Programming in C Unit 1

Unit 1 Introduction to C Programming

Structure:
1.1 Introduction
Objectives
1.2 Features of Cand its Basic Structure
1.3 Simple C programs
1.4 Constants
Integer Constants
Real Constants
Character Constants
String Constants
Backslash Character Constants
1.5 Concept of an Integer and Variable
1.6 Rules for naming Variables and assigning values to variables
1.7 Summary
1.8 Terminal Questions
1.9 Answers to Self Assessment Questions
1.10 Answers to Terminal Questions
1.11 Exercises

1.1 Introduction
C is a general-purpose, structured programming language. Its instructions
consist of terms that resemble algebraic expressions, augmented by certain
English keywords such as if, else, for, do and while. C was the offspring of
the ‘Basic Combined Programming Language’ (BPCL) called B, developed in
the 1960’s at Cambridge University. B language was modified by Dennis
Ritchie and was implemented at Bell laboratories in 1972. The new language
was named C. Since it was developed along with the UNIX operating system,
it is strongly associated with UNIX. This operating system, which was also
developed at Bell laboratories, was coded almost entirely in C.
In C, the type of a variable determines what kinds of values it may take on.
The type of an object determines the set of values it can have and what
operations can be performed on it. This is a fairly formal, mathematical
definition of what a type is, but it is traditional (and meaningful). There are
several implications to remember:
1. The “set of values'' is finite. C's int type cannot represent all of the integers;

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 1

Programming in C Unit 1

its float type cannot represent all floating-point numbers.

2. When you're using an object (that is, a variable) of some type, you may
have to remember what values it can take on and what operations you can
perform on it. For example, there are several operators which play with the
binary (bit-level) representation of integers, but these operators are not
meaningful for and may not be applied to floating-point operands.
3. When declaring a new variable and picking a type for it, you have to keep
in mind the values and operations you'll be needing.
This unit will introduce you to C programming with its various features,
structure and how the C programs are constructed with simple examples.
Objectives:
At studying this unit, you should be able to:
• discuss the features of C programming language
• explain the basic structure of a C program
• write simple programs in C
• construct and use the concept of Constants and Integers
• use the variable and its declaration in C

1.2 Features of C and its Basic Structure

C is characterized by the ability to write very concise source programs, due in
part to the large number of operators included within the language.
It has a relatively small instruction set, though actual implementations include
extensive library functions which enhance the basic instructions.
The language encourages users to write additional library functions of their
own. Thus, the features and capabilities of the language can easily be
extended by the user.
C compilers are commonly available for computers of all sizes. The compilers
are usually compact, and they generate object programs that are small and
highly efficient when compared with programs compiled from other high-level
languages.
Another important characteristic of C is that its programs are highly portable,
even more so than with other high-level languages. The reason for this is that
C relegates most computer dependent features to its library functions. Thus,

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 2

Programming in C Unit 1

every version of C is accompanied by its own set of library functions, which are
written for the particular characteristics of the host computer.
A C program can be viewed as a group of building blocks called functions. A
function is a subroutine that may include one or more statements designed to
perform a specific task. To write a C program we first create functions and then
put them together. A C program may contain one or more sections shown in
Fig. 1.1.
The documentation section consists of a set of comment (remarks) lines giving
the name of the program, the author and other details which the programmer
would like to use later. Comments may appear anywhere within a program, as
long as they are placed within the delimiters /* and */ (e.g., /*this is a
comment*/). Such comments are helpful in identifying the program’s principal
features or in explaining the underlying logic of various program features.
Documentation section
Link section
Definition section
Global declaration section
main() function section
{
Declaration part
Executable part
}

Subprogram section
Function 1
Function 2

Function n

Figure 1.1: Sections in a C program

The link section provides instructions to the compiler to link functions from the
system library. The definition section defines all symbolic constants.
There are some variables that are used in more than one function. Such
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 3
Programming in C Unit 1

variables are called global variables and are declared in the global declaration
section that is outside of all the functions.
Every C program must have one main function section. 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 opening and
closing braces ({ and }). The program execution begins at the opening brace
and ends at the closing brace. The closing brace of the main function section
is the logical end of the program. All statements in the declaration and
executable parts end with a semicolon(;).
The subprogram section contains all the user-defined functions that are called
in the main function. User-defined functions are generally placed immediately
after the main function, although they may appear in any order.
All sections, except the main function section may be absent when they are
not required.
Self Assessment Questions
1. Using C language programmers can write their own library functions.
(True/False)
2. C is a _______ level programming language.
3. The documentation section contains a set of _________ lines.
4. Every C program must have one main() function. (True/False)

1.3 Simple C Programs

Let us see a simple c program given below:
#include <stdio.h> main() {
printf("Hello, world!\n");
return 0;
}
If you have a C compiler, the first thing to do is figure out how to type this
program in and compile it and run it and see where its output went.
The first line is practically boilerplate; it will appear in almost all programs we
write. It asks that some definitions having to do with the “Standard I/O Library''
be included in our program; these definitions are needed if we are to call the
library function printf correctly.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 4

Programming in C Unit 1

The second line says that we are defining a function named main. Most of the
time, we can name our functions anything we want, but the function name main
is special: it is the function that will be “called'' first when our program starts
running. The empty pair of parentheses indicates that our main function
accepts no arguments, that is, there isn't any information which needs to be
passed in when the function is called.
The braces { and } surround a list of statements in C. Here, they surround the
list of statements making up the function main.
The line
printf("Hello, world!\n");
is the first statement in the program. It asks that the function printf be called;
printf is a library function which prints formatted output. The parentheses
surround printf's argument list: the information which is handed to it which it
should act on. The semicolon at the end of the line terminates the statement.
printf 's first (and, in this case, only) argument is the string which it should
print. The string, enclosed in double quotes (""), consists of the words “Hello,
world!'' followed by a special sequence: \n. In strings, any two-character
sequence beginning with the backslash \ represents a single special character.
The sequence \n represents the “ 'new line'' character, which prints a carriage
return or line feed or whatever it takes to end one line of output and move down
to the next. (This program only prints one line of output, but it's still important
to terminate it.)
The second line in the main function is
return 0;
In general, a function may return a value to its caller, and main is no exception.
When main returns (that is, reaches its end and stops

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 5

Programming in C Unit 1

functioning), the program is at its end, and the return value from main tells the
operating system (or whatever invoked the program that main is the main
function of) whether it succeeded or not. By convention, a return value of 0
indicates success.
Program 1.1: Area of a circle
Here is an elementary C program that reads in the radius of a circle,
calculates the area and then writes the calculated result.
#include <stdio.h> /* Library file access */
/* program to calculate the area of a circle */ /* Title (Comment) */
main() /* Function heading */
{
float radius, area; /*Variable declarations */
printf(“Radius=?”); /* Output statement(prompt) */
scanf(“%f”, &radius); /* Input statement */
area=3.14159*radius*radius; /* Assignment statement */
printf(“Area=%f” ,area); /* Output statement */

Program 1.2: Print a few numbers

Here is a program to illustrate a simple loop.
#include <stdio.h>
/* print a few numbers, to illustrate a simple loop */
main()
{
int i;
for(i = 0; i < 10; i = i + 1) /* Looping statement */
printf("i is %d\n", i);
return 0;
}

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 6

Programming in C Unit 1

Program 1.3: Program to add two numbers

#include <stdio.h> main() {
int i,j,k; // Defining variables
i = 6; // Assign values
j = 8;
k = i + j;
printf("sum of two numbers is %d \n",k); // Printing results }

Self Assessment Questions

5. The information that needs to be passed in when a function is called is

6. The main() function doesn’t return any value. (True/False)

1.4 Constants
Constants in C refer to fixed values that do not change during the execution
of a program. C supports several types of constants as illustrated in Fig. 1.1.
Constants
Fig. 1.1
1.4.1 Integer constants
An integer constant refers to a sequence of digits. There are three types of
integers, namely decimal, octal and hexadecimal.

Numeric constants Character constants

Integer constants Real constants Single character constants String constants

Decimal integers consist of a set of digits, 0 through 9, preceded by an optional
- or +.
Examples: 12, -546, 0, 354647, +56

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 7

Programming in C Unit 1

An octal integer constant consists of any combination of digits from the set 0
through 7, with a leading 0.
Examples: 045, 0, 0567
A sequence of digits preceded by 0x or 0X is considered as hexadecimal
integer. They may also include alphabets A through F or a through f. The letters
A through F represent numbers 10 through 15.
Examples: 0X6, 0x5B, 0Xbcd, 0X
The largest integer value that can be stored is machine-dependent. It is 32767
on 16-bit machines and 2,147,483,647 on 32-bit machines. It is also possible
to store larger integer constants on these machines by appending qualifiers
such as U, L and UL to the constants.
Examples: 54637U or 54637u (unsigned integer)
65757564345UL or 65757564345ul (unsigned long integer)
7685784L or 7685784l (long integer)
Program 1.1: Program to represent integer constants on a 16-bit
computer
/* Integer numbers on 16-bit machine */ main()
{
printf(“Integer values\n\n”);
printf(“%d %d %d\n”, 32767,32767+1,32767+10);
printf(“\n”);
printf(“Long integer values\n\n”);
printf(“%ld %ld %ld\n”, 32767L, 32767L+1L, 32767L+10L);
}
Type and execute the above program and observe the output
1.4.2 Real constants
The numbers containing fractional parts like 67.45 are called real (or floating
point) constants.
Examples: 0.0045, -8.5, +345.678
A real number may also be expressed in exponential (scientific) notation. The
general form is:
mantissa e exponent
The mantissa is either a real number expressed in decimal notation or an
integer. The exponent is an integer number with an optional plus or minus sign.
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 8
Programming in C Unit 1

The letter e separating the mantissa and the exponent can be written in either
lowercase or uppercase.
Examples: 04e4, 12e-2, -1.3E-2
7500000000 may be written as 7.5E9 or 75E8.
Floating point constants are normally represented as double-precision
quantities. However, the suffixes f or F may be used to force single precision
and l or L to extend double-precision further.
1.4.3 Character constants
A single character constant (or simple character constant) contains a single
character enclosed within a pair of single quote marks.
Examples: ‘6’, ‘X’, ‘;’
Character constants have integer values known as ASCII values. For example,
the statement
printf(“%d”, ‘a’);
would print the number 97, the ASCII value of the letter a. Similarly, the
statement
printf(“%c”, 97);
would print the letter a.
1.4.4 String constants
A string constant is a sequence of characters enclosed within double quotes.
The characters may be letters, numbers, special characters and blank space.
Examples: “Hello!”, “1947”, “5+3”
1.4.5 Backslash character constants
C supports some special backslash character constants that are used in output
functions. A list of such backslash character constants is given in Table 1.1.
Note that each one of them represents one character, although they consist of
two characters. These character combinations are called escape sequences.
Table 1.1: Backslash character constants
Constant Meaning
‘\b’ back space
‘\f’ form feed
‘\n’ new line

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 9

Programming in C Unit 1

‘\r’ carriage return

‘\t’ horizontal tab
‘\v’ vertical tab
‘\’’ single quote
‘\” ‘ double quote
‘\\’ backslash
‘\0’ null
Self Assessment Questions
7. An octal integer constant consists of any combination of digits from the
set ________ through ________
8. A sequence of digits preceded by 0x or 0X is considered as integer.
9. A string constant is a sequence of __________ enclosed within double
quotes.

1.5 Concept of an Integer and Variable

Integers are whole numbers with a range of values supported by a particular
machine. Generally, integers occupy one word of storage, and since the word
sizes of machines vary (typically, 16 or 32 bits) the size of an integer that can
be stored depends on the computer. If we use 16 bit word length, the size of
the integer value is limited to the range -32768 to +32767 (that is, -215 to +2 15
-1 ). A signed integer uses one bit for sign and 15 bits for the magnitude of the
number. Similarly, a 32 bit word length can store an integer ranging from -
2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.
In order to provide some control over the range of numbers and storage space,
C has three classes of integer storage, namely short int, int , and long int, in
both signed and unsigned forms. For example, short int represents fairly small
integer values and requires half the amount of storage as a regular int number
uses. A signed integer uses one bit for sign and 15 bits for the magnitude of
the number, therefore, for a 16 bit machine, the range of unsigned integer
numbers will be from 0 to 65,535.
We declare long and unsigned integers to increase the range of values. The
use of qualifier signed on integers is optional because the default declaration
assumes a signed number. The Table 1.2 shows all the allowed combinations
of basic types and qualifiers and their size and range on a 16- bit machine.
Table 1.2: Basic types, qualifiers and their size
Type Size (bits) Range

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 10

Programming in C Unit 1

int or signed int 16 -32,768 to 32,767

unsigned int 16 0 to 65535
short int or signed short int 8 -128 to 127
unsigned short int 8 0 to 255
long int or signed long int 32 -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
unsigned long int 32 0 to 4,294,967,295

Informally, a variable (also called an object) is a place where you can store a
value so that you can refer to it unambiguously. A variable needs a name. You
can think of the variables in your program as a set of boxes, each with a label
giving its name; you might imagine that storing a value “in'' a variable consists
of writing the value on a slip of paper and placing it in the box.
Now let us see how integers and variables are declared. A declaration tells the
compiler the name and type of a variable you'll be using in your program. In its
simplest form, a declaration consists of the type, the name of the variable, and
a terminating semicolon: int i;
The above statement declares an integer variable i. long int i1, i2;
We can also declare several variables of the same type in one declaration,
separating them with commas as shown above.
The placement of declarations is significant. You can't place them just
anywhere (i.e. they cannot be interspersed with the other statements in your
program). They must either be placed at the beginning of a function, or at the
beginning of a brace-enclosed block of statements, or outside of any function.
Furthermore, the placement of a declaration, as well as its storage class,
controls several things about its visibility and lifetime, as we'll see later.
You may wonder why variables must be declared before use. There are two
reasons:
1. It makes things somewhat easier on the compiler; it knows right away what
kind of storage to allocate and what code to emit to store and manipulate
each variable; it doesn't have to try to intuit the programmer's intentions.
2. It forces a bit of useful discipline on the programmer: you cannot introduce
variables wherever you wish; you must think about them enough to pick
appropriate types for them. (The compiler's error messages to you, telling
you that you apparently forgot to declare a variable, are as often helpful as
they are a nuisance: they're helpful when they tell you that you misspelled

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 11

Programming in C Unit 1

a variable, or forgot to think about exactly how you were going to use it.)
Most of the time, it is recommended to write one declaration per line. For the
most part, the compiler doesn't care what order declarations are in. You can
order the declarations alphabetically, or in the order that they're used, or to put
related declarations next to each other. Collecting all variables of the same
type together on one line essentially orders declarations by type, which isn't a
very useful order (it's only slightly more useful than random order).
A declaration for a variable can also contain an initial value. This initializer
consists of an equal sign and an expression, which is usually a single constant:
int i = 1;
int i1 = 10, i2 = 20;
Self Assessment Questions
10. The size of the Integers in C language is same in all the machines.
(True/False)
11. A _______ is a place where we can store values.
12. Size of int is _________ bits.
13. Which of the following tells the compiler the name and type of a variable
you'll be using in your program? ( declaration)
(a) declaration
(b) variables
(c) integers
(d) assignments
14. The _________ consists of an equal sign and an expression, which is
usually a single constant. (initializer)
15. A single declaration statement can contain variables of different types.
(True/False)

1.6 Rules for naming Variables and assigning values to variables

Within limits, you can give your variables and functions any names you want.
These names (the formal term is “identifiers'') consist of letters, numbers, and
underscores. For our purposes, names must begin with a letter. Theoretically,
names can be as long as you want, but extremely long ones get tedious to
type after a while, and the compiler is not required to keep track of extremely
long ones perfectly. (What this means is that if you were to name a variable,
say, supercalafragalisticespialidocious, the compiler might get lazy and
pretend that you'd named it super- calafragalisticespialidocio, such that if you
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 12
Programming in C Unit 1

later misspelled it super- calafragalisticespialidociouz, the compiler wouldn't

catch your mistake. Nor would the compiler necessarily be able to tell the
difference if for some perverse reason you deliberately declared a second
variable named supercalafragalisticespialidociouz.)
The capitalization of names in C is significant: the variable names variable,
Variable, and VARIABLE (as well as silly combinations like variAble) are all
distinct.
A final restriction on names is that you may not use keywords (the words
such as int and for which are part of the syntax of the language) as the
names of variables or functions (or as identifiers of any kind).
Now let us see how you can assign values to variables. The assignment
operator = assigns a value to a variable. For example,
x = 1;
sets x to 1, and
a = b;
sets a to whatever b's value is. The expression
i = i + 1;
15. as we've mentioned elsewhere, the standard programming idiom for
increasing a variable's value by 1: this expression takes i's old value, adds 1
to it, and stores it back into i. (C provides several “shortcut'' operators for
modifying variables in this and similar ways, which we'll meet later.)
We've called the = sign the “assignment operator'' and referred to “assignment
expressions'' because, in fact, = is an operator just like + or -. C does not have
“assignment statements''; instead, an assignment like a = b is an expression
and can be used wherever any expression can appear. Since it's an
expression, the assignment a = b has a value, namely, the same value that's
assigned to a. This value can then be used in a larger expression; for example,
we might write
c = a = b;
Which is equivalent to?
c = (a = b);
and assigns b’s value to both a and c. (The assignment operator, therefore,
groups from right to left.) Later we'll see other circumstances in which it can be
useful to use the value of an assignment expression.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 13

Programming in C Unit 1

It's usually a matter of style whether you initialize a variable with an initializer
in its declaration or with an assignment expression near where you first use it.
That is, there's no particular difference between
int a = 10;
and
int a;
/* later... */ a = 10;
Self Assessment Questions
16. In C, variable names are case sensitive. (True/False)
17. A variable name in C consists of letters, numbers and ________ .

1.7 Summary
C is a general-purpose, structured programming language. Its instructions
consist of terms that resemble algebraic expressions, augmented by certain
English keywords such as if, else, for, do and while. C is characterized by the
ability to write very concise source programs, due in part to the large number
of operators included within the language. Every C program consists of one or
more functions, one of which must be called main. The program will always
begin by executing the main function. Additional function definitions may
precede or follow main.
Integers are whole numbers with a range of values supported by a particular
machine. Generally, integers occupy one word of storage, and since the word
sizes of machines vary (typically, 16 or 32 bits) the size of an integer that can
be stored depends on the computer. A variable (also called an object) is a
place where you can store a value. A declaration tells the compiler the name
and type of a variable you'll be using in your program. The assignment operator
= assigns a value to a variable.

1.8 Terminal Questions

1. Explain the history of C language.
2. What are the advantages of C language?
3. What are the major components of a C program?
4. What significance is attached to the function main?
5. What are arguments? Where do arguments appear within a C program?
6. Distinguish between signed and unsigned integers.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 14

Programming in C Unit 1

7. What are the components of declaration statement?

8. State the rules for naming a variable in C.
9. What is assignment operator and what are its uses?

1.9 Answers to Self Assessment Questions

1. True
2. High
3. Comment
4. True
5. Arguments
6. False
7. (0, 7)
8. Hexadecimal
9. characters
10. False
11. Variable
12. 16
13. (a) declaration
14. initializer
15. False
16. True
17. Underscores

1.10 Answers to Terminal Questions

1. C was developed by Dennis Ritchie and came after B in the year 1972.
(Refer Section 1.1 for more details)
2. C is fast, efficient and structured. (Refer to section 1.2 for more details)
3. Documentation section, Link section, Definition section, Global
declaration section, main() function section, Subprogram section
4. main() is the function that will be “called'' first when our program starts
running.
5. The arguments are symbols that represent information being passed
between the function and other parts of the program. They appear in the
function heading.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 15

Programming in C Unit 1

6. A signed integer uses one bit for sign and remaining bits for the magnitude
of the number, whereas an unsigned integer uses all the bits to represent
magnitude.
7. A declaration consists of the type, the name of the variable, and a
terminating semicolon.
8. Variables (the formal term is “identifiers'') consist of letters, numbers, and
underscores. The capitalization of names in C is significant. You may not
use keywords (the words such as int and for which are part of the syntax
of the language) as the names of variables or functions (or as identifiers of
any kind).
9. The assignment operator (=) assigns a value to a variable.

1.11 Exercises
1. Explain the basic structure of a C program with an example.
2. What are the different steps in executing a C program?
3. Write a C program to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa.
4. Write a program in C to add, subtract, multiply any 3 numbers.
Unit 2 Operators and Expressions
Structure:
2.1 Introduction
Objectives
2.2 Arithmetic Operators
2.3 Unary Operators
2.4 Relational and Logical Operators
2.5 The Conditional Operator
2.6 Library Functions
2.7 Bitwise Operators
2.8 The Increment and Decrement Operators
2.9 The Size of Operator
2.10 Precedence of operators
2.11 Summary
2.12 Terminal Questions
2.13 Answers to Self Assessment Questions
2.14 Answers to Terminal Questions
2.15 Exercises

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 16

Programming in C Unit 1

2.1 Introduction
In the previous unit, you learned about the various features and structure of C
programs. You also learned how the variables in C are declared. In this unit,
you will learn about the operators that are available in C and how the
expressions can be formed to get the solutions of any problems.
C supports a rich set of operators. An operator is a symbol that tells the
computer to perform certain mathematical or logical manipulations. Operators
are used in programs to manipulate data and variables. They usually form a
part of the mathematical or logical expressions.
C operator can be classified into a number of categories. They include:
1. Arithmetic operators
2. Unary operator
3. Relational operators
4. Logical operators
5. Conditional operator
6. Bitwise operators
7. Increment and Decrement operators

Objectives:
After studying this subject, you should be able to:
8. explain different categories of operators
9. use operators on many operands
10. distinguish precedence and associativity of operators
11. explain library functions and their use
12. write small programs using different types of operators

2.2 Arithmetic Operators

The basic operators for performing arithmetic are the same in many computer
languages:
+ addition
- subtraction
* multiplication
/ division
% modulus (remainder)
The - operator can be used in two ways: to subtract two numbers (as in a - b),
or to negate one number (as in -a + b or a + -b).

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 17

Programming in C Unit 1

When applied to integers, the division operator / discards any remainder, so 1

/ 2 is 0 and 7 / 4 is 1. But when either operand is a floating-point quantity (a
real number), the division operator yields a floating-point result, with a
potentially nonzero fractional part. So 1 / 2.0 is 0.5, and 7.0 / 4.0 is 1.75.
The modulus operator % gives you the remainder when two integers are
divided: 1 % 2 is 1; 7 % 4 is 3. (The modulus operator can only be applied to
integers.)
An additional arithmetic operation you might be wondering about is
exponentiation. Some languages have an exponentiation operator (typically A
or **), but C doesn't. (To square or cube a number, just multiply it by itself.)
Multiplication, division, and modulus all have higher precedence than addition
and subtraction. The term “precedence'' refers to how “tightly'' operators bind
to their operands (that is, to the things they operate on). In mathematics,
multiplication has higher precedence than addition, so 1 + 2 * 3 is 7, not 9. In
other words, 1 + 2 * 3 is equivalent to 1 + (2 * 3). C is the same way.
All of these operators “group'' from left to right, which means that when two or
more of them have the same precedence and participate next to each other in
an expression, the evaluation conceptually proceeds from left to right. For
example, 1 - 2 - 3 is equivalent to (1 - 2) - 3 and gives -4, not +2. (“Grouping''
is sometimes called associativity, although the term is used somewhat
differently in programming than it is in mathematics. Not all C operators group
from left to right; a few groups from right to left.)
Whenever the default precedence or associativity doesn't give you the
grouping you want, you can always use explicit parentheses. For example, if
you want to add 1 to 2 and then multiply the result by 3, you could write (1 + 2)
* 3.
Program 2.1: Program that shows the use of integer arithmetic to convert
a given number of days into months and days.
/* Program to convert days to months and days */ main()
{
int months, days;
printf(“Enter days\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&days);
months=days/30;

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 18

Programming in C Unit 1

days=days%30;
printf(“Months=%d Days=%d”, months,days);
}

Self Assessment Questions

1. What is the value of the arithmetic expression: 14 % 3 + 7 % 2
(a) 1 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 4
2. operator can be only applied to integers.

2.3 Unary Operator

A unary operator acts upon a single operand to produce a new value.
Unary Minus
The most well known unary operator is minus, where a minus sign precedes a
constant, variable or expression. In C, all numeric constants are positive.
Therefore, a negative number is actually a positive constant preceded by a
unary minus, for example:
-3

2.4 Relational and Logical operators

An if statement like
if(x > max)
max = x;
is perhaps deceptively simple. Conceptually, we say that it checks whether the
condition x > max is “true'' or “false''. The mechanics underlying C's conception
of “true'' and “false,'' however, deserve some explanation. We need to
understand how true and false values are represented, and how they are
interpreted by statements like if.
As far as C is concerned, a true/false condition can be represented as an
integer. (An integer can represent many values; here we care about only two
values: “true'' and “false.'' The study of mathematics involving only two values
is called Boolean algebra, after George Boole, a mathematician who refined
this study.) In C, “false'' is represented by a value of 0 (zero), and “true'' is
represented by any value that is nonzero. Since there are many nonzero
values (at least 65,534, for values of type int), when we have to pick a specific
value for “true,'' we'll pick 1.
The relational operators such as <, <=, >, and >= are in fact operators, just like

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 19

Programming in C Unit 1

+, -, *, and /. The relational operators take two values, look at them, and “return''
a value of 1 or 0 depending on whether the tested relation was true or false.
The complete set of relational operators in C is:
> less than
> = less than or equal
> greater than
> = greater thanor equal
== equal
!= not equal
For example, 1 < 2 is true(1), 3 > 4 is false(0), 5 == 5 is true(1), and 6 != 6 is
false(0).
The equality-testing operator is ==, not a single =, which is assignment. If you
accidentally write
if(a = 0)
(and you probably will at some point; everybody makes this mistake), it will not
test whether a is zero, as you probably intended. Instead, it will assign 0 to a,
and then perform the “true'' branch of the if statement if a is nonzero. But a will
have just been assigned the value 0, so the “true'' branch will never be taken!
(This could drive you crazy while debugging -- you wanted to do something if
a was 0, and after the test, a is 0, whether it was supposed to be or not, but
the “true'' branch is nevertheless not taken.)
The relational operators work with arbitrary numbers and generate true/false
values. You can also combine true/false values by using the Boolean
operators(also called the logical operators), which take true/false values as
operands and compute new true/false values. The three Boolean operators
are:
&& AND
|| OR
! NOT (takes one operand,“unary'')
The && (“and'') operator takes two true/false values and produces a true (1)
result if both operands are true (that is, if the left-hand side is true and the right-
hand side is true). The || (“or'') operator takes two true/false values and
produces a true (1) result if either operand is true. The ! (“not'') operator takes
a single true/false value and negates it, turning false to true and true to false
(0 to 1 and nonzero to 0). The logical operators && and || are used when we

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 20

Programming in C Unit 1

want to test more than one condition and make decisions.

For example, to test whether the variable i lies between 1 and 10, you might
use
if(1 < i && i < 10)
...

Here we're expressing the relation “i is between 1 and 10'' as “1 is less than i
and i is less than 10.''
It's important to understand why the more obvious expression
if(1 < i < 10) /* WRONG */
would not work. The expression 1 < i < 10 is parsed by the compiler
analogously to 1 + i + 10. The expression 1 + i + 10 is parsed as (1 + i) + 10
and means “add 1 to i, and then add the result to 10.'' Similarly, the expression
1 < i < 10 is parsed as (1 < i) < 10 and means “see if 1 is less than i, and then
see if the result is less than 10.'' But in this case, “the result'' is 1 or 0,
depending on whether i is greater than 1. Since both 0 and 1 are less than 10,
the expression 1 < i < 10 would always be true in C, regardless of the value of
i!
Relational and Boolean expressions are usually used in contexts such as an if
statement, where something is to be done or not done depending on some
condition. In these cases what's actually checked is whether the expression
representing the condition has a zero or nonzero value. As long as the
expression is a relational or Boolean expression, the interpretation is just what
we want. For example, when we wrote
if(x > max)
the > operator produced a 1 if x was greater than max, and a 0 otherwise. The
if statement interprets 0 as false and 1 (or any nonzero value) as true.
But what if the expression is not a relational or Boolean expression? As far as
C is concerned, the controlling expression (of conditional statements like if)
can in fact be any expression: it doesn't have to “look like'' a Boolean
expression; it doesn't have to contain relational or logical operators. All C looks
at (when it's evaluating an if statement, or anywhere else where it needs a
true/false value) is whether the expression evaluates to 0 or nonzero. For
example, if you have a variable x, and you want to do something if x is nonzero,

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 21

Programming in C Unit 1

it's possible to write

if(x)
statement
and the statement will be executed if x is nonzero (since nonzero means
“true'').
This possibility (that the controlling expression of an if statement doesn't have
to “look like'' a Boolean expression) is both useful and potentially confusing.
It's useful when you have a variable or a function that is “conceptually
Boolean,'' that is, one that you consider to hold a true or false
(actually nonzero or zero) value. For example, if you have a variable verbose
which contains a nonzero value when your program should run in verbose
mode and zero when it should be quiet, you can write things like if(verbose)
printf("Starting first pass\n");
and this code is both legal and readable, besides which it does what you
want. The standard library contains a function isupper() which tests whether a
character is an upper-case letter, so if c is a character, you might write
if(isupper(c))
...
Both of these examples (verbose and isupper()) are useful and readable.
However, you will eventually come across code like
if(n)
average = sum / n;
where n is just a number. Here, the programmer wants to compute the average
only if n is nonzero (otherwise, of course, the code would divide by 0), and the
code works, because, in the context of the if statement, the trivial expression
n is (as always) interpreted as “true'' if it is nonzero, and “false'' if it is zero.
“Coding shortcuts'' like these can seem cryptic, but they're also quite common,
so you'll need to be able to recognize them even if you don't choose to write
them in your own code. Whenever you see code like
if(x)
or
if(f())

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 22

Programming in C Unit 1

where x or f() do not have obvious “Boolean'' names, you can read them as “if
x is nonzero'' or “if f() returns nonzero.''
Self Assessment Questions
3. The logical operators ___________ and _________ are used when
we want to test more than one condition and make decisions.
4. State whether the following statement is correct or not.
(Correct/Incorrect)
if(a<4<c)
b=c;
4.3 The Conditional Operator
The Conditional operator (ternary operator) pair “?:” is available in C to
construct conditional expressions of the form expr1?expr2:expr3
where expr1, expr2 and expr3 are expressions.
The operator ? : works as follows: expr1 is evaluated first. If it is
nonzero(true), then the expression expr2 is evaluated and becomes the value
of the expression. If expr1 is false, expr3 is evaluated and its value becomes
the value of the expression. For example, consider the following statements:
a=100; b=200;
c=(a>b)?a:b;
In this example, c will be assigned the value of b. This can be achieved using
the if..else statements as follows: if(a>b) c=a;
else c=b;

4.4 Library Functions

The C language is accompanied by a number of library functions or built in
functions that carry out various commonly used operations or calculations.
There are library functions that carry out standard input/output operations,
functions that perform operations on characters, functions that perform
operations on strings and functions that carry out various mathematical
calculations.
Functionally similar library functions are usually grouped together as object
programs in separate library files.
A library function is accessed simply by writing the function name, followed by
a list of arguments that represent information being passed to the function. A
function that returns a data item can appear anywhere within an expression in

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 23

Programming in C Unit 1

place of a constant or an identifier. A function that carries out operations on

data items but does not return anything can be accessed simply by writing the
function name.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 24

Programming in C Unit 1

A typical set of library functions will include a large number of functions that
are common to most C compilers, such as those shown in table 2.1.

Function Purpose
abs(i) Return the absolute value of ( i is integer)
ceil(d) Round up to the next integer value(the smallest integer that is
greater than or equal to d)
cos(d) Return the cosine of d
exp(d) Raise e to the power d(e=Naperian constant)
fabs(d) Return the absolute value of d(d is double)
floor(d) Round down to the next integer value(the largest integer that does
not exceed d)
getchar() Enter a character from the standard input device
log(d) Return the natural logarithm of d
pow(d1,d2) Return d1 raised to the power d2
putchar(c) Send a character to the standard output device
rand() Return a random positive integer
sin(d) Return sine of d
sqrt(d) Return the square root of d
tan(d) Return the tangent of d
toascii(c) Convert value of argument to ASCII
tolower(c) Convert letter to lowercase
toupper(c) Convert letter to uppercase
Table 2.1
Program 2.2: Program to convert lowercase to uppercase
#include <stdio.h> /* Input/Output functions are available in stdio.h */
#include<ctype.h> /* Character functions are available in the file ctype.h */
main()
/* read a lowercase character and print its uppercase equivalent */ {
int lower, upper;
lower=getchar();
upper=toupper(lower);
putchar(upper);
}

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 25

Programming in C Unit 1

Program 2.3: Program to illustrate the use of library functions

#include<stdio.h>
#include<ctype.h>
#include<math.h> /* Mathematical functions are available in math. h*/ main()
{
int i=-10, e=2, d=10;
float rad=1.57;
double d1=2.0, d2=3.0;
printf(“%d\n”, abs(i));
printf(“%f\n”, sin(rad));
printf(“%f\n”, cos(rad));
printf(“%f\n”, exp(e)); printf(“%d\n”, log(d));
printf(“%f\n”, pow(d1,d2));
}
Execute the above program and observe the result
Self Assessment Questions
5. are built-in functions that carry out various
commonly used operations or calculations
6. Fill in the blanks as indicated by alphabets. The value of (a) floor(5.8), (b)
floor(-5.8), (c) ceil(5.8) and (d) ceil(-5.8) are ______ (a) _____ ,
___ (b) _____ , ____ (c) _____ and ____ (d) _____
respectively.

2.7 Bitwise Operators

The bitwise operators &, |, A, and ~ operate on integers thought of as binary
numbers or strings of bits. The & operator is bitwise AND, the | operator is
bitwise OR, the A operator is bitwise exclusive-OR (XOR), and the ~ operator
is a bitwise negation or complement. (&, |, and A are “binary" in that they take
two operands; ~ is unary.) These operators let you work with the individual
bits of a variable; one common use is to treat an integer as a set of single-bit
flags. You might define the 3rd bit as the “verbose'' flag bit by defining
#define VERBOSE 4
Then you can “turn the verbose bit on'' in an integer variable flags by executing
flags = flags | VERBOSE;
and turn it off with
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 26
Programming in C Unit 1

flags = flags & ~VERBOSE;

and test whether it's set with
if(flags & VERBOSE)
The left-shift and right-shift operators << and >> let you shift an integer left or
right by some number of bit positions; for example, value << 2 shifts value left
by two bits.
The comma operator can be used to link the related expressions together.
The expressions are executed one after the other. The most common use for
comma operators is when you want multiple variables controlling a for loop, for
example:
for(i = 0, j = 10; i < j; i++, j--)

Self Assessment Questions

7. let you work with the individual bits of a variable;
one common use is to treat an integer as a set of single-bit flags.
8. Fill in the blanks as indicated by alphabets. If flag1=5, flag2=8, then (a)
flag1&flag2, (b) flag1|flag2, (c) ~flag1 and (d) flag1Aflag2 is computed to
be ________________ (a) ____ , ___ (b) ______ , ___ (c) ______
and ____ (d) _____ respectively.

2.8 Increment and Decrement Operators

When we want to add or subtract constant 1 to a variable, C provides a set of
shortcuts: the autoincrement and autodecrement operators. In their simplest
forms, they look like this: ++i add 1 to i
--j subtract 1 from j
These correspond to the forms i = i + 1 and j = j - 1. They are also equivalent
to the short hand forms i+=1 and j-=1. C has a set of ‘shorthand’ assignment
operators of the form: v op=exp;
where v is a variable, exp is an expression and op is a C binary arithmetic
operator.
The assignment statement
v op=exp;
is equivalent to
v= v op(exp);

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 27

Programming in C Unit 1

Example:
x+=y+1;
This is same as the statement
x=x+(y+1);
The ++ and -- operators apply to one operand (they're unary operators). The
expression ++i adds 1 to i, and stores the incremented result back in i. This
means that these operators don't just compute new values; they also modify
the value of some variable. (They share this property -- modifying some
variable -- with the assignment operators; we can say that these operators all
have side effects. That is, they have some effect, on the side, other than just
computing a new value.)
The incremented (or decremented) result is also made available to the rest of
the expression, so an expression like k = 2 * ++i
means “add one to i, store the result back in i, multiply it by 2, and store that
result in k.'' (This is a pretty meaningless expression; our actual uses of ++
later will make more sense.)
Both the ++ and -- operators have an unusual property: they can be used in
two ways, depending on whether they are written to the left or the right of the
variable they're operating on. In either case, they increment or decrement the
variable they're operating on; the difference concerns whether it's the old or
the new value that's “returned'' to the surrounding expression. The prefix form
++i increments i and returns the incremented value. The postfix form i++
increments i, but returns the prior, nonincremented value. Rewriting our
previous example slightly, the expression k = 2 * i++
means “take i's old value and multiply it by 2, increment i, store the result of
the multiplication in k.''
The distinction between the prefix and postfix forms of ++ and -- will probably
seem strained at first, but it will make more sense once we begin using these
operators in more realistic situations.
For example,
a[i] = c;
i = i + 1;
using the ++ operator, we could simply write this as
a[i++] = c;

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 28

Programming in C Unit 1

We wanted to increment i after deciding which element of the array to store

into, so the postfix form i++ is appropriate.
Notice that it only makes sense to apply the ++ and -- operators to variables
(or to other “containers,'' such as a[i]). It would be meaningless to say
something like 1++
or
(2+3)++
The ++ operator doesn't just mean “add one''; it means “add one to a variable''
or “make a variable's value one more than it was before.'' But (1+2) is not a
variable, it's an expression; so there's no place for ++ to store the incremented
result.
Another unfortunate example is
1 = i++;
which some confused programmers sometimes write, presumably because
they want to be extra sure that i is incremented by 1. But i++ all by itself is
sufficient to increment i by 1; the extra (explicit) assignment to i is unnecessary
and in fact counterproductive, meaningless, and incorrect. If you want to
increment i (that is, add one to it, and store the result back in i), either use
2 = i + 1;
or
3 += 1;
or
++i;
or
i++;
Did it matter whether we used ++i or i++ in this last example? Remember, the
difference between the two forms is what value (either the old or the new) is
passed on to the surrounding expression. If there is no surrounding expression,
if the ++i or i++ appears all by itself, to increment i and do nothing else, you
can use either form; it makes no difference. (Two ways that an expression can
appear “all by itself,'' with “no surrounding expression,'' are when it is an
expression statement terminated by a semicolon, as above, or when it is one
of the controlling expressions of a for loop.) For example, both the loops
for(i = 0; i < 10; ++i) printf("%d\n", i);
and
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++) printf("%d\n", i);

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 29

Programming in C Unit 1

will behave exactly the same way and produce exactly the same results. (In
real code, postfix increment is probably more common, though prefix definitely
has its uses, too.)

Self Assessment Questions

9. Increment and Decrement operators are binary operators. (True/False)
10. The prefix form to increment i is _______ whereas the postfix form to
increments i is _______ .

2.9 The size of Operator

The sizeof is a compile time operator and, when used with an operand, it
returns the number of bytes the operand occupies. The operand may be a
variable, a constant or a data type qualifier.
Examples:
m=sizeof(sum);
n=sizeof(long int);
k=sizeof(235L);
The size of operator is normally used to determine the lengths of arrays and
structures when their sizes are not known to the programmer. It is also used to
allocate memory space dynamically to variables during execution of a
program.
Program 2.4: Program to illustrate the use of size of operator
#include<stdio.h> main() {
int i=10;
printf(“integer: %d\n”, sizeof(i);
}
The above program might generate the following output: integer: 2
Thus we see that this version of C allocates 2 bytes to each integer quantity.
Program 2.5: Program to illustrate arithmetic operators
#include<stdio.h> main() { int a, b, c, d; a=10; b=15; c=++a-b; printf(“a=%d
b=%d c=%d\n”, a, b, c); d=b++ +a;
printf(“a=%d b=%d d=%d\n”, a, b, d);
printf(“a/b=%d\n”, a/b);
printf(“a%%b=%d\n”, a%b);
printf(“a*=b=%d\n”, a*=b);
printf(“%d\n”, (c>d)?1:0);
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 30
Programming in C Unit 1

printf(“%d\n”, (c<d)?1:0);
}
Execute the above program and observe the result.

2.10 Precedence of Operators

The precedence of C operators dictates the order of evaluation within an
expression. The precedence of the operators introduced here is summarised
in the Table 2.2. The highest precedence operators are given first.
Operators Associativity
( -
) >. left to right
! —+ - ++ -- & * right to left
*/ % left to right
+- left to right
< <= > >= left to right
== != left to right
& left to right
| left to right
&& left to right
|| right to left
= *= /= %= += -= right to left
Table 2.2

Where the same operator appears twice (for example *) the first one is the
unary version.
Program 2.6: A program to illustrate evaluation of expressions
#include<stdio.h>
main()
/* Evaluation of expressions */
{
float a, b, c, x, y, z;
a=20;
b=2;
c=-23;
x = a + b / ( 3 + c * 4 - 1);
y = a - b / (3 + c) * ( 4 - 1);
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 31
Programming in C Unit 1

z= a - ( b / ( 3 + c ) * 2 ) - 1;
printf( “x=%f\n”, x);
printf(“y=%f\n”, y);
printf(“z=%f\n”, z);
}
Execute the above program and observe the result.
Program 2.7: Program to convert seconds to minutes and seconds
#include <stdio.h>
#define SEC_PER_MIN 60 // seconds in a minute
int main(void)
{
int sec, min, left;

printf("Convert seconds to minutes and seconds!\n");

printf("Enter the number of seconds you wish to convert.\n");
scanf("%d", &sec); *number of seconds is read in
min = sec / SEC_PER_MIN; *truncated number of minutes left = sec %
SEC_PER_MIN; *number of seconds left over printf("%d seconds is %d
minutes, %d seconds.\n", sec, min, left);
return 0;
}

2.11 Summary
C supports a rich set of operators. An operator is a symbol that tells the
computer to perform certain mathematical or logical manipulations. Operators
are used in programs to manipulate data and variables. A binary operator acts
on two operands. A unary operator acts upon a single operand to produce a
new value. Multiplication, division, and modulus all have higher precedence
than addition and subtraction. Relational and Boolean expressions are usually
used in contexts such as an if statement, where something is to be done or not
done depending on some condition. The C language is accompanied by a
number of library functions or built in functions that carry out various commonly
used operations or calculations. The size of operator is normally used to
determine the lengths of arrays and structures when their sizes are not known
to the programmer. It is also used to allocate memory space dynamically to
variables during execution of a program. Associativity is the order in which

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 32

Programming in C Unit 1

consecutive operations within the same precedence group are carried out.
2.12 Terminal questions
1. If i=10 and j=12, what are the values of c and d after executing the
following program segment:
i++;
c=j++ + i;
d=++i + j++;
2. Suppose that x, y and z are integer variables which have been assigned
the values 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Evaluate the following expression and
determine the value of x.
x *= -2 * (y + z) / 3
3. Suppose that i is an integer variable whose value is 7 and c is a character
variable that represents the character ‘w’, evaluate the following logical
expression:
(i>=6) && (c==’w’)
4. Suppose that i is an integer variable whose value is 7 and f is a floating -
point variable whose value is 8.5. Evaluate the following expression: (i +
f) %4
5. What is meant by associativity?

2.13 Answers to Self Assessment Questions

1. 3
2. % (modulus)
3. &&, ||
4. Incorrect
5. Library functions
6. (a) 5, (b) -6, ( c) 6, (d) -5
7. Bitwise operator
8. 8. (a) 0, (b) 13 , (c) 10 , (d) 13
9. False
10. ++i, i++

2.14 Answers to Terminal Questions

1. c=23 and d=25
2. -8
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 33
Programming in C Unit 1

3. true
4. Given expression is invalid because a floating point variable can not be
used in a modulus operation.
5. Associativity is the order in which consecutive operations within the same
precedence group are carried out.

2.15 Exercises
1. Suppose a=3, b=5, c=8 and d=4, give the output of the following:
a) x=a*b-c/d+4 b) z=a-b/d*c+10
2. Suppose i=5, j=8, k=10, then , what is the output of the following:
a) x=a++ -j b) y=k++ *j—
3. What is the precedence of operators? How expressions are evaluated
using the precedences?
4. Suppose a=7, b=11, find the output of the following:
a) x=(a>b)?b:a b) x=(a<b)?a:b
5. Explain the use of bitwise operators with suitable examples.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 34

Programming in C Unit 1

Unit 3 Data Types and Input/Output Operators

Structure:
3.1 Introduction
Objectives
3.2 Floating-point Numbers
Converting Integers to Floating-point and vice-versa Mixed-mode
Expressions
3.3 The type cast Operator
3.4 The type char
3.5 Keywords
3.6 Character Input and Output
3.7 Formatted input and output
3.8 The gets() and puts() functions
3.9 Interactive Programming
3.10 Summary
3.11 Terminal Questions
3.12 Answers to Self Assessment Questions
3.13 Answers to Terminal Questions
3.14 Exercises

3.1 Introduction
In the previous unit, you learned about the operators that a C programming
language supports. You also learned how the operators are used in the
expressions of C programs. In this unit, you will learn about the data types that
are supported in C. You will also study about the Input/output operators which
makes C as the most efficient and powerful programming language. Integer is
one of the fundamental data types. All C compilers support four fundamental
data types, namely integer (int), character (char), floating point (float), and
double-precision floating point (double). Like integer data type, other data
types also offer extended data types such as long double and signed char.
C supports a rich set of operators. We have already used several of them, such
as =, +, -, *, / and %. An operator is a symbol that tells the computer to perform
certain mathematical or logical manipulations. Operators are used in programs
to manipulate data and variables. They usually form a part of the mathematical
or logical expressions.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 35

Programming in C Unit 1

It is possible to combine operands of different data types in arithmetic

expressions. Such expressions are called mixed-mode arithmetic expressions.
C language is accompanied by some library functions to handle
input/output(I/O) operations. In this unit we will make use of six I/O
functions : getchar(), putchar(), scanf(), printf(), gets() and puts(). These
functions are used to transfer the information between the computer and the
standard input/output devices. Throughout this course we assume that
keyboard is the standard input device and the user screen is the standard
output device. The first two functions, getchar() and putchar(), allow single
character to be transferred into and out of the computer; the functions scanf()
and printf() permit the transfer of single character, numerical values and
strings; the functions gets() and puts() facilitate the input and output of strings.
These functions can be accessed within a program by including the header file
stdio.h.
Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• apply the concept of real numbers in C and characters in C
• combine different data types and form more complicated arithmetic
expressions
• to transfer a character, numerical value and a string between the computer
and I/O devices
• to write programs using I/O functions to handle single character, numerical
values and strings

3.2 Floating-point Numbers

Floating point (or real) numbers are stored in 32 bit (on all 16 bit and 32 bit
machines), with 6 digits of precision. Floating point numbers are defined in C
by the keyword float. When the accuracy provided by a float number is not
sufficient, the type double can be used to define the number. A double data
type number uses 64 bits giving a precision of 14 digits. These are known as
double precision numbers. To extend the precision further, we may use long
double which uses 80 bits. The table 3.1 shows all the allowed combinations
of floating point numbers and qualifiers and their size and range on a 16-bit
machine.
Table 3.1: Floating point numbers and qualifiers and their size and range on a
16-bit machine.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 36

Programming in C Unit 1

Type Size (bits) Range

Float 32 3.4E-38 to 3.4E+38
Double 64 1.7E-308 to 1.7E+308
long double 80 3.4E-4932 to 1.1E+4932

Program 3.1: The following program illustrates typical declarations,

assignments and values stored in various types of variables. main() { /*
...... DECLARATIONS............................... */
float x, p; double y, q; unsigned k; /*DECLARATIONS AND
ASSIGNMENTS ..........................................................................*/
int m=54321; long int n=1234567890; /*ASSIGNMENTS */
x = 1.234567890000; y = 9.87654321; k= 54321; p=q=1.0; /*
.................... PRINTING ........................ */
printf(“m=%d\n”,m); printf(“n=%ld\n”,n); printf(“x=%.12lf\n”,x);
printf(“x=%f\n”,x); printf(“y=%.12lf\n”,y); printf(“y=%lf\n”,y); printf(“k=%u p= %f
q=%.12lf\n”,k,p,q); }
Output
m = -11215
n = 1234567890
x = 1.234567880630
x = 1.234568
y = 9.876543210000
y = 9.876543
k = 54321 p = 1.000000 q= 1.000000000000
Program 3.2: Program to calculate the average of N numbers
#define N 10 /* SYMBOLIC CONSTANT */ main() {
int count; /* DECLARATION OF

float sum, average, number; VARIABLES */

sum = 0; / * INITIALIZATION OF

count = 0; VARIABLES*/
while (count<N) { scanf(“%f”, &number); sum = sum + number; count
= count + 1;
}
average = sum / N;

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 37

Programming in C Unit 1

printf(“N = % d Sum = %f “, N, sum); printf(“Average = %f”, average);

Output
1
2.3
4.67
1.42
7
3.67
4.08
2.2
4.25
8.21
N= 10 Sum= 38.799999 Average= 3.880000
Program 3.3: Program to compute the roots of a quadratic equation
#include <math.h> main()
{
float a,b,c,discriminant, rootl, root2;
printf(“input the values of a,b and c\n”);
scanf (“%f %f %f”, &a, &b, &c);
discriminant = b * b - 4 * a *c;
if (discriminant<0)
printf(“roots are imaginary\n”);
else
{
rootl = (-b + sqrt(discriminant)) / (2 * a);
root2 = (-b - sqrt(discriminant)) / (2 * a);
printf (“Root1 = %5.2f \n Root2 = %5.2f \n”, root1, root2); }

}
Output
input the values of a,b and c
2 4 -16
Root1 = 2.00
Root2 = -4.00
input the values of a,b and c

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 38

Programming in C Unit 1

123
roots are imaginary
3.2.1 Converting Integers to Floating-point and vice-versa
C permits mixing of constants and variables of different types in an expression,
but during evaluation it adheres to very strict rules of type conversion. We know
that the computer considers one operator at a time, involving two operands.
If the operands are of different types, the ‘lower’ type is automatically converted
to the ‘higher’ type before the operation proceeds. The result is of higher type.
Given below is the sequence of rules that are applied while evaluating
expressions.
All short type are automatically converted to int ; then
1. If one of the operands is long double, the other will be converted to
long double and the result will be long double;
2. else, if one of the operands is double, the other will be converted to
double and the result will be double;
3. else, if one of the operands is float, the other will be converted to float and
the result will be float;
4. else, if one of the operands is unsigned long int, the other will be
converted to unsigned long int and the result will be unsigned long int;
5. else if one of the operands is long int and the other is unsigned int, then:
• if unsigned int can be converted to long int, the unsigned int operand
will be converted as such and the result will be long int;
• else, both operands will be converted to unsigned long int and the
result will be unsigned long int;
6. else, if one of the operands is long int , the other will be converted to long
int and the result will be long int;
7. else, if one of the operands is unsigned int , the other will be converted to
unsigned int and the result will be unsigned int;
The final result of an expression is converted to type of the variable on the left
of the assignment sign before assigning the value to it. However, the following
changes are introduced during the final assignment:
1. float to int causes truncation of the fractional part.
2. double to float causes rounding of digits.
3. long int to int causes dropping of the excess higher order bits

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 39

Programming in C Unit 1

3.2.2 Mixed-mode Expressions

When one of the operands is real and the other is integer, the expression is
called a mixed-mode arithmetic expression. If either operand is of the real type,
then only the real operation is performed and the result is always real number.
Thus
25 / 10.0 = 2.5
Whereas 25 / 10 =2
Self Assessment Questions
1. When the accuracy provided by a float number is not sufficient, the type
long float can be used to define the number. (True/False)
2. A double data type uses _________ bits.
3. If the operands are of different data types, the ‘lower’ type is automatically
converted to the ‘higher’ type before the operation proceeds. (True/False)
4. During the final assignment ________ to int causes dropping of the
excess higher order bits.
5. The value of the expression 22.0/10 is ________.

3.3 The type cast Operator

C performs type conversions automatically. However, there are instances
when we want to force a type conversion in a way that is different from the
automatic conversion. Consider, for example, the calculation of ratio of doctors
to engineers in a town.
Ratio = doctor_number / engineer _number
Since doctor _number and engineer_number are declared as integers in the
program, the decimal part of the result of the division would be lost and Ratio
would represent a wrong figure. This problem can be solved by converting
locally one of the variables to the floating point as shown below:
Ratio = (float) doctor_number / engineer _number
The operator (float) converts the doctor_number to floating point for the
purpose of evaluation of the expression. Then using the rule of automatic
conversion, the division is performed in floating point mode, thus retaining the
fractional part of the result. Note that in no way does the operator (float) affect
the value of the variable doctor_number. And also, the type of doctor_number
remains as int in the other parts of the program.
The process of such local conversion is known as casting a value. The general

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 40

Programming in C Unit 1

form of cast is:

(type-name) expression
where type-name is one of the standard C data types. The expression may be
a constant, variable or an expression. The Table 3.2 shows some examples of
casts and their actions:
Table 3.2: Use of Casts
Example Action
X=(int) 8.5 8.5 is converted to integer by truncation.
A=(int) 21.3 / (int) 4.5 Evaluated as 21/4 and the result would be 5.
B=(double) sum/n Division is done in floating point mode.
Y= (int) (a+b) The result of a+b is converted to integer.
Z= (int) a+b a is converted to integer and then added to b.
P=cos(( double)x) Converts x to double before using it.

Program 3.4: The following program shows the use of casts

main()
{
/* Program to find average of two integers */ float avg;
int n=2,n1,n2;
printf(“enter any 2 numbers\n”);
scanf(“%d %d”,&n1,&n2);
avg=(n1+n2)/(float) n;
printf(“ their average is\n”,avg);
}
Casting can be used to round-off a given value. Consider the following
statement:
X= (int) (y+0.5);
If y is 37.7, y+0.5 is 38.2 and on casting, the result becomes 38, the value that
is assigned to X. Of course, the expression, being cast is not changed. When
combining two different types of variables in an expression, never assume the
rules of automatic conversion. It is always a good practice to explicitly force the
conversion. It is more safer and more portable. For example, when y and p are
double and m is int, the following two statements are equivalent.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 41

Programming in C Unit 1

y = p + m;
y = p + (double)m;
However, the second statement is preferable. It will work the same way on all
machines and is more readable.
Self Assessment Questions
6. Casting can be used to round-off a given value. (True/False)
7. The value of A in the expression A=(int)11.35/(int)14.5 is __________
8. If the value of X is 35.2, then the value of A in the expression:
A = (int)(X+0.5); is _____________ .

3.4 The type char

A single character can be defined as a character(char) type data. Characters
are usually stored in 8 bits (one byte) of internal storage. The qualifier signed
or unsigned may be explicitly applied to char. While unsigned chars have
values between 0 and 255, signed chars have values from -128 to 127.
A character constant is formed by enclosing the character within a pair of
single quote marks. So ‘b’, ‘.’ and ‘5’ are all valid examples of character
constants. Note that a character constant, which is a single character
enclosed in single quotes is different from a character string, which is any
number of characters enclosed in double quotes.
The format characters %c can be used in a printf statement to display the
value of a char variable at the terminal.
Program 3.5: The following program illustrates how to use char data
type.
#include<stdio.h> main() {
char c=’A’;
int a=65;
printf(“%c\n”, c);
printf(“%d\n”, c); printf(“%c\n”,a);
}
Output
A
65
A

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 42

Programming in C Unit 1

Note that with the format characters %d, the ASCII number of the character is
displayed. With the format character %c, the character corresponding to the
given ASCII number is displayed.
Self Assessment Questions
9. What is the format character to display the value of a char variable?
10. The output of the following C statement: printf(“%c”, 70); is .

3.5 Keywords
Keywords are the reserved words of a programming language. All the
keywords have fixed meanings and these meanings cannot be changed.
Keywords serve as basic building blocks for program statements. The list of all
keywords in ANSI C are listed in the Table 3.3.
Table 3.3: ANSI C Keywords
auto double int struct
break else long switch
case enum register typedef
char extern return union
const float short unsigned
continue for signed void
default goto sizeof volatile
do if static while

All keywords must be written in lowercase. Some compilers may use

additional keywords that must be identified from the C manual.

Self Assessment Questions

11. All keywords must be written in ____________.
12. default is not a valid keyword in C. (True/False)

3.6 Character Input and Output

The most basic way of reading input is by calling the function getchar().
getchar() reads one character from the “standard input,'' which is usually the
user's keyboard. getchar() returns (rather obviously) the character it reads, or,
if there are no more characters available, the special value EOF (“end of file'').
This value will be assigned within the stdio.h file. Typically, EOF will be
assigned the value -1, but this may vary from one compiler to another.
The syntax of the getchar() function is written as

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 43

Programming in C Unit 1

character variable= getchar()

where character variable refers to some previously declared character
variable.
Example: char c;

c=getchar();
The first statement declares that c is a character-type variable. The second
statement causes a single character to be entered from the keyboard and then
assign to c.
A companion function is putchar(), which writes one character to the “standard
output.'' (The standard output is usually the user's screen).
The syntax of the putchar() function is written as
putchar(character variable)
where character variable refers to some previously declared character
variable.
Example: char c;

putchar(c);
The first statement declares that c is a character-type variable. The second
statement causes the current value of c to be transmitted to the user monitor
where it will be displayed.
Using these two functions, we can write a very basic program to copy the input,
a character at a time, to the output:
Program 3.6: Program to copy the input, a character at a time, to the
output
#include <stdio.h>
/* copy input to output */ main()
{
int c;
c = getchar();
while(c != EOF)
{

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 44

Programming in C Unit 1

putchar(c); c = getchar(); } return 0;

}
Execute the above program and observe the result.
It reads one character, and if it is not the EOF code, enters a while loop, printing
one character and reading another, as long as the character read is not EOF.
A char variable could hold integers corresponding to character set values, and
that an int could hold integers of more arbitrary values (from - 32768 to +
32767). Since most character sets contain a few hundred characters (nowhere
near 32767), an int variable can in general comfortably hold all char values,
and then some. Therefore, there's nothing wrong with declaring c as an int.
But in fact, it's important to do so, because getchar() can return every
character value, plus that special, non-character value EOF, indicating that
there are no more characters. Type char is only guaranteed to be able to hold
all the character values; it is not guaranteed to be able to hold EOF value
without possibly mixing it up with some actual character value. Therefore, you
should always remember to use an int for anything you assign getchar()'s
return value to.
When you run the character copying program, and it begins copying its input
(you’re typing) to its output (your screen), you may find yourself wondering how
to stop it. It stops when it receives end-of-file (EOF), but how do you send
EOF? The answer depends on what kind of computer you're using. On Unix
and Unix-related systems, it's almost always control-D. On MS-DOS machines,
it's control-Z followed by the RETURN key.
(Note, too, that the character you type to generate an end-of-file condition from
the keyboard is not the same as the special EOF value returned by getchar().
The EOF value returned by getchar() is a code indicating that the input system
has detected an end-of-file condition, whether it's reading the keyboard or a
file or a magnetic tape or a network connection or anything else. In a disk file,
at least, there is not likely to be any character in the file corresponding to EOF;
as far as your program is concerned, EOF indicates the absence of any more
characters to read.)
Another excellent thing to know when doing any kind of programming is how
to terminate a runaway program. If a program is running forever waiting for
input, you can usually stop it by sending it an end-of-file, as above, but if it's

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 45

Programming in C Unit 1

running forever not waiting for something, you'll have to take more drastic
measures. Under Unix, control-C (or, occasionally, the DELETE key) will
terminate the current program, almost no matter what. Under MS-DOS,
control-C or control-BREAK will sometimes terminate the current program.
Self Assessment Questions
13. getchar() function is an output function.(True/False)
14. In order to stop reading the input character, you can use a value called

3.7 Formatted Input and Output

Input data can be entered into the computer from a standard input device by
means of the standard C library function scanf(). This function can be used to
enter any combination of numerical values, single character and strings. The
function returns the number of data items that have been entered successfully.
The syntax of scanf function is as follows:
scanf(control string, argl, arg2, ...argn)
where control string refers to a string containing certain required formatting
information, and argl, arg2,..., argn are arguments that represent the individual
input data items. The arguments represent pointers that indicate addresses of
the data items within the computer’s memory.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 46

Programming in C Unit 1

The control string consists of control characters, whitespace characters, and

non-whitespace characters. The control characters are preceded by a % sign,
and are listed in Table 3.4.
Table 3.4: Control characters and its explanations
Control Character Explanation

%c a single character
%d a decimal integer
%i an integer
%e, %f, %g a floating-point number
%o an octal number
%s a string
%x a hexadecimal number
%p a pointer
%n an integer equal to the number of characters read so far
%u an unsigned integer

%[] a set of characters

%% a percent sign

scanf() reads the input, matching the characters from format. When a control
character is read, it puts the value in the next variable. Whitespaces (tabs,
spaces, etc) are skipped. Non-whitespace characters are matched to the input,
then discarded. If a number comes between the % sign and the control
character, then only that many characters will be entered into the variable. If
scanf() encounters a set of characters, denoted by the %[] control character,
then any characters found within the brackets are read into the variable. The
return value of scanf() is the number of variables that were successfully
assigned values, or EOF if there is an error.

Program 3.7: Program to use scanf() to read integers, floats, characters

and strings from the user.
#include<stdio.h> main() {
int i;
float f;

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 47

Programming in C Unit 1

char c;
char str[10];
scanf(“%d %f %c %s”, &i, &f, &c, str);
printf(“%d %f %c %s”, i, f, c, str);
}
Execute this program and observe the result.
Note that for a scanf() function, the addresses of the variable are used as the
arguments for an int, float and a char type variable. But this is not true for a
string variable because a string name itself refers to the address of a string
variable.
A s-control character is used to enter strings to string variables. A string that
includes whitespace characters can not be entered. There are ways to work
with strings that include whitespace characters. One way is to use the
getchar() function within a loop. Another way is to use gets() function which
will be discussed later.
It is also possible to use the scanf() function to enter such strings. To do so,
the s-control character must be replaced by a sequence of characters enclosed
in square brackets, designated as [...]. Whitespace characters may be included
within the brackets, thus accommodating strings that contain such characters.
Example:
#include<stdio.h> main() {
char str[80];

scanf(“%[ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST]”, str);

}
This example illustrates the use of the scanf() function to enter a string
consisting of uppercase letters and blank spaces. Please note that if you want
to allow lowercase letters to be entered, all the lowercase letters (i.e. from a-z)
must be included in the list of control string.
Formatted Output
Output data can be written from the computer onto a standard output device
using the library function printf(). This function can be used to output any
combination of numerical values, single characters and strings. It is similar to
the input function scanf(), except that its purpose is to display data rather than
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 48
Programming in C Unit 1

enter into the computer.

The syntax of the printf function can be written as follows:
printf(control string, argl, arg2, ..., argn)
where control string refers to a string that contains formatting information, and
argl, arg2, ..., argn are arguments that represent the individual output data
items. The arguments can be written as constants, single variable or array
names, or more complex expressions.
Examples:
printf("Hello, world!\n");
printf("i is %d\n", i);
printf(“%d”, 10);
printf(“%d”, i+j);
The first statement simply displays the string given as argument to the printf()
function. In the second statement, printf() function replaces the two characters
%d with the value of the variable i. In the third statement the argument to be
printed is a constant and in the fourth, the argument is an expression.
There are quite a number of format specifiers for printf(). Some of them are
listed in Table 3.5.
Table 3.5: Format specifiers for printf().
%d Print an int argument in decimal
%ld print a long int argument in decimal
%c print a character
%s print a string
%f print a float or double argument
%e same as %f, but use exponential notation
%g use %e or %f, whichever is better
%o print an int argument in octal (base 8)
%x print an int argument in hexadecimal (base 16)
%% print a single %

It is also possible to specify the width and precision of numbers and strings as
they are inserted ; For example, a notation like %3d means to print an int in a
field at least 3 spaces wide; a notation like %5.2f means to print a float or
double in a field at least 5 spaces wide, with two places to the right of the

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 49

Programming in C Unit 1

decimal.)
To illustrate with a few more examples: the call
printf("%c %d %f %e %s %d%%\n", '3', 4, 3.24, 66000000, "nine", 8);
would print
3 4 3.240000 6.600000e+07 nine 8%
The call
printf("%d %o %x\n", 100, 100, 100);
would print
100 144 64
Successive calls to printf() just build up the output a piece at a time, so the
calls
printf("Hello, ");
printf("world!\n");
would also print Hello, world! (on one line of output).
Earlier we learned that C represents characters internally as small integers
corresponding to the characters' values in the machine's character set
(typically ASCII). This means that there isn't really much difference between a
character and an integer in C; most of the difference is in whether we choose
to interpret an integer as an integer or a character. printf is one place where
we get to make that choice: %d prints an integer value as a string of digits
representing its decimal value, while %c prints the character corresponding to
a character set value. So the lines
char c = 'A';
int i = 97;
printf("c = %c, i = %d\n", c, i);
would print c as the character A and i as the number 97. But if, on the other
hand, we called
printf("c = %d, i = %c\n", c, i);
we'd see the decimal value (printed by %d) of the character 'A', followed by the
character (whatever it is) which happens to have the decimal value 97.

You have to be careful when calling printf(). It has no way of knowing how
many arguments you've passed it or what their types are other than by looking
for the format specifiers in the format string. If there are more format specifiers
(that is, more % signs) than the arguments, or if the arguments have the wrong
types for the format specifiers, printf() can misbehave badly, often printing

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 50

Programming in C Unit 1

nonsense numbers or (even worse) numbers which mislead you into thinking
that some other part of your program is broken.

Because of some automatic conversion rules which we haven't covered yet,

you have a small amount of latitude in the types of the expressions you pass
as arguments to printf(). The argument for %c may be of type char or int, and
the argument for %d may be of type char or int. The string argument for %s
may be a string constant, an array of characters, or a pointer to some
characters. Finally, the arguments corresponding to %e, %f, and %g may be
of types float or double. But other combinations do not work reliably: %d will
not print a long int or a float or a double; %ld will not print an int; %e, %f,
and %g will not print an int.

Self Assessment Questions

15. The ___________ string consists of control characters, whitespace
characters, and non-whitespace characters.
16. The control string used to read a hexadecimal character is .
17. scanf() functions needs address of the data item to be read as the
argument. (True/False)
18. The output of the following statement is _______________ .
printf("%d %o %x\n", 64, 10, 75);
19. To print an int argument in octal, you can use _____________ format
string.
20. The output of the following program segment is ___________ .
int a=97;
printf(“%c”, a);

3.8 The gets() and puts() functions

gets() and puts() functions facilitate the transfer of strings between the
computer and the standard input/output devices. Each of these functions
accepts a single argument. The argument must be a data item that represents
a string (an array of characters). The string may include whitespace characters.
In the case of gets(), the string will be entered from the keyboard, and will
terminate with a newline character (i.e. a string will end when the user presses
the RETURN key).
Example: Reading and writing a line of text.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 51

Programming in C Unit 1

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
char line[80];
gets(line);
puts(line);
}
This program uses gets() and puts() functions rather than scanf() and printf(),
to transfer the line of text into and out of the computer.

Self Assessment Questions

21. gets() is a formatted input statement. (True/False)
22. The argument for a gets() and puts() functions are ______________
variables.
23. Using gets() function, you cannot include whitespace characters in the
input string. (True/False)
3.9 Interactive Programming
Creating interactive dialog between the computer and the user is a modern
style of programming. These dialogs usually involve some form of question-
answer interaction, where the computer asks the questions and the user
provides the answer, or vice versa.
In C, such dialogs can be created by alternate use of the scanf() and printf()
functions.
Program 3.8: Program to calculate the simple interest
#include<stdio.h> main() {
/* Sample interactive program*/ float principle, rate, time, interest; printf(“
Please enter the principle amount: “); scanf(“%f”, &principle);
printf(“ Please enter the rate of interest: “);
scanf(“%f”, &rate);
printf(“ Please enter the period of deposit: “);
scanf(“%f”, &time);
interest=principle*rate*time/100.0;
printf(“Principle=%7.2f\n”, principle);
printf(“Rate of interest=%5.2f\n”,rate);

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 52

Programming in C Unit 1

printf(“Period of deposit=%5.2f\n”, time);

printf(“ I nterest=%7.2f\n”, interest);
}
Execute the above program and observe the result.

3.10 Summary
Floating point(or real) numbers are stored in 32 bit (on all 16 bit and 32 bit
machines), with 6 digits of precision. Floating point numbers are defined in C
by the keyword float. When the accuracy provided by a float number is not
sufficient, the type double can be used to define the number. Characters are
usually stored in 8 bits (one byte) of internal storage. Like integer data type
other data types also offer extended data types such as long double and
signed char. C permits mixing of constants and variables of different types in
an expression, but during evaluation it adheres to very strict rules of type
conversion. When one of the operands is real and the other is integer, the
expression is called a mixed-mode arithmetic expression. There are instances
when we want to force a type conversion in a way that is different from the
automatic conversion. That is, by using type cast operator. All keywords have
fixed meanings and these meanings cannot be changed.
getchar(), putchar(), scanf(), printf(), gets() and puts() are the commonly
used input/output functions in C. These functions are used to transfer of
information between the computer and the standard input/output devices.
getchar() and putchar() are the two functions to read and write single
character. scanf() and printf() are the two formatted input/output functions.
These functions can handle characters, numerical values and strings as well.
gets() and puts() functions are used to handle strings. scanf(), printf(), gets()
and puts() functions are used in interactive programming.

3.11 Terminal Questions

1. Which of the following arithmetic expressions are valid? If valid, give the
value of the expression; otherwise give reason.
a) 7.5 % 3 b) 14 % 3 + 7 %2
c)21 % (int) 4.5 d) 15.25 + - 5.0
2. Find errors, if any, in the following declaration statements: Int x;
float letter, DIGIT;
double = p, q

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 53

Programming in C Unit 1

exponent alpha, beta;

m,n,z:INTEGER
short char c;
long int m; count;
long float temp;
3. What would be the value of x after execution of the following statements?
int x, y = 10;
char z = ‘a’;
x = y + z;
4. The _____ chars have values from -128 to 127.
5. What are the commonly used input/output functions in C? How are they
accessed?
6. Distinguish between getchar() and putchar() functions?
7. When entering a string using scanf() function, how can a single string
which includes whitespace characters be entered?
8. Distinguish between gets() and scanf() functions.
9. A C program contains the following statements:
#include<stdio.h>
int i, j, k;
Write an appropriate scanf() function to enter numerical values for i, j and
k assuming
a) The values for i, j and k will be decimal integers
b) The value for i will be a decimal integer, j an octal integer and k a
hexadecimal integer.
c) The values for i and j will be hexadecimal integers and k will be an
octal integer.

3.12 Answers to Self Assessment Questions

1. False
2. 64
3. True
4. long int
5. 2.2
6. True
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 54
Programming in C Unit 1

7. 0
8. 35
9. %c
10. False
11. Lowercase
12. False
13. False
14. EOF
15. Control
16. %x
17. True
18. 64, 12, 4B
19. %o
20. a
21. False
22. String
23. False

24. 3 Answers to Terminal Questions

1. a) invalid, because % can be used only with integers.
b) valid, answeris 3
c) valid, answeris 1
d) valid, answeris10.25
2. Errors in the following statements
i) Int x;
Can be written as int x;
ii) double = p, q
Can be written as double p,q;
iii) exponent alpha, beta;
There is no data type exponent in C.
iv) m,n,z:INTEGER
Can be written as int m,n,z;
v) short char c;
There is no data type short char in C.
vi) long int m; count;

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 55

Programming in C Unit 1

Can be written as long int m,count;

vii) long float temp;
There is no data type long float in C
3. 107
4. signed
5. The commonly used input/output functions in C are: getchar(), putchar(),
scanf(), printf(), gets() and puts(). These functions can be accessed
within a program by including the header file stdio.h.
6. getchar() function is used to accept a single character from the keyboard
and putchar() function is used to display single character on the user’s
screen.
7. By using control string %[ ].
8. gets() is not the formatted input function but the scanf() function is a
formatted input function.
9. a) scanf(“%d %d %d”, &i, &j, &k);
b) scanf(“%d %o %x”, &i, &j, &k);
c) scanf(“%x %x %o”, &i, &j, &k);

3.14 Exercises
1. Represent the following numbers using scientific notation:
a) 0.001 b) -1.5
2. Represent the following scientific numbers into decimal notation: a)
1.0E+2 b) 0.001E-2
3. What is unsigned char? Explain.
4. What is short char? Explain.
5. Distinguish between float and double data types.
6. Write a program to print the factors of a given number.
7. Given the length of a side, write a C program to compute surface area
and volume of a cube.
8. Write a program to reverse a number and find sum of the digits.
9. Write a program to print the multiplication table for any given number.
10. Write a program to check whether a given number is palindrome.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 56

Programming in C Unit 1

Unit 4 Control Statements and Decision Making

Structure:
4.1 Introduction
Objectives
4.2 The goto statement
4.3 The if statement
The if-else statement
Nesting of if statements
4.4 The conditional expression
4.5 The switch statement
4.6 The while loop
4.7 The do...whileloop
4.8 The for loop
The nesting of for loops
4.9 The break statement and continue statement
4.10 Summary
4.11 Terminal Questions
4.12 Answers to Self Assessment Questions
4.13 Answers to Terminal Questions
4.14 Exercises

4.1 Introduction
In the previous unit, you studied about the data types that are supported in C
and the types of Input/output operators available in C. This unit will enable you
to use the various types of control statements for making a decision in C.
Statements are the “steps'' of a program. Most statements compute and assign
values or call functions, but we will eventually meet several other kinds of
statements as well. By default, statements are executed in sequence, one after
another. We can, however, modify that sequence by using control flow
constructs such that a statement or group of statements is executed only if
some condition is true or false. This involves a kind of decision making to see
whether a particular condition has occurred or not and then direct the computer
to execute certain statements accordingly.
C language possesses such decision making capabilities and supports the
following statements known as the control or decision making statements.
• if statement

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 57

Programming in C Unit 1

• switch statement
• goto statement
• conditional operator statement
You will also study about the loops in this unit. Loops generally consist of two
parts: one or more control expressions which control the execution of the loop,
and the body, which is the statement or set of statements which is executed
over and over.
As far as C is concerned, a true/false condition can be represented as an
integer. (An integer can represent many values; here we care about only two
values: “true'' and “false.'' The study of mathematics involving only two values
is called Boolean algebra, after George Boole, a mathematician who refined
this study.) In C, “false'' is represented by a value of 0 (zero), and “true'' is
represented by any value that is nonzero. Since there are many nonzero
values (at least 65,534, for values of type int), when we have to pick a specific
value for “true,'' we'll pick 1.
Do...while loop is used in a situation where we need to execute the body of the
loop before the test is performed. The for loop is used to execute the body of
the loop for a specified number of times. The break statement is used to exit
any loop.
Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• control the flow of execution of statements using two-way decision and
multipath decision.
• branch unconditionally from one point to another in the program.
• evaluate the conditional expressions.
• repeat the execution of statements by checking the condition before the
loop body is executed and by checking the condition at the end of the loop.
• exit from the loop depending on some condition.
• break the current iteration and continue with next iteration of loop.
4.2 The goto statement
C supports the goto statement to branch unconditionally from one point to
another in the program. Although it may not be essential to use the goto
statement in a highly structured language like C, there may be occasions when
the use of goto might be desirable.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 58

Programming in C Unit 1

The goto requires a label in order to identify the place where the branch is to
be made. A label is any valid variable name, and must be followed by a colon.
The label is placed immediately before the statement where the control is to
be transferred. The general forms of goto and label statements are shown
below:

goto label; --------------------- label:

---------- statement;

label: <-------------------- ------------

statement; goto label;

(1) Forward jump (ii) Backward jump

The label can be anywhere in the program either before the goto or after the
goto label; statement.
During execution of the program when a statement like
goto first;
is met, the flow of control will jump to the statement immediately following the
label first. This happens unconditionally.
Note that a goto breaks the normal sequential execution of the program. If the
label is before the statement goto label; a loop will be formed and some
statements will be executed repeatedly. Such a jump is known as a backward
jump. On the other hand, if the label is placed after the goto label; some
statements will be skipped and the jump is known as the forward jump.
A goto is often used at the end of a program to direct the control to go to the
input statement, to read further data. Consider the following example:
Program 4.1: Program showing unconditional branching
main()
{
double a, b;
read:
printf(“enter the value of a\n”);
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 59
Programming in C Unit 1

scanf(“%f”, &a);
if (a<0) goto read;
b=sqrt(a);
printf(“%f %f \n”,a, b);
goto read;

}
This program is written to evaluate the square root of a series of numbers read
from the terminal. The program uses two goto statements, one at the end,
after printing the results to transfer the control back to the input statements and
the other to skip any further computation when the number is negative.
Due to the unconditional goto statement at the end, the control is always
transferred back to the input statement. In fact, this program puts the computer
in a permanent loop known as an infinite loop.
Self Assessment Questions
1. The goto requires a ________ in order to identify the place where the
branch is to be made.
2. goto is an unconditional branching statement. (True/False)

4.3 The if statement

The simplest way to modify the control flow of a program is with an if statement,
which in its simplest form looks like this:
if(x > max)
max = x;
Even if you didn't know any C, it would probably be pretty obvious that what
happens here is that if x is greater than max, x gets assigned to max. (We'd
use code like this to keep track of the maximum value of x we'd seen--for each
new x, we'd compare it to the old maximum value max, and if the new value
was greater, we'd update max.)
More generally, we can say that the syntax of an if statement is: if(
expression ) statement
where expression is any expression and statement is any statement.
What if you have a series of statements, all of which should be executed
together or not at all depending on whether some condition is true? The
answer is that you enclose them in braces:

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 60

Programming in C Unit 1

if( expression )
{
statement 1;
statement 2;
statement n;
}
As a general rule, anywhere the syntax of C calls for a statement, you may
write a series of statements enclosed by braces. (You do not need to, and
should not, put a semicolon after the closing brace, because the series of
statements enclosed by braces is not itself a simple expression statement.)

Program 4.2: Program to calculate the absolute value of an integer

# include < stdio.h >
void main ( )
{
int number;
printf (“Type a number:”);
scanf (“%d”, & number);
if (number < 0) /* check whether the number is a negative number */ number
= - number; /* If it is negative then convert it into positive. */
printf (“The absolute value is % d \n”, number);
}

4.3.1 The if-else statement

An if statement may also optionally contain a second statement, the “else
clause,'' which is to be executed if the condition is not met. Here is an
example:
if(n > 0)
average = sum / n;
else {
printf("can't compute average\n"); average = 0;
}
The first statement or block of statements is executed if the condition is true,
and the second statement or block of statements (following the keyword else)
is executed if the condition is not true. In this example, we can compute a
meaningful average only if n is greater than 0; otherwise, we print a message
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 61
Programming in C Unit 1

saying that we cannot compute the average. The general syntax of an if

statement is therefore if( expression ) statement(s) else
statement(s)
(if there are more than one statements, they should be enclosed within
braces).

Program 4.3: To find whether a number is negative or positive

#include < stdio.h > void main ( )
{
int num;
printf (“Enter the number”);
scanf (“%d”, &num);
if (num < 0)
printf (“The number is negative”) else
printf (“The number is positive”);
}

4.3.2 Nesting of if statements

It's also possible to nest one if statement inside another. (For that matter, it's
in general possible to nest any kind of statement or control flow construct within
another.) For example, here is a little piece of code which decides roughly
which quadrant of the compass you're walking into, based on an x value which
is positive if you're walking east, and a y value which is positive if you're walking
north:
if(x > 0)
{
if(y > 0)
printf("Northeast.\n");
else printf("Southeast.\n");
}
else {
if(y > 0)
printf("Northwest.\n");
else printf("Southwest.\n");
}

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 62

Programming in C Unit 1

When you have one if statement (or loop) nested inside another, it's a very
good idea to use explicit braces {}, as shown, to make it clear (both to you and
to the compiler) how they're nested and which else goes with which if. It's also
a good idea to indent the various levels, also as shown, to make the code more
readable to humans. Why do both? You use indentation to make the code
visually more readable to yourself and other humans, but the compiler doesn't
pay attention to the indentation (since all whitespace is essentially equivalent
and is essentially ignored). Therefore, you also have to make sure that the
punctuation is right.

Here is an example of another common arrangement of if and else. Suppose

we have a variable grade containing a student's numeric grade, and we want
to print out the corresponding letter grade. Here is the code that would do the
job:
if(grade >= 90)
printf("A");
else if(grade >= 80)
printf("B");
else if(grade >= 70)
printf("C");
else if(grade >= 60)
printf("D");
else printf("F");
What happens here is that exactly one of the five printf calls is executed,
depending on which of the conditions is true. Each condition is tested in turn,
and if one is true, the corresponding statement is executed, and the rest are
skipped. If none of the conditions is true, we fall through to the last one,
printing “F''.

In the cascaded if/else/if/else/... chain, each else clause is another if

statement. This may be more obvious at first if we reformat the example,
including every set of braces and indenting each if statement relative to the
previous one:
if(grade >= 90) { printf("A");
} else {
if(grade >= 80) { printf("B"); } else {
if(grade >= 70) { printf("C"); } else {
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 63
Programming in C Unit 1

if(grade >= 60) { printf("D"); } else {

printf("F"); } }
}}
By examining the code this way, it should be obvious that exactly one of the
printf calls is executed, and that whenever one of the conditions is found true,
the remaining conditions do not need to be checked and none of the later
statements within the chain will be executed. But once you've convinced
yourself of this and learned to recognize the idiom, it's generally preferable to
arrange the statements as in the first example, without trying to indent each
successive if statement one tabstop further out.

Program 4.4: Program to print the largest of three numbers

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a,b,c,big;
printf (“Enter three numbers”);
scanf (“%d %d %d”, &a, &b, &c);
if (a>b) // check whether a is greater than b if true then if(a>c) // check whether
a is greater than c
big = a ; // assign a to big
else big = c ; // assign c to big
else if (b>c) // if the condition (a>b) fails check whether b is greater than c big
= b ; // assign b to big
else big = c ; // assign C to big
printf (“Largest of %d,%d&%d = %d”, a,b,c,big);
}

Self Assessment Questions:

3. The series of statements enclosed by braces after the expression in
simple if statement is itself a simple expression statement. (True/False)
4. In the cascaded if/else/if/else/... chain, each else clause is another
statement.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 64

Programming in C Unit 1

case 1: The conditional expression

The conditional operator (?:) takes three operands. It tests the result of the first
operand and then evaluates one of the other two operands based on the result
of the first. Consider the following example:
E1 ? E2 : E3
If expression E1 is nonzero (true), then E2 is evaluated, and that is the value
of the conditional expression. If E1 is 0 (false), E3 is evaluated, and that is the
value of the conditional expression. Conditional expressions associate from
right to left. In the following example, the conditional operator is used to get the
minimum of x and y:
a = (x < y) ? x : y; /* a= min(x, y) */
There is a sequence point after the first expression (E1). The following
example's result is predictable, and is not subject to unplanned side effects:
i++ > j ? y[i] : x[i];
The conditional operator does not produce a lvalue. Therefore, a statement
such as
a ? x : y = 10 is not valid.

case 2: The switch statement

The switch case statements are a substitute for long if statements that
compare a variable to several "integral" values ("integral" values are simply
values that can be expressed as an integer, such as the value of a char). The
basic format for using switch case is outlined below. The value of the variable
given into switch is compared to the value following each of the cases, and
when one value matches the value of the variable, the computer continues
executing the program from that point. switch ( <variable> ) { case this-value:
Code to execute if <variable> == this-value break;
case that-value:
Code to execute if <variable> == that-value break; ...
default:
Code to execute if <variable> does not equal the value following any of the
cases
break;
}

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 65

Programming in C Unit 1

The condition of a switch statement is a value. The case says that if it has the
value of whatever is after that case then do whatever follows the colon. The
break is used to break out of the case statements. break is a keyword that
breaks out of the code block, usually surrounded by braces, which it is in. In
this case, break prevents the program from falling through and executing the
code in all the other case statements. An important thing to note about the
switch statement is that the case values may only be constant integral
expressions. It isn't legal to use case like this: int a = 10; int b = 10; int c = 20;
switch ( a ) { case b:
/* Code */
break;
case c:
/* Code */
break;
default:
/* Code */ break;
}
The default case is optional, but it is wise to include it as it handles any
unexpected cases. It can be useful to put some kind of output to alert you to
the code entering the default case if you don't expect it to. Switch statements
serve as a simple way to write long if statements when the requirements are
met. Often it can be used to process input from a user.

Example: Below is a sample program, in which not all of the proper functions
are actually declared, but which shows how one would use switch in a program.

#include <stdio.h>
void playgame(); void loadgame(); void playmultiplayer(); int main()
{
int input;
printf( "1. Play game\n" );
printf( "2. Load game\n" );
printf( "3. Play multiplayer\n" );
printf( "4. Exit\n" );
printf( "Selection: " );
scanf( "%d", &input );
switch ( input ) {

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 66

Programming in C Unit 1

case 3: /* Note the colon, not a semicolon */

playgame();
break;
case 4:
loadgame();
break;
case 5:
playmultiplayer();
break;
case 6:
printf( "Thanks for playing!\n" );
break;
default:
printf( "Bad input, quitting!\n" );
break;
}
getchar();
}
This program will compile, but cannot be run until the undefined functions are
given bodies, but it serves as a model (albeit simple) for processing input. If
you do not understand this then try mentally putting in if statements for the
case statements. default simply skips out of the switch case construction and
allows the program to terminate naturally. If you do not like that, then you can
make a loop around the whole thing to have it wait for valid input. You could
easily make a few small functions if you wish to test the code.
Self Assessment Questions:
5. The conditional operator does not produce a lvalue. (True/False)
6. The condition of a switch statement is a ______ .
7. Switch statement is an unconditional branching statement. (True/False)

4.6 The while loop

Loops generally consist of two parts: one or more control expressions which
control the execution of the loop, and the body, which is the statement or set
of statements which is executed over and over.
The most basic loop in C is the while loop. A while loop has one control
expression, and executes as long as that expression is true. Here before

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 67

Programming in C Unit 1

executing the body of the loop, the condition is tested. Therefore it is called an
entry-controlled loop. The following example repeatedly doubles the number
2 (2, 4, 8, 16, ...) and prints the resulting numbers as long as they are less than
1000:
int x = 2;

while(x < 1000)

{
printf("%d\n", x);
x = x * 2;
}
(Once again, we've used braces {} to enclose the group of statements which
are to be executed together as the body of the loop.)
The general syntax of a while loop is while( expression ) statement(s)
A while loop starts out like an if statement: if the condition expressed by the
expression is true, the statement is executed. However, after executing the
statement, the condition is tested again, and if it's still true, the statement is
executed again. (Presumably, the condition depends on some value which is
changed in the body of the loop.) As long as the condition remains true, the
body of the loop is executed over and over again. (If the condition is false right
at the start, the body of the loop is not executed at all.)
As another example, if you wanted to print a number of blank lines, with the
variable n holding the number of blank lines to be printed, you might use code
like this:
while(n > 0) { printf("\n"); n = n - 1; }
After the loop finishes (when control “falls out'' of it, due to the condition being
false), n will have the value 0.

You use a while loop when you have a statement or group of statements which
may have to be executed a number of times to complete their task. The
controlling expression represents the condition “the loop is not done'' or
“there's more work to do.'' As long as the expression is true, the body of the
loop is executed; presumably, it makes at least some progress at its task.
When the expression becomes false, the task is done, and the rest of the
program (beyond the loop) can proceed. When we think about a loop in this
way, we can see an additional important property: if the expression evaluates
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 68
Programming in C Unit 1

to “false'' before the very first trip through the loop, we make zero trips through
the loop. In other words, if the task is already done (if there's no work to do)
the body of the loop is not executed at all. (It's always a good idea to think
about the “boundary conditions'' in a piece of code, and to make sure that the
code will work correctly when there is no work to do, or when there is a trivial
task to do, such as sorting an array of one number. Experience has shown that
bugs at boundary conditions are quite common.)

Program 4.5: Program to find largest of n numbers main() { int num, large,
n, i;
clrscr();
printf("enter number of numbers \n");
scanf(“%d”,&n);
large=0;
i=0;

while(i<n)
{
printf("\n enter number ");
scanf(“%d”, &num);
if(large<num)
large=num;
i++;
} printf("\n large = %d”, large);
}

Program 4.6: Program to evaluate sine series sin(x)=x-xA3/3!+xA5/5!-

xA7/7!+— depending on accuracy
# include<stdio.h>
# include <math.h>
void main()
{
int n, i=1,count;
float acc, x, term, sum;
printf("enter the angle\n");
scanf(“%d”, &x);
x=x*3.1416/180.0;
printf(“\nenter the accuracy)";

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 69

Programming in C Unit 1

scanf(“%f”, &acc);
sum=x;
term=x;
while ((fabs(term))>acc)
{
term=-term*x*x/((2*i)*(2*i+1));
sum+=term;
i++;
} printf"\nsum of sine series is %f", sum); }
Self Assessment Questions
8. A ____________ loop starts out like an if statement .
9. while is an entry-controlled loop. (True/False)

4.7 The do...while loop

The do.while loop is used in a situation where we need to execute the body of
the loop before the test is performed. Therefore, the body of the loop may not
be executed at all if the condition is not satisfied at the very first attempt. Where
as while loop makes a test of condition before the body of the loop is executed.
For above reasons while loop is called an entry-controlled loop and
do..while loop is called an exit-controlled loop.
do while loop takes the following form: do
{
Body of the loop
}
while ( expression);
On reaching the do statement , the program proceeds to evaluate the body of
the loop first. At the end of the loop, the conditional expression in the while
statement is evaluated. If the expression is true, the program continues to
evaluate the body of the loop once again. This process continues as long as
the expression is true. When the expression becomes false, the loop will be
terminated and the control goes to the statement that appears immediately
after the while statement.
On using the do loop, the body of the loop is always executed at least once
irrespective of the expression.
Program 4.7: A program to print the multiplication table from 1 x 1 to 10
x 10 as shown below using do-while loop.
1 2 3 4 ........... .................. 10
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 70
Programming in C Unit 1

2 4 6 8 ........... .................. 20
3 6 9 12 ............ .................. 30
4 .................. 40

10 100
// Program to print multiplication table main() {
int rowmax=10,colmax=10,row,col,x;
printf(" Multiplication table\n");
printf(" ................................... \n");
row=1;
do
{
col=1;
do
{
x=row*col;
printf(“%4d”, x);
col=col+1;
}
while (col<=colmax);
printf(“\n”);;
row=row+1;
}
while(row<=rowmax);
Printf(" .........................................................................................................\
n");
}

Self Assessment Questions:

10. On using the ________ , the body of the loop is always executed at
least once irrespective of the expression.
11. do...while is an entry-controlled loop. (True/False)

4.8 The for loop

The for loop is used to repeat the execution of set of statements for a fixed
number of times. The for loop is also an entry-controlled loop.
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 71
Programming in C Unit 1

Generally, the syntax of a for loop is

for(expr1; expr2; expr3) statement(s)
(Here we see that the for loop has three control expressions. As always, the
statement can be a brace-enclosed block.)
Many loops are set up to cause some variable to step through a range of
values, or, more generally, to set up an initial condition and then modify some
value to perform each succeeding loop as long as some condition is true. The
three expressions in a for loop encapsulate these conditions: expr1 sets up
the initial condition, expr 2 tests whether another trip through the loop should
be taken, and expr3 increments or updates things after each trip through the
loop and prior to the next one. Consider the following :
for (i = 0; i < 10; i = i + 1)
printf("i is %d\n", i);
In the above example, we had i = 0 as expr1, i < 10 as expr2 , i = i + 1 as
expr3, and the call to printf as statement, the body of the loop. So the loop
began by setting i to 0, proceeded as long as i was less than 10, printed out
i's value during each trip through the loop, and added 1 to i between each trip
through the loop.
When the compiler sees a for loop, first, expr1 is evaluated. Then, expr2 is
evaluated, and if it is true, the body of the loop (statement) is executed. Then,
expr3 is evaluated to go to the next step, and expr2 is evaluated again, to
see if there is a next step. During the execution of a for loop, the sequence is:
expr1 expr2 statement expr3 expr2 statement expr3 ...
expr2 statement expr3 expr2
The first thing executed is expr1. expr3 is evaluated after every trip through the
loop. The last thing executed is always expr2, because when expr2 evaluates
false, the loop exits.
All three expressions of a for loop are optional. If you leave out expr1, there
simply is no initialization step, and the variable(s) used with the loop had better
have been initialized already. If you leave out expr2, there is no test, and the
default for the for loop is that another trip through the loop should be taken
(such that unless you break out of it some other way, the loop runs forever). If
you leave out expr3, there is no increment step.
The semicolons separate the three controlling expressions of a for loop. (These
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 72
Programming in C Unit 1

semicolons, by the way, have nothing to do with statement terminators.) If you

leave out one or more of the expressions, the semicolons remain. Therefore,
one way of writing a deliberately infinite loop in C is
for(;;)
...

It's also worth noting that a for loop can be used in more general ways than the
simple, iterative examples we've seen so far. The “control variable'' of a for
loop does not have to be an integer, and it does not have to be incremented
by an additive increment. It could be “incremented'' by a multiplicative factor
(1, 2, 4, 8, ...) if that was what you needed, or it could be a floating-point
variable, or it could be another type of variable which we haven't met yet which
would step, not over numeric values, but over the elements of an array or other
data structure. Strictly speaking, a for loop doesn't have to have a “control
variable'' at all; the three expressions can be anything, although the loop will
make the most sense if they are related and together form the expected
initialize, test, increment sequence.
The powers-of-two example using for is:
int x;
for(x = 2; x < 1000; x = x * 2) printf("%d\n", x);
There is no earth-shaking or fundamental difference between the while and
for loops. In fact, given the general for loop
for(expr1; expr2; expr3)
statement
you could usually rewrite it as a while loop, moving the initialize and increment
expressions to statements before and within the loop:
expr1;
while(expr2)
{
statement
expr3;
}
Similarly, given the general while loop while(expr) statement
you could rewrite it as a for loop:
for(; expr; )
statement

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 73

Programming in C Unit 1

Another contrast between the for and while loops is that although the test
expression (expr2) is optional in a for loop, it is required in a while loop. If you
leave out the controlling expression of a while loop, the compiler will complain
about a syntax error. (To write a deliberately infinite while loop, you have to
supply an expression which is always nonzero. The most obvious one would
simply be while(1) .)
If it's possible to rewrite a for loop as a while loop and vice versa, why do they
both exist? Which one should you choose? In general, when you choose a for
loop, its three expressions should all manipulate the same variable or data
structure, using the initialize, test, increment pattern. If they don't manipulate
the same variable or don't follow that pattern, wedging them into a for loop
buys nothing and a while loop would probably be clearer. (The reason that one
loop or the other can be clearer is simply that, when you see a for loop, you
expect to see an idiomatic initialize/ test/increment of a single variable, and if
the for loop you're looking at doesn't end up matching that pattern, you've been
momentarily misled.)
Program 4.8: A Program to find the factorial of a number
void main()
{
int M,N;
long int F=1;

clrscr();
printf(“enter the number\n”)";
scanf(“%d”,&N);
if(N<=0)
F=1;
else
{
for(M=1;M<=N;M++)
F*=M;
}
printf(“the factorial of the number is %ld”,F); getch();
}

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 74

Programming in C Unit 1

Self Assessment Questions

12. for loop is an exit-controlled loop. (True/False)
13. The “control variable'' of a for loop does not have to be an integer.
(True/False)
1.1.1 The Nesting of for loops
Nesting of for loops, that is, one for statement within another for statement,
is allowed in C. For example, two loops can be nested as follows:

for(i=1;i<10;i++)
{

for(j=1;j<5;j++)
{
4.9 The break statement and continue statement
The purpose of break statement is to break out of a loop (while, do while, or
for loop) or a switch statement. When a break statement is encountered
inside a loop, the loop is immediately exited and the program continues with
the statement immediately following the loop. When the loops are nested, the
break would only exit from the loop containing it. That is, the break would exit
only a single loop.
Syntax : break;

Program 4.9: Program to illustrate the use of break statement.

void main ( )
{
int x;
for (x=1; x<=10; x++)
{
if (x==5)
break; /*break loop only if x==5 */
printf(“%d”, x);
}
printf (“\nBroke out of loop”);
printf( “at x =%d“);
}

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 75

Programming in C Unit 1

The above program displays the numbers from 1to 4 and prints the message
“Broke out of loop when 5 is encountered.

The continue statement

The continue statement is used to continue the next iteration of the loop by
skipping a part of the body of the loop (for, do/while or while loops). The
continue statement does not apply to a switch, like a break statement.
Unlike the break which causes the loop to be terminated, the continue, causes
the loop to be continued with the next iteration after skipping any statements
in between.

Syntax: continue;
Program 4.10: Program to illustrate the use of continue statement.
void main ( ) {
int x;
for (x=1; x<=10; x++)
{ if (x==5)
continue; /* skip remaining code in loop only if x == 5 */
printf (“%d\n”, x);
} printf(“\nUsed continue to skip”);
}
The above program displays the numbers from 1to 10, except the number 5.

Program 4.11: Program to sum integers entered interactively

#include <stdio.h> int main(void) {
long num;
long sum = 0L; /* initialize sum to zero */
int status;

printf("Please enter an integer to be summed. ");

printf("Enter q to quit.\n");
status = scanf("%ld", &num);
while (status == 1) {
sum = sum + num;
printf("Please enter next integer to be summed. ");

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 76

Programming in C Unit 1

printf("Enter q to quit.\n"); status = scanf("%ld", &num);

} printf("Those integers sum to %ld.\n", sum); return 0;
}
4.10 Summary
In C by default, statements are executed in sequence, one after another. We
can, however, modify that sequence by using control flow constructs. C
language possesses decision making capabilities and supports the following
statements known as the control or decision making statements: goto, if,
switch. The goto statement is used to branch unconditionally from one point
to another in the program. The simplest way to modify the control flow of a
program is with an if statement. switch statements serve as a simple way to
write long if statements when the requirements are met.
The most basic loop in C is the while loop. A while loop has one control
expression, and executes as long as that expression is true. do..while loop is
used in a situation where we need to execute the body of the loop before the
test is performed. The for loop is used to execute the set of statements
repeatedly for a fixed number of times. It is an entry controlled loop. break
statement is used to exit any loop. Unlike the break which causes the loop to
be terminated, the continue, causes the loop to be continued with the next
iteration after skipping any statements in between.

4.11 Terminal Questions

1. Consider the following program segment:
x=1;
y=i;
if (n>0)
x=x+1;
y=y-i;
printf(“%d %d”,x,y);
What will be the values of x and y if n assumes a value of (a) 1 and (b) 0.
2. Rewrite the following without using compound relation:
if (grade<=59 && grade>=50)
second = second +1;
3. Write a program to check whether an input number is odd or even.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 77

Programming in C Unit 1

4. Write the output that will be generated by the following C program: void
main()

int i=0, x=0;

while (i<20)

{
if (i%5 == 0)

{
x+=i;
printf(“%d\t”, i);

}
i++;

}
printf(“\nx=%d”; x);

5. Write the output that will be generated by the following C program: void
main()

int i=0, x=0;

do
{

if (i%5 == 0)
{

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 78

Programming in C Unit 1

x++;
printf(“%d\t”, x);

}
++i;
} while (i<20);
printf(“\nx=%d”, x);

4.12 Answers to Self Assessment Questions

1. label
2. true
3. false
4. if
5. true
6. value
7. false
8. while
9. true
10. do...while
11. false
12. false
13. true

4.13 Answers to Terminal Questions

1. (a) x=2, y=0
(b) x=1, y=0
2. if (grade<=59)
if (grade>=50)
second = second+1;
3. void main()
{
int no;

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 79

Programming in C Unit 1

printf(“enter a number\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&no);
if (no%2==0)
printf(“even number\n”);
else printf(“odd number\n”);
}

4. 0 5 10 15
x = 30
5. 1 2 3 4
x=4
4.14 Exercises
1. Explain different types of if statements with examples.
2. Explain the syntax of switch statement with an example.
3. Write a program to check whether a given number is odd or even using
switch statement.
4. Write a program to find the smallest of 3 numbers using if-else statement.
5. Write a program to find the roots of a quadratic equation.
6. Compare the following statements
a) while and do...while
b) break and continue
7. Write a program to compute the sum of digits of a given number using
while loop.
8. Write a program that will read a positive integer and determine and print
its binary equivalent using do...while loop.
9. The numbers in the sequence
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 ............
are called Fibonacci numbers. Write a program using do.while loop to
calculate and print the first n Fibonacci numbers.
10. Find errors, if any, in each of the following segments. Assume that all the
variables have been declared and assigned values.
(a)
while (count !=10);

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 80

Programming in C Unit 1

{
count = 1;
sum = sum + x;
count = count + 1;
}

(b)
do;
total = total + value;
scanf(“%f”, &value);
while (value ! =999);
11. Write programs to print the following outputs using for loops.
(a) 1 b) 1
22 2 2
333 3 3 3
4444 4 4 4 4
12. Write a program to read the age of 100 persons and count the number of
persons in the age group 50 to 60. Use for and continue statements.
13. Write a program to print the multiplication table using nested for loops.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 81

Programming in C Unit 1

Unit 5 Functions
Structure:
5.1 Introduction
Objectives
5.2 Function Basics
5.3 Function Prototypes
5.4 Recursion
5.5 Function Philosophy
5.6 Summary
5.7 Terminal Questions
5.8 Answers for Self Assessment Questions
5.9 Answers for Terminal Questions
5.10 Exercises

5.1 Introduction
In the previous unit, you studied about the control statements and its usage in
C. You also studied how those control statements are helpful in making
decisions when various types of conditions and options are available in the
problem. In this unit, you will study about what a function is.
A function is a “black box'' that we've locked part of our program into. The idea
behind a function is that it compartmentalizes part of the program, and in
particular, that the code within the function has some useful properties:
It performs some well-defined task, which will be useful to other parts of the
program. It might be useful to other programs as well; that is, we might be able
to reuse it (and without having to rewrite it).
The rest of the program doesn't have to know the details of how the function is
implemented. This can make the rest of the program easier to think about.
The function performs its task well. It may be written to do a little more than is
required by the first program that calls it, with the anticipation that the calling
program (or some other program) may later need the extra functionality or
improved performance. (It's important that a finished function do its job well,
otherwise there might be a reluctance to call it, and it therefore might not
achieve the goal of reusability.)
By placing the code to perform the useful task into a function, and simply calling

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 82

Programming in C Unit 1

the function in the other parts of the program where the task must be
performed, the rest of the program becomes clearer: rather than having some
large, complicated, difficult-to-understand piece of code repeated wherever the
task is being performed, we have a single simple function call, and the name
of the function reminds us which task is being performed.
Since the rest of the program doesn't have to know the details of how the
function is implemented, the rest of the program doesn't care if the function is
re-implemented later, in some different way (as long as it continues to perform
its same task, of course!). This means that one part of the program can be
rewritten, to improve performance or add a new feature (or simply to fix a bug),
without having to rewrite the rest of the program.
Functions are probably the most important weapon in our battle against
software complexity. You'll want to learn when it's appropriate to break
processing out into functions (and also when it's not), and how to set up
function interfaces to best achieve the qualities mentioned above: reusability,
information hiding, clarity, and maintainability.
Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• explain the importance of functions
• implement the concepts of formal arguments and actual arguments
• explain function declaration(function prototypes) and function definition
• use the concept of recursion
• explain how the concept of functions reduces software complexity

5.2 Function Basics

A function is a self-contained program segment that carries out some specific,
well-defined task. Every C program contains one or more functions. One of
these functions must be called main. Program execution will always begin by
carrying out the instructions in main. Additional functions will be subordinate to
main, and perhaps to one another.
So what defines a function? It has a name that you call it by, and a list of zero
or more arguments or parameters. Parameters (also called formal parameters)
or arguments are the special identifiers through which information can be
passed to the function. A function has a body containing the actual instructions

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 83

Programming in C Unit 1

(statements) for carrying out the task the function is supposed to perform; and
it may give you back a return value, of a particular type.
In general terms, the first line can be written as
data-type name(data-type parameter 1, data-type parameter 2, ..., data-type
parameter n)
Example 5.1: Here is a very simple function, which accepts one argument,
multiplies it by 4, and hands that value back.
int multbyfour(int x)
{
int retval;
retval = x * 4;
return retval;
}
On the first line we see the return type of the function (int), the name of the
function (multbyfour), and a list of the function's arguments, enclosed in
parentheses. Each argument has both a name and a type; multbyfour accepts
one argument, of type int, named x. The name x is arbitrary, and is used only
within the definition of multbyfour. The caller of this function only needs to
know that a single argument of type int is expected; the caller does not need
to know what name the function will use internally to refer to that argument. (In
particular, the caller does not have to pass the value of a variable named x.)
Next we see, surrounded by the familiar braces, the body of the function itself.
This function consists of one declaration (of a local variable retval) and two
statements. The first statement is a conventional expression statement, which
computes and assigns a value to retval, and the second statement is a return
statement, which causes the function to return to its caller, and also specifies
the value which the function returns to its caller.
In general term, a return statement is written as
return expression
The return statement can return the value of any expression, so we don't really
need the local retval variable; this function can also be written as
int multbyfour(int x)
{

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 84

Programming in C Unit 1

return x * 4;
}
How do we call a function? We've been doing so informally since day one, but
now we have a chance to call one that we've written, in full detail. The
arguments in the function call are referred to as actual arguments or actual
parameters, in contrast to the formal arguments that appear in the first line of
the function definition.
Here is a tiny skeletal program to call multbyfour:
#include <stdio.h>
extern int multbyfour(int);
int main()
{
int i, j;
i = 5;
j = multbyfour(i);
printf("%d\n", j);
return 0;

}
This looks much like our other test programs, with the exception of the new line
extern int multbyfour(int);
This is an external function prototype declaration. It is an external declaration,
in that it declares something which is defined somewhere else. (We've already
seen the defining instance of the function multbyfour, but may be the compiler
hasn't seen it yet.) The function prototype declaration contains the three pieces
of information about the function that a caller needs to know: the function's
name, return type, and argument type(s). Since we don't care what name the
multbyfour function will use to refer to its first argument, we don't need to
mention it. (On the other hand, if a function takes several arguments, giving
them names in the prototype may make it easier to remember which is which,
so names may optionally be used in function prototype declarations.) Finally,
to remind us that this is an external declaration and not a defining instance, the
prototype is preceded by the keyword extern.
The presence of the function prototype declaration lets the compiler know that
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 85
Programming in C Unit 1

we intend to call this function, multbyfour. The information in the prototype

lets the compiler generate the correct code for calling the function, and also
enables the compiler to check up on our code (by making sure, for example,
that we pass the correct number of arguments to each function we call).
Down in the body of main, the action of the function call should be obvious: the
line
j = multbyfour(i);
calls B, passing it the value of i as its argument. When multbyfour returns, the
return value is assigned to the variable j. (Notice that the value of main's local
variable i will become the value of multbyfour's parameter x; this is absolutely
not a problem, and is a normal sort of affair.)
This example is written out in “longhand,'' to make each step equivalent. The
variable i isn't really needed, since we could just as well call
j = multbyfour(5);
And the variable j isn't really needed, either, since we could just as well call
printf("%d\n", multbyfour(5));
Here, the call to multbyfour is a subexpression which serves as the second
argument to printf. The value returned by multbyfour is passed immediately
to printf. (Here, as in general, we see the flexibility and generality of
expressions in C. An argument passed to a function may be an arbitrarily
complex subexpression, and a function call is itself an expression which may
be embedded as a subexpression within arbitrarily complicated surrounding
expressions.)
We should say a little more about the mechanism by which an argument is
passed down from a caller into a function. Formally, C is call by value, which
means that a function receives copies of the values of its arguments. We can
illustrate this with an example. Suppose, in our implementation of multbyfour,
we had gotten rid of the unnecessary retval variable like this:
int multbyfour(int x) {
x = x * 4; return x;
}
We might wonder, if we wrote it this way, what would happen to the value of

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 86

Programming in C Unit 1

the variable i when we called

j = multbyfour(i);
When our implementation of multbyfour changes the value of x, does that
change the value of i up in the caller? The answer is no. x receives a copy of
i's value, so when we change x we don't change i.
However, there is an exception to this rule. When the argument you pass to a
function is not a single variable, but is rather an array, the function does not
receive a copy of the array, and it therefore can modify the array in the caller.
The reason is that it might be too expensive to copy the entire array, and
furthermore, it can be useful for the function to write into the caller's array, as
a way of handing back more data than would fit in the function's single return
value. We will discuss more about passing arrays as arguments to a function
later.
There may be several different calls to the same function from various places
within a program. The actual arguments may differ from one function call to
another. Within each function call, however, the actual arguments must
correspond to the formal arguments in the function definition; i.e the actual
arguments must match in number and type with the corresponding formal
arguments.
Program 5.1: A program to find the largest of three integers
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x, y, z, w;
/* read the integers */
int max(int, int);
printf(“\nx= “);
scanf(“%d”, &x);
printf(“\ny= “);
scanf(“%d”, &y);
printf(“\nz= “);
scanf(“%d”, &z);
/* Calculate and display the maximum value */
w= max(x,y);
printf(“\n\nmaximum=%d\n”, max(z,w));
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 87
Programming in C Unit 1

}
int max(int a, int b)
{
int c;
c=(a>=b)?a:b;
return c;
}
Please execute this program and observe the result.
Function calls can span several levels within a program; function A can call
function B, which can call function C and so on.
Program 5.2: Program to check whether a given integer is a perfect
square or not.
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int psquare(int);
int num;
printf(“ Enter the number:”);

scanf(“%d”, &num);
if(psquare(num)) /* main() calls the function psquare() */
{ printf(“%d is a perfect square\n”);
else
printf(“%d is not a perfect square\n”);
}
}
int psquare(int x)
{
int positive(int);
float sqr;
if(positive(x)) /* psquare() in turn calls the function positive() */ { sqr=sqrt(x));
if(sqr-int(sqr))==0)
return 1;
else

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 88

Programming in C Unit 1

return 0;
}
int positive(int m) {
if(m>0)
return 1;
else return 0;
}
Execute the above program and observe the result.
In the above program the main function calls the function psquare() and it in
turn calls the function positive() to check whether the number to be checked
for perfect square is a positive or not before checking.
The return statement can be absent altogether from a function definition,
though this is generally regarded as a poor programming practice. If a
function reaches end of the block without encountering a return statement,
control simply reverts back to the calling portion of the program without
returning any information. Using an empty return statement(without the
accompanying expressions) is recommended.
Example 5.2: The following function accepts two integers and determines
the larger one, which is then written out. The function doesn’t return any
information to the calling program.
void max(int x, int y)
{
int m;
m=(x>=y)?x:y;
printf(“ The larger integer is=%d\n”, m); return;
}
Self Assessment Questions
1. The function main() is optional in a C program. (True/False)
2. If the function is defined elsewhere (not in the same program where it is
called), the function prototype must be preceded by the keyword

3. The arguments that appear in function definition are called

arguments whereas the arguments that appear when the function is

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 89

Programming in C Unit 1

called are the _ arguments.

4. The return data type, function name and the list of formal parameters
enclosed in brackets are separated by ______________.

5.3 Function Prototypes

In modern C programming, it is considered good practice to use prototype
declarations for all functions that you call. As we mentioned, these prototypes
help to ensure that the compiler can generate correct code for calling the
functions, as well as allowing the compiler to catch certain mistakes you might
make.
In general terms, a function prototype can be written as
data-type name(type1, type2, ..., type n)
Examples:
int sample(int, int) or int sample(int a, int b);
float fun(int, float) or float fun( int a, float b);
void demo(void); Here void indicates function neither return any value to the
caller nor it has any arguments.
If you write the function definition after the definition of its caller function, then
the prototype is required in the caller, but the prototype is optional if you write
the definition of the function before the definition of the caller function. But it is
good programming practice to include the function prototype wherever it is
defined.
If prototypes are a good idea, and if we're going to get in the habit of writing
function prototype declarations for functions we call that we've written (such as
multbyfour), what happens for library functions such as printf? Where are their
prototypes? The answer is in that boilerplate line
#include <stdio.h>
we've been including at the top of all of our programs. stdio.h is conceptually a
file full of external declarations and other information pertaining to the
“Standard I/O'' library functions, including printf. The #include directive
arranges all of the declarations within stdio.h that are considered by the
compiler, rather as if we'd typed them all in ourselves. Somewhere within these
declarations is an external function prototype declaration for printf, which
satisfies the rule that there should be a prototype for each function we call. (For

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 90

Programming in C Unit 1

other standard library functions we call, there will be other “header files'' to
include.) Finally, one more thing about external function prototype declarations:
we've said that the distinction between external declarations and defining
instances of normal variables hinges on the presence or absence of the
keyword extern. The situation is a little bit different for functions. The “defining
instance'' of a function is the function, including its body (that is, the brace-
enclosed list of declarations and statements implementing the function). An
external declaration of a function, even without the keyword extern, looks
nothing like a function declaration. Therefore, the keyword extern is optional
in function prototype declarations. If you wish, you can write
int multbyfour(int);
and this is just like an external function prototype declaration as
extern int multbyfour(int);
(In the first form, without the extern, as soon as the compiler sees the
semicolon, it knows it's not going to see a function body, so the declaration
can't be a definition.) You may want to stay in the habit of using extern in all
external declarations, including function declarations, since “extern = external
declaration'' is an easier rule to remember.
Program 5.3: Program to illustrate that the function prototype is optional
in the caller function. The program is to convert a character from
lowercase to uppercase.
#include<stdio.h>
char lower_to_upper(char ch) /* Function definition precedes main()*/
{
char c;
c=(ch>=’a’ && ch<=’z’) ? (‘A’+ch-‘a’):ch;
return c;
}
main()
{
char lower, upper;
/* char lower_to_upper(char lower); */ /* Function prototype is
optional here*/
printf(“Please enter a lowercase character:”);
scanf(“%c”, &lower);

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 91

Programming in C Unit 1

upper=lower_to_upper(lower);
printf(“\nThe uppercase equivalent of %c is %c\n”, lower, upper);
}

Self Assessment Questions

5. Function prototype is also called _______ .
6. The function prototypes are optional. (True/False)
7. The function prototypes of the library functions is in the corresponding
files.
8. The function prototype for the function fun() called in main() below is
main()
{
double x, y, z;

z=fun(x, y);

5.4 Recursion
Recursion is a process by which a function calls itself repeatedly, until some
specified condition has been met. The process is used for repetitive
computations in which each action is stated in terms of a previous result. Many
repetitive problems can be written in this form.
In order to solve a problem recursively, two conditions must be satisfied. First,
the problem must be written in a recursive form, and the second, the problem
statement must include a stopping condition.
Example 5.3: Factorial of a number. Suppose we wish to calculate the
factorial of a positive integer, n. We would normally express this problem as
n!=1 x 2 x 3 x ... x n.
This can also be written as n!=n x (n-1)!. This is the recursive statement of the
problem in which the desired action(the calculation of n!) is expressed in terms
of a previous result (the value of (n-1)! which is assumed to be known). Also,
we know that 0!=1 by definition. This expression provides stopping condition
for the recursion.
Thus the recursive definition for finding factorial of positive integer n can be

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 92

Programming in C Unit 1

written as:
fact(n)={ 1 if n=0
n x fact(n-1) otherwise}
Program 5.4: Program to find factorial of a given positive integer
#include<stdio.h> main() {
int n;
long int fact(int);
/* Read in the integer quantity*/ scanf(“%d”, &n);
/*calaculate and display the factorial*/ printf(“n!=%ld\n”, fact(n));
}
long int fact(int n)
{
if(n==0)
return(1);
else
return (n*fact(n-1));
}
Please execute this program and observe the result.
Example 5.4: The Towers of Hanoi. The Towers of Hanoi is a game played
with three poles and a number of different sized disks. Each disk has a hole in
the center, allowing it to be stacked around any of the poles. Initially, the disks
are stacked on the leftmost pole in the order of decreasing size, i.e, the largest
on the bottom, and the smallest on the top as illustrated in Figure 5.1.

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 93

Programming in C Unit 1

Figure 5.1: Illustration for Tower of Hanoi

The aim of the game is to transfer the disks from the leftmost pole to the
rightmost pole, without ever placing a larger disk on top of a smaller disk. Only
one disk may be moved at a time, and each disk must always be placed around
one of the poles.
The general strategy is to consider one of the poles to be the origin, and
another to be the destination. The third pole will be used for intermediate
storage, thus allowing the disks to be moved without placing a larger disk
over a smaller one. Assume there are n disks, numbered from smallest to
largest as in Figure 5.1. If the disks are initially stacked on the left pole, the
problem of moving all n disks to the right pole can be stated in the following
recursive manner:
1. Move the top n-1 disks from the left pole to the center pole.
2. Move the nth disk( the largest disk) to the right pole.
3. Move the n-1 disks on the center pole to the right pole.
The problem can be solved for any value of n greater than 0(n=0 represents
a stopping condition).
In order to program this game, we first label the poles, so that the left pole is
represented as L, the center pole as C and the right pole as R. Let us refer
the individual poles with the char-type variables from, to and temp for the
origin, destination and temporary storage respectively.
Program 5.5: Recursive Program to solve Towers of Hanoi problem.
#include<stdio.h> main() {

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 94

Programming in C Unit 1

void Recursive_Hanoi(int, char, char, char);

int n;
printf(“ Towers of Hanoi\n\n”);
printf(“ How many disks?”);
scanf(“%d”, &n);
printf(“\n”);
Recusrive_Hanoi(n, ‘L’, ‘R’, ‘C’);
}
void Recursive_Hanoi(int n, char from, char to, char temp) {
/* Transfer n disks from one pole to another */
/* n= number of disks
from=origin
to=destination
temp=temporary storage */
{
if(n>0){
/* move n-1 disks from origin to temporary */
Recursive_Hanoi(n-1, from, temp, to);

/* move nth disk from origin to destination */

printf(“ Move disk %d from %c to %c\n”, n, from, to);

/* move n-1 disks from temporary to destination */

Recursive_Hanoi(n-1, temp, to, from);
}
return;
}
Please execute this program and observe the result
Self Assessment Questions
9. is a process by which a function calls itself
repeatedly, until some specified condition is satisfied
10. A stopping condition must be there in a recursive definition. (True/False)
11. The output of the following program is ______________ .

#include<stdio.h>
main()
Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 95
Programming in C Unit 1

{
int n=5;
int fun(int n);
printf(“%d\n”, fun(n));
}
int fun(int n)
{
if(n==0)
return 0;
else
return (n+fun(n-1));
}
5.5 Function Philosophy
What makes a good function? The most important aspect of a good “building
block'' is that have a single, well-defined task to perform. When you find that a
program is hard to manage, it's often because it has not been designed and
broken up into functions cleanly. Two obvious reasons for moving code down
into a function are because:
1. It appeared in the main program several times, such that by making it a
function, it can be written just once, and the several places where it used
to appear can be replaced with calls to the new function.
2. The main program was getting too big, so it could be made (presumably)
smaller and more manageable by lopping part of it off and making it a
function.
These two reasons are important, and they represent significant benefits
of well-chosen functions, but they are not sufficient to automatically identify
a good function. As we've been suggesting, a good function has at least
these two additional attributes:
3. It does just one well-defined task, and does it well.
4. Its interface to the rest of the program is clean and narrow.
Attribute 3 is just a restatement of two things we said above. Attribute 4 says
that you shouldn't have to keep track of too many things when calling a
function. If you know what a function is supposed to do, and if its task is simple
and well-defined, there should be just a few pieces of information you have to

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 96

Programming in C Unit 1

give it to act upon, and one or just a few pieces of information which it returns
to you when it's done. If you find yourself having to pass lots and lots of
information to a function, or remember details of its internal implementation to
make sure that it will work properly this time, it's often a sign that the function
is not sufficiently well-defined. (A poorly-defined function may be an arbitrary
chunk of code that was ripped out of a main program that was getting too big,
such that it essentially has to have access to all of that main function's local
variables.)
The whole point of breaking a program up into functions is so that you don't
have to think about the entire program at once; ideally, you can think about just
one function at a time. We say that a good function is a “black box,'' which is
supposed to suggest that the “container" it's in is opaque - callers can't see
inside it (and the function inside can't see out). When you call a function, you
only have to know what it does, not how it does it. When you're writing a
function, you only have to know what it's supposed to do, and you don't have
to know why or under what circumstances its caller will be calling it. (When
designing a function, we should perhaps think about the callers just enough to
ensure that the function we're designing will be easy to call, and that we aren't
accidentally setting things up so that callers will have to think about any internal
details.)
Some functions may be hard to write (if they have a hard job to do, or if it's
hard to make them do it truly well), but that difficulty should be
compartmentalized along with the function itself. Once you've written a “hard''
function, you should be able to sit back and relax and watch it do that hard
work on call from the rest of your program. It should be pleasant to notice (in
the ideal case) how much easier the rest of the program is to write, now that
the hard work can be deferred to this workhorse function.
(In fact, if a difficult-to-write function's interface is well-defined, you may be able
to get away with writing a quick-and-dirty version of the function first, so that
you can begin testing the rest of the program, and then go back later and
rewrite the function to do the hard parts. As long as the function's original
interface anticipated the hard parts, you won't have to rewrite the rest of the
program when you fix the function.)
The functions are important for far more important reasons than just saving
typing. Sometimes, we'll write a function which we only call once, just because

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 97

Programming in C Unit 1

breaking it out into a function makes things clearer and easier.

If you find that difficulties pervade a program, that the hard parts can't be buried
inside black-box functions and then forgotten about; if you find that there are
hard parts which involve complicated interactions among multiple functions,
then the program probably needs redesigning.
For the purposes of explanation, we've been seeming to talk so far only about
“main programs'' and the functions they call and the rationale behind moving
some piece of code down out of a “main program'' into a function. But in reality,
there's obviously no need to restrict ourselves to a two-tier scheme. Any
function we find ourselves writing will often be appropriately written in terms of
sub-functions, sub-sub-functions, etc.
Program 5.6: Program to create a function that types 65 asterisks in a
row
/* letterheadl.c */
#include <stdio.h>
#define NAME "MEGATHINK, INC."
#define ADDRESS "10 Megabuck Plaza"
#define PLACE "Megapolis, CA 94904"
#define LIMIT 65
void starbar(void); /* prototype the function */
int main(void)
{
starbar();
printf("%s\n", NAME);
printf("%s\n", ADDRESS);
printf("%s\n", PLACE);
starbar(); /* use the function */
return 0;
}

void starbar(void) /* define the function */

{
int count;
for (count = 1; count <= LIMIT; count++) putchar('*');
putchar('\n');

Manipal University Jaipur Page No.: 98