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Programming in C: Constants, Variables, and Data Types

The document discusses variables, constants, data types, and declarations in the C programming language. It describes how variables and constants are named memory locations that store data of a certain type, and how variables can change value during program execution while constants remain unchanged. The key data types in C, including integer, float, double, and character types are presented along with how to declare and initialize variables and constants within functions.

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Yanis Kemoun
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32 views

Programming in C: Constants, Variables, and Data Types

The document discusses variables, constants, data types, and declarations in the C programming language. It describes how variables and constants are named memory locations that store data of a certain type, and how variables can change value during program execution while constants remain unchanged. The key data types in C, including integer, float, double, and character types are presented along with how to declare and initialize variables and constants within functions.

Uploaded by

Yanis Kemoun
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Programming In C

Part II
Constants, Variables, and Data types
The C Character Set
C uses:
• Uppercase letters (A→Z)
• Lowercase letters (a→z)
• Digits (0→9)
• Some special symbols (+, *, %, &, #, {, }, …etc).
Variables and Constants
• Variables and constants are named memory
locations in which data of a certain type can
be stored.
• Constants refer to data that remains
unchanged throughout the program
execution.
• Variables store data that may vary during
program exe
• Variables and constants must be declared
before they can be used in a program.
Identifiers and Keywords
1. Identifiers
• Identifiers are names given to various program
elements such as variables, functions, and arrays.
• Rules for naming:
– Only alphabets, digits, and underscores are allowed.
– An identifier must start with a letter or an underscore,
and may be followed by any combination of
characters, underscores, or the digits 0-9.
– The name cannot start with a digit.
– Uppercase and lowercase letters are treated as
different.
– Optional: always choose a meaningful names for
identifiers in order to make programs easier to read.
Identifiers and Keywords
1. Identifiers
• Examples of valid identifiers:
x, y21, sum, sum_1, taxe_rate, _temperture.

• Examples of non valid identifiers:


4th, “x”, order-no, error flag
• C makes a difference between uppercase and
lowercase characters. Example: “Age” and
“age” are different identifiers.
2. Keywords
• Keywords are reserved words that have
standard and predefined meaning in C.
• C has 32 keywords:

• Remark: keywords cannot be used as user-


defined identifiers.
Data types
• Each variable in C has a specific type, which
determines the size and layout of the variable's
memory.
• Data type specifies the range of values that can be
stored within that memory; and the set of
operations that can be applied to the variable.
• The C compiler must be informed about the type
of data you intend to store in a variable.
• Based on the data type of a variable, the operating
system allocates memory and decides what can be
stored in the reserved memory.
Fundamental Data Type

1 byte (8 bits)

1 byte (8 bits)

4 bytes (32 bits)

4 bytes (32 bits)

8 bytes (64 bits)


Data type qualifiers
• The fundamental data types can be associated with
some qualifiers for their size and sign.
• For size: short/long
• For sign: signed/unsigned
• Examples:
– short int (2 bytes)
– unsigned int (4 bytes positive numbers)
– unsigned short int (2 bytes positive numbers)
– long double (10 bytes)
• If we do not specify either signed or unsigned, the C
compiler assume the type to be signed.
• If short, long, or unsigned are used without data type
specifier, it is taken as an int by the C compiler.
Declaring variables in C
• In general variables are declared at the beginning of a
block of a function. A block of a function is denoted by
{ }. Variables inside of a block are local to that block.
int main( ) {
int a,b;
float c;
char d;
}
• Variables may be initialized when declared with the =
operator like:
int main( ) {
int a=1;
float b=1.2;
char c='a';
}
Declaring constants inside a function
• Variables can be declared using constant
qualifiers to indicate that its value does not
change during the program execution.
Example:

int main( ) {
int a,b;
const float c=6.022
float d;
}

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