubble() to pointers to type void so that that function will become more type
insensitive. This is shown in bubble 4.
/* Program bubble_4.c from PTRTUT10,HTM
#include <stdio.h>
int arr[10] = { 3,6,1,2,3,8,4,1,7,2};
void bubble(int *p, int N);
int compare(void *m, void *n);
int compare(void *m, void *n)
{
int *m1, *n1;
m1 = (int *)m;
n1 = (int *)n;
return (*m1 > *n1);
}

6/13/97 */

int main(void)
{
int i;
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
bubble(arr,10);
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
return 0;
}
void bubble(int *p, int N)
{
int i, j, t;
for (i = N-1; i >= 0; i--)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
{
if (compare((void *)&p[j-1], (void *)&p[j]))
{
t = p[j-1];
p[j-1] = p[j];
p[j] = t;
}
}
}
}
Note that, in doing this, in compare() we had to introduce the casting of the
void pointer types passed to the actual type being sorted. But, as well see later
thats okay. And since what is being passed to bubble() is still a pointer to an
array of integers, we had to cast these pointers to void pointers when we passed
them as parameters in our call to compare().
We now address the problem of what we pass to bubble(). We want to make
the rst parameter of that function a void pointer also. But, that means that
within bubble() we need to do something about the variable t, which is currently
an integer. Also, where we use t = p[j-1]; the type of p[j-1] needs to be known
in order to know how many bytes to copy to the variable t (or whatever we
69

replace t with).
Currently, in bubble 4.c, knowledge within bubble() as to the type of the
data being sorted (and hence the size of each individual element) is obtained
from the fact that the rst parameter is a pointer to type integer. If we are
going to be able to use bubble() to sort any type of data, we need to make that
pointer a pointer to type void. But, in doing so we are going to lose information
concerning the size of individual elements within the array. So, in bubble 5.c
we will add a separate parameter to handle this size information.
These changes, from bubble 4.c to bubble 5.c are, perhaps, a bit more extensive than those we have made in the past. So, compare the two modules
carefully for dierences.
/* Program bubble_5.c from PTRTUT10.HTM
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
long arr[10] = { 3,6,1,2,3,8,4,1,7,2};
void bubble(void *p, size_t width, int N);
int compare(void *m, void *n);
int main(void)
{
int i;
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ", arr[i]);
}
bubble(arr, sizeof(long), 10);
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%ld ", arr[i]);
}
return 0;
}

6/13/97 */

void bubble(void *p, size_t width, int N)

{
int i, j;
unsigned char buf[4];
unsigned char *bp = p;

/*
/*
/*

for (i = N-1; i >= 0; i--)

{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
{
if (compare((void *)(bp + width*(j-1)),
(void *)(bp + j*width))) /* 1 */
{
t = p[j-1];
*/
memcpy(buf, bp + width*(j-1), width);
p[j-1] = p[j];
*/
memcpy(bp + width*(j-1), bp + j*width , width);
p[j] = t;
*/
memcpy(bp + j*width, buf, width);
}
}
}

}
int compare(void *m, void *n)
{
long *m1, *n1;
m1 = (long *)m;
n1 = (long *)n;
return (*m1 > *n1);
}
Note that I have changed the data type of the array from int to long to illustrate the changes needed in the compare() function. Within bubble() Ive
done away with the variable t (which we would have had to change from type
int to type long). I have added a buer of size 4 unsigned characters, which is
the size needed to hold a long (this will change again in future modications to
this code). The unsigned character pointer *bp is used to point to the base of
the array to be sorted, i.e. to the rst element of that array.
We also had to modify what we passed to compare(), and how we do the
swapping of elements that the comparison indicates need swapping. Use of
memcpy() and pointer notation instead of array notation work towards this
reduction in type sensitivity.
Again, making a careful comparison of bubble5.c with bubble4.c can result
in improved understanding of what is happening and why.
We move now to bubble 6.c where we use the same function bubble() that
71

we used in bubble 5.c to sort strings instead of long integers. Of course we

have to change the comparison function since the means by which strings are
compared is dierent from that by which long integers are compared. And,in
bubble6.c we have deleted the lines within bubble() that were commented out
in bubble 5.c.
/* Program bubble_6.c from PTRTUT10.HTM
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define MAX_BUF 256
char arr2[5][20] = {

"Mickey Mouse",
"Donald Duck",
"Minnie Mouse",
"Goofy",
"Ted Jensen" };

void bubble(void *p, int width, int N);

int compare(void *m, void *n);
int main(void)
{
int i;
putchar(\n);
for (i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
printf("%s\n", arr2[i]);
}
bubble(arr2, 20, 5);
putchar(\n\n);
for (i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
printf("%s\n", arr2[i]);
}
return 0;
}

6/13/97 */

void bubble(void *p, int width, int N)

{
int i, j, k;
unsigned char buf[MAX_BUF];
unsigned char *bp = p;
for (i = N-1; i >= 0; i--)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
{
k = compare((void *)(bp + width*(j-1)),
(void *)(bp + j*width));
if (k > 0)
{
memcpy(buf, bp + width*(j-1), width);
memcpy(bp + width*(j-1), bp + j*width , width);
memcpy(bp + j*width, buf, width);
}
}
}
}
int compare(void *m, void *n)
{
char *m1 = m;
char *n1 = n;
return (strcmp(m1,n1));
}

But, the fact that bubble() was unchanged from that used in bubble 5.c
indicates that that function is capable of sorting a wide variety of data types.
What is left to do is to pass to bubble() the name of the comparison function
we want to use so that it can be truly universal. Just as the name of an array
is the address of the rst element of the array in the data segment, the name of
a function decays into the address of that function in the code segment. Thus
we need to use a pointer to a function. In this case the comparison function.
Pointers to functions must match the functions pointed to in the number
and types of the parameters and the type of the return value. In our case, we
declare our function pointer as:
int (*fptr)(const void *p1, const void *p2);
Note that were we to write:

int fptr(const void p1, const void *p2);

we would have a function prototype for a function which returned a pointer
to type int. That is because in C the parenthesis () operator have a higher
precedence than the pointer * operator. By putting the parenthesis around the
string (*fptr) we indicate that we are declaring a function pointer.
We now modify our declaration of bubble() by adding, as its 4th parameter,
a function pointer of the proper type. Its function prototype becomes:
void bubble(void *p, int width, int N,
int(*fptr)(const void *, const void *));
When we call the bubble(), we insert the name of the comparison function
that we want to use. bubble 7.c illustrate how this approach permits the use of
the same bubble() function for sorting dierent types of data.
/* Program bubble_7.c from PTRTUT10.HTM

6/10/97 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define MAX_BUF 256
long arr[10] = { 3,6,1,2,3,8,4,1,7,2};
char arr2[5][20] = { "Mickey Mouse",
"Donald Duck",
"Minnie Mouse",
"Goofy",
"Ted Jensen" };
void bubble(void *p, int width, int N,
int(*fptr)(const void *, const void *));
int compare_string(const void *m, const void *n);
int compare_long(const void *m, const void *n);

void bubble(void *p, int width, int N,

int(*fptr)(const void *, const void *))
{
int i, j, k;
unsigned char buf[MAX_BUF];
unsigned char *bp = p;
for (i = N-1; i >= 0; i--)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
{
k = fptr((void *)(bp + width*(j-1)),
(void *)(bp + j*width));
if (k > 0)
{
memcpy(buf, bp + width*(j-1), width);
memcpy(bp + width*(j-1), bp + j*width , width);
memcpy(bp + j*width, buf, width);
}
}
}
}
int compare_long(const void *m, const void *n)
{
long *m1, *n1;
m1 = (long *)m;
n1 = (long *)n;
return (*m1 > *n1);
}
int compare_string(const void *m, const void *n)
{
char *m1 = (char *)m;
char *n1 = (char *)n;
return (strcmp(m1,n1));
}

int main(void)
{
int i;
puts("\nBefore Sorting:\n");
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%ld ",arr[i]);
}
puts("\n");

/* show the long ints */

for (i = 0; i < 5; i++)

/* show the strings */
{
printf("%s\n", arr2[i]);
}
bubble(arr, 4, 10, compare_long);
/* sort the longs */
bubble(arr2, 20, 5, compare_string); /* sort the strings */
puts("\n\nAfter Sorting:\n");
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
printf("%d ",arr[i]);
}
puts("\n");

/* show the sorted longs */

for (i = 0; i < 5; i++)

{
printf("%s\n", arr2[i]);
}
return 0;
}

/* show the sorted strings */

Bibliography
[1] S. C. Johnson and B. W. Kernighan. The Programming Language B. Technical Report Comp. Sci. Tech. Report, #8, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Januari
1973.
[2] B. W. Kernighan and D. M. Ritchie. The C Programming Language, Second
Edition. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988. ISBN 0131103628.
[3] M. Richards and C. Whitbey-Strevens. BCPL: The Language and its Compiler. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1979.
[4] D. M. Ritchie. The Development of the C Language. April 1993. presented at
Second History of Programming Languages conference, Cambridge, Mass.,
online at http://www.digital.com/info/DTJP03/DTJP03HM.HTM.
[5] R. Sedgewick. Algorithms in C. Addison-Wesley, 1998. ISBN 0201350882.

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