Introduction to C

programming language
Department of Information System
SoICT, HUST

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 High level language
10100110 01110110
#include <stdio.h> 00100110 00000000
11111010 11111010
int main() 01001110 10100110
{ 11100110 10010110
printf(“Hello World”); 11001110 00101110
10100110 01001110
11111010 01100110
return 0;
01001110 10000110
}
etc...

Source code Machine code

• Compiler translates a program in high level

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Why C?
• Flexible language
• Structured language
• Low level activities possible
• Standard library exists, allowing portability
• It can produce lean and efficient code
• Wide availability on a variety of computers and
widely used
• It is the foundation for other languages (C++, Java,
Perl, awk)

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History of C
• CPL Combined Programming Language (Barron et al.,
1963)
• BCPL Basic CPL (Richards, 1969)
• B (Thompson, 1970)
• C K&R C (Ritchie, 1972)
• ANSI C American National Standards Institute C
(X3J11, 1989)
• C99 (JTC1/SC22/WG14, ISO/IEC 9899, 1999)
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 The first C program
Hello World
Algorithm C program
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
output “Hello World!” {
printf(“Hello World!”);

return 0;
}

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 C Language Structure
• #include <stdio.h>
• To declare using the standard I/O library. Other libraries: string, time,
math…
• int main()
• To declare the main() function. An C program must declare only one
main() function. The first line in the main() will implement when the
program starts.
• {…}
• The syntax to open and close a block of codes.
• printf
• the printf() function sends the output to standard output (monitor). This
function will be taught in the next week.
• return 0;
• Stop the program.

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Syntax of C programs
• A C program is written using:
• Keywords: reserved words for specific meaning in a
program, e.g., main, if, do, while, …
• User’s names: names defined by user to specify a
variable, a function, etc. in a program.
• Specific characters: to represent expressions in a
program and make the program have structure, for
example:
• Create a block of instructions {}
• Create a string “ “

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 Keywords of C
• Flow control (6) – if, else, return, switch,
case, default
• Loops (5) – for, do, while, break, continue
• Common types (5) – int, float, double, char,
void
• structures (3) – struct, typedef, union
• Counting and sizing things (2) – enum, sizeof
• Rare but still useful types (7) – extern, signed,
unsigned, long, short, static, const
• Evil keywords which we avoid (1) – goto
• Weirdies (3) – auto, register, volatile

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Common characters used in a
program
• {…} create a block of instructions
• “…” create a string to display
• /* … */ create a block of comment in the program
• ; End of an instruction
• other characters for formulas such as +, -, *, /, (), …

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Identifiers
• When declare a variable or a procedure, we need to
identify it
• Principles:
• Only use alphabetic letters, numbers, underscore _
character to name an identify
• Identify must begin with an alphabetic letter
• Upper case and lower case are different
• Which identities are illegal:
• tong, 2k, trung binh, %totnghiep

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 Example of writing a program
Create the main
print number from 0 to 9 fuction for the
program

int main()
dem = 0
{
while (dem < 10)
do
{
output dem
dem = dem + 1
}
return 0;
}

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 Example …
#include <stdio.h>
print number from 0 to 9

dem = 0 int main() Declare the

return 0;
}

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 Example …
#include <stdio.h>
print number from 0 to 9
/* In tu 0 toi 9 */
dem = 0 int main()
while (dem < 10) { Comment
do
{
output dem
dem = dem + 1
}

return 0;
}

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 Example …
#include <stdio.h>
print number from 0 to 9
/* In tu 0 toi 9 */
dem = 0 int main()
while (dem < 10) {
do int dem;
{
output dem Declare a
dem = dem + 1 variable
}

return 0;
}
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 Example …
#include <stdio.h>
print number from 0 to 9
/* In tu 0 toi 9 */
dem = 0 int main()
while (dem < 10) {
do int dem;
{ dem = 0;
output dem
dem = dem + 1 Assign a
} value to dem

return 0;
}

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 Example …
#include <stdio.h>
print number from 0 to 9
/* In tu 0 toi 9 */
dem = 0 int main()
while (dem < 10) {
do int dem;
{ dem = 0;
output dem while ( dem < 10 )
dem = dem + 1 {
}
Creare a loop

}
return 0;
}
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 Example …
#include <stdio.h>
print number from 0 to 9
/* In tu 0 toi 9 */
int main()
dem = 0 {
while (dem < 10) int dem;
do dem = 0;
{ while ( dem < 10 )
output dem {
dem = dem + 1 printf(“%d\n”, dem);
}
}
return 0;
}

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 Example …
#include <stdio.h>
print number from 0 to 9
/* In tu 0 toi 9 */
int main()
dem = 0 {
while (dem < 10) int dem;
do dem = 0;
{ while ( dem < 10 )
output dem {
dem = dem + 1 printf(“%d\n”, dem);
} dem = dem + 1;
}
return 0;
}

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What does this program do?
#include <stdio.h>

int main(){
float num;

printf(“Enter a number: “);

if ( num < 0 ) {
printf(“%f is negative”, num);
} else {
printf(“%f is positive”, num);
}

return 0;
}

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 Algorithm of the program
/* Find the sign of a number */
input num
if (num < 0) then
{
output “negative number”
}
else
{
output “positive number”
}

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 Compile a C program

Compiling phrase Link phrase

Error can appear at compiling phrase or link phrase

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 Compiler
• To translate a program, we need a compiler, for
example: gcc
• The compiler of C always supports parameter to
perform two phrases of the compiling process. For
example, gcc – c to do the compiling phrase, gcc –o
to do the link phrase.
• If your program is written in only one file, a single
Unix command can help to make an executable
program from the source code.
• $ gcc -o program-name filename
• Ex: $gcc -o hello hello.c

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 IDE: Integrated Development
Environment
• Programming is a process that repeatly carries out operations:
source code editing, compiling, debugging.
• These operations can carry out independently by different
tools. For example, edit by emacs, compile by gcc.
• However, a more convenient way is to integrate all
programming tools to an unique environment to support the
programming. This environment is called IDE.
• IDE - an environment of 3 in 1: editor, compiler, debugger

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Products of IDE
• On Linux:
• KDevelop
• On Window:
• Dev-C++,
• Turbo C++,
• Visual C++,
• etc.

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KDevelop

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Dev-C++

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Visual C++

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Thank you
for your
attentions!