Scribd
Upload
46 views

Technical Foundations of Computer Science III System Programming (C)

This document provides an introduction to the C programming language. It discusses the basic structure of a C program including comments, the preprocessor, main function, functions, statements, and input/output functions like printf and scanf. Key points covered include: - C programs contain functions, with main required to start execution. - Comments document code and don't execute. - The preprocessor handles directives like #include to incorporate standard libraries. - printf outputs strings and values, while scanf reads input values using format specifiers. - Proper syntax is required for functions, statements, and passing arguments like addresses to input/output functions.

Uploaded by

ferdous
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
46 views

Technical Foundations of Computer Science III System Programming (C)

This document provides an introduction to the C programming language. It discusses the basic structure of a C program including comments, the preprocessor, main function, functions, statements, and input/output functions like printf and scanf. Key points covered include: - C programs contain functions, with main required to start execution. - Comments document code and don't execute. - The preprocessor handles directives like #include to incorporate standard libraries. - printf outputs strings and values, while scanf reads input values using format specifiers. - Proper syntax is required for functions, statements, and passing arguments like addresses to input/output functions.

Uploaded by

ferdous
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 18

Technical Foundations of Computer Science III

System Programming (C)


Seyyed Kamran Hosseini Lecture 2
Introduction to C
Herat University
A Simple C Program
Comments
• /* Fig. 2.1: fig02_01.c
A first program in C */
begin with /* and end with */ indicating that these two lines are a
comment.
• Comments to document programs and improve program
readability.
• Comments do not cause the computer to perform any action
when the program is run.
• // single-line comments in which everything from // to the end
of the line is a comment.
• Some programmers prefer // comments because they’re shorter
and they eliminate the common programming errors that occur
with /* */ comments.
Preprocessor

• #include <stdio.h>
 is a directive to the C preprocessor.
• Lines beginning with # are processed by the preprocessor
before the program is compiled.
• <stdio.h> tells the preprocessor to include the contents
of the standard input/output header in the program.
• This header contains information used by the compiler
when compiling calls to standard input/output library
functions such as printf.
Main Function
• int main( void )
 is a part of every C program.
 The parentheses after main indicate that main is a
program building block called a function.
• C programs contain one or more functions, one of which
must be main.
• Every program in C begins executing at the function
main. Functions can return information.
• The keyword int to the left of main indicates that main
“returns” an integer (whole number) value.
• The void in parentheses here means that main does not
receive any information.
Continue…

• A left brace, {, begins the body of every function


• A corresponding right brace, }, ends each function
• This pair of braces and the portion of the program
between the braces is called a block.
Output Statement( printf )
• printf( "Welcome to C!\n" );
 instructs the computer to perform an action, namely to print
on the screen the string of characters marked by the
quotation marks.
• A string is sometimes called a character string, a
message or a literal.
• The entire line, including printf, its argument within
the parentheses and the semicolon (;), is called a
statement. Every statement must end with a semicolon
(also known as the statement terminator).
• When the preceding printf statement is executed, it
prints the message Welcome to C! on the screen.
• The characters normally print exactly as they appear
between the double quotes in the printf statement.
Escape Sequences
• Notice that the characters \n were not printed on the
screen. The backslash (\) is called an escape character.
• It indicates that printf is supposed to do something out of
the ordinary.
• When encountering a backslash in a string, the compiler
looks ahead at the next character and combines it with
the backslash to form an escape sequence.
• The escape sequence \n means newline.
• When a newline appears in the string output by a printf,
the newline causes the cursor to position to the beginning
of the next line on the screen.
Continue…

• Because the backslash has special meaning in a string,


i.e., the compiler recognizes it as an escape character, we
use a double backslash (\\) to place a single backslash in
a string.
• Printing a double quote also presents a problem because
double quotes mark the boundary of a string—such
quotes are not printed.
• By using the escape sequence \" in a string to be output
by printf, we indicate that printf should display a double
quote.
Common Escape Sequence
return

• return 0; /* indicate that program ended successfully */


 is included at the end of every main function.
• The keyword return is one of several ways we’ll use to
exit a function.
• When the return statement is used at the end of main as
shown here, the value 0 indicates that the program has
terminated successfully.
printf
Continue...
Another example
Input statement ( scanf )
• scanf( "%d", &integer1 ); /* read an integer */
 uses scanf to obtain a value from the user.
• The scanf function reads from the standard input.
• This scanf has two arguments, "%d" and &integer1.
• The first argument, the format control string, indicates the
type of data that should be input by the user. The %d
conversion specifier indicates that the data should be an
integer (the letter d stands for “decimal integer”).
• The % in this context is treated by scanf (and printf as we’ll see)
as a special character that begins a conversion specifier.
• The second argument of scanf begins with an ampersand (&)—
called the address operator in C— followed by the variable
name.
Continue...

• The & when combined with the variable name, tells scanf
the location (or address) in memory at which the variable
integer1 is stored.
• The computer then stores the value for integer1 at that
location.
• The use of & is often confusing to novice programmers or
to people who have programmed in other languages that
do not require this notation.
• For now, just remember to precede each variable in every
call to scanf with an &.
Printing with Format Control String
• printf( "Sum is %d\n", sum ); /* print sum */
• calls function printf to print the literal Sum is followed by the
numerical value of variable sum on the screen.
• This printf has two arguments, "Sum is %d\n" and sum.
• The first argument is the format control string. It contains some
literal characters to be displayed, and it contains the conversion
specifier %d indicating that an integer will be printed.
• The second argument specifies the value to be printed.
• Notice that the conversion specifier for an integer is the same in
both printf and scanf.
• Calculations can also be performed inside printf statements.
 printf( "Sum is %d\n", integer1 + integer2 );
Note
• For more understading, Please read the book from page
24 to 33.

You might also like