CMPRG

C Programming

C Fundamentals and
Data Types
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the session, students should be
able to:
1. Identify the program structure of C
programming language
2. Enumerate keywords in C
3. Enumerate data types in C
Important Features of C Language

1. C is a system programming language which

provides flexibility for writing compilers,
operating systems, etc.
2. It can also be used for writing the
application programs for scientific,
engineering and business applications.
3. C is famous for its portability, meaning that
program written in C for one computer can
be easily loaded to another computer with
little or no changes.
Important Features of C Language

4. C supports variety of data types like

integers, float point numbers, characters,
etc.
5. C is a procedure oriented language which is
most suited for structured programming
practice. vi. It provides a rich set of built in
functions
Program Structure in C
To accomplish the given task programs are written and
it is executed in Turbo C/C++ compiler. The structure
of the program is given below.
Comments / /* Sample C Program */
Preprocessor Directive #include <stdio.h>
Global Declaration Section main() {
main()
{ int a,b;
clrscr();
printf(“Enter two numbers”);
Executable Part scanf(“%d%d”, &a,&b);
sum = a + b;
} printf(“Sum = %d”, sum);
}
Program Structure in C
i. Comments : It refers to the added
explanation located anywhere in the program
which serves only as the remainder to the
programmer or to make the code readable to
the user
// single line comment
It terminates at the end of the current line
/*…*/ multiple line comment
containing many lines
Program Structure in C
ii. Preprocessor directive: It provides instruction
to the compiler to link some functions or do some
processing prior to the execution of the program. It
is also used to define symbolic constants of the
program.
Header file used by the example is a standard
input/output file (stdio.h), programs must
contain an #include line for each header file
There are two punctuation forms for head file.
1. #include <stdio.h>
2. #include “stdio.h”
Program Structure in C
iii. GlobalDeclaration Section : There
are some variables that are used in more
than one function. Such variables are
called global variables and are declared
in this section that is outside of all other
functions.
Program Structure in C
iv. The main() function section : Every C program
must have one main() function. This section contains
two parts, declaration part and executable part. The
declaration part declares all the variables used in the
executable part. There is at least one statement in the
executable part. These two parts must appear
between the opening and closing braces. The program
execution begins at the opening brace and ends at the
closing brace. The closing brace of the main function
is the logical end of the program. All statements in the
declaration part and executable parts must end with a
semicolon
Executing a C program
Executing a C program involves a series of
following steps:
1. Creating a program
2. Compiling the program
3. Linking the program with functions that
are needed from the C library.
4. Executing the program
Important points to remember:

1. Every C program requires a main() function. Use of

more than one main() is illegal. The place of main() is
where the program execution begins.
2. The Execution of the function begins at the opening
brace and ends at the closing brace.
3. C programs are written in lowercase letters.
However uppercase letters may be used for symbolic
names and constants.
4. All the words in a program line must be separated
from each other by at least one space or a tab, or a
punctuation mark.
5. Every statement must end with a semicolon.
Important points to remember:

6. All variables must be declared for their type

before they are used in the program.
7. Compiler directives such as define and include
are special instructions to the compiler, so they do
not end with a semicolon.
8. When braces are used in the program make
sure that the opening brace has corresponding
ending brace.
9. C is a free form language and therefore proper
form of indentation of various sections would
improve the legibility of the program.
Identifiers and Keywords

Identifiers are the names given by user to

various program elements such as variables,
functions and arrays. The rules for identifiers are
given below.
1.Letters, digits and underscore can be used.
2.Must not start with a digit.
3.Avoid using underscore at the start of identifier
4.Identifier cannot be same as reserved word
(Key Word) or C library function names
5.Identifiers are Case sensitive. For example
india is different from India.
Identifiers and Keywords

Examples of Valid and Invalid Identifier

Valid Identifiers:
1.X1x
2.Count_2
3.Num1
Invalid Identifiers:
1.5thstandard - first character must be a letter
2.“Sam” - illegal character (“ ”)
3.Emp-no - illegal character( - )
4.Reg no - illegal character (blank space)
Identifiers and Keywords
Keywords
Key words or Reserve words of the C language are
the words whose meaning is already defined and
explained to the C language compiler. Therefore,
reserve words cannot be used as identifiers or variable
names. They should only be used to carry the pre-
defined meaning. For example, int is a reserve word. It
indicates the data type of the variable as integer.
Therefore, it is reserved to carry the specific meaning.
Any attempt to use it other than the intended purpose
will generate a compile time error.
Identifiers and Keywords
The following list shows the reserved words in C.
auto else long switch
break enum register typedef
case extern return union
char for signed void
continue goto sizeof volatile
default if static while
do int struct _Packed
double
Basic Data Types
C supports five fundamental data types:
 Character
 Integer
 Floating-Point
 Double floating-Point
 Valueless
These are denoted as char, int, float double,
void, respectively, ‟void‟ is typically used to
declare as function as retuning null value.
Basic Data Types
Table 2.1 Fundamental data types
Data Type Description Typical memory
requirements
int integer quantity 2 bytes or one word
(varies from one
compiler to another)
char single character 1 byte
float floating-point number (i.e., a 1 word (4 bytes)
number containing a decimal
point and or an exponent)
double double-precision floating point 2 words (8 bytes)
number (i.e., more significant
figures, and an exponent which
may be larger in magnitude)
Basic Data Types
Modifiers to Basic Data Types
Modifiers are used to alter the meaning of basic
data types to fit various needs. Except the type
void, all others data type can have various
modifiers preceding them
List of modifiers used in C are:
• Signed
• Unsigned
• Long
• Short
Constants
It refers to fixed values that the program may
not alter during its execution. These fixed
values are also called literals. Constants can be
of any of the basic data types like an integer
constant, a floating constant, a character
constant, or a string literal. There are
enumeration constants as well. Constants are
treated just like regular variables except that
their values cannot be modified after their
definition.
Variables
A variable is an identifier that may be used to store
data value. A value or a quantity which may vary
during the program execution can be called as a
variable. Each variable has a specific memory
location in memory unit, where numerical values or
characters can be stored. A variable is represented
by a symbolic name. Thus variable name refers to
the location of the memory in which a particular
data can be stored. Variables names are also
called as identifiers since they identify the varying
quantities.
Variables
For Ex : sum = a+b. In this equation sum, a and b are the
identifiers or variable names representing the numbers stored in
the memory locations.
Rules to be followed for constructing the Variable names
(identifiers):
1. They must begin with a letter and underscore is considered
as a letter.
2. It must consist of single letter or sequence of letters, digits or
underscore character.
3. Uppercase and lowercase are significant. For ex: Sum, SUM
and sum are three distinct variables.
4. Keywords are not allowed in variable names.
5. Special characters except the underscore are not allowed.
6. White space is also not allowed.
Variable Declarations
In the program data types are written as given
below:

Integer - int
Floating point - float
Double floating point - double
Character - char
Variable Declarations
Assigning an identifier to data type is called type
declaration. In other words, a declaration associates a
group of variables with a specific data types. All variables
must be declared before they appear in executable
statements. The syntax of variable declaration and some
examples are given below.
Syntax :
Data type „variable‟
For example:
int a;
float c;
char name;
double count;
Variable Declarations
If two are more variables of the same data type has to be declared they can
be clubbed as shown in example given below.

int a; intb; intc;

this is same as
int a, b, c;

float d; float e; float f;

this can be written as
float d, e, f;

short int a, b, c ;
long int r, s, t ;
The above declarations cab also be written as :
short a, b, c;
long r, s, r;
Assigning Values to Variables

Values can be assigned to variables using assignment operator

“=”.
Syntax:
Variable name = value;
For Example:
a = 10; int lvalue = 0;

It is also possible to assign a value to a variable at the time the

variable is declared. The process of giving initial value to the
variable is called initialization of the variable.
For Example:
int a=10, b=5; float x=10.5, y=1.2e-9;
Assigning Values to Variables

The data item can be accessed in the program

simply by referring to the variable name. Data
type associated with the variable cannot be
changed. However, variables hold the most
recently assigned data.
Declaring Variable as Constant
The value of the certain variable to remain constant
during the execution of the program. It can be
achieved by declaring the variable with const qualifier
at the time of initialization.

For example:
const int tax_rate = 0.30;

The above statement tells the compiler that value of

variable must not be modified during the execution of
the program. Any attempt change the value will
generate a compile time error.
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