Variables, Data Types, and

Arithmetic Expressions

Lecture 2
Programming
 Lecture 2: Outline
• Variables, Data Types, and Arithmetic Expressions
– Working with Variables
– Understanding Data Types and Constants
• The Basic Integer Type (int)
• The Floating Number Type (float)
• The Extended Precision Type (double)
• The Single Character Type (char)
• The Boolean Data Type (_Bool)
• Storage sizes and ranges
• Type Specifiers: long, long long, short, unsigned, and signed
– Working with Arithmetic Expressions
• Integer Arithmetic and the Unary Minus Operator
• The Modulus Operator
• Integer and Floating-Point Conversions
– Combining Operations with Assignment: The Assignment Operators
– Types _Complex and _Imaginary
 Variables
• Programs can use symbolic names for storing
computation data
• Variable: a symbolic name for a memory location
– programmer doesn’t have to worry about specifying (or even
knowing) the value of the location’s address
• In C, variables have to be declared before they are used
– Variable declaration: [symbolic name(identifier), type]
• Declarations that reserve storage are called definitions
– The definition reserves memory space for the variable, but
doesn’t put any value there
• Values get into the memory location of the variable by
initialization or assignment
 Variables - Examples
int a; // declaring a variable of type int

int sum, a1,a2; // declaring 3 variables

int x=7; // declaring and initializing a variable

a=5; // assigning to variable a the value 5

a1=a; // assigning to variable a1 the value of a

L-value R-value

a1=a1+1; // assigning to variable a1 the value of a1+1

// (increasing value of a1 with 1)
 Variable declarations

Data type Variable name

Which data types Which variable names

are possible in C ? are allowed in C ?
 Variable names
Rules for valid variable names (identifiers) in C :
• Name must begin with a letter or underscore ( _ ) and can be
followed by any combination of letters, underscores, or digits.
• Any name that has special significance to the C compiler (reserved
words) cannot be used as a variable name.
• Examples of valid variable names: Sum, pieceFlag, I, J5x7,
Number_of_moves, _sysflag
• Examples of invalid variable names: sum$value, 3Spencer, int.
• C is case-sensitive: sum, Sum, and SUM each refer to a different
variable !
• Variable names can be as long as you want, although only the first
63 (or 31) characters might be significant. (Anyway, it’s not practical
to use variable names that are too long)
• Choice of meaningful variable names can increase the readability
of a program
 Data types
• Basic data types in C: int, float, double, char and
_Bool.
• Data type int: can be used to store integer numbers (values with
no decimal places)
• Data type type float: can be used for storing floating-point
numbers (values containing decimal places).
• Data type double: the same as type float, only with roughly
twice the precision.
• Data type char: can be used to store a single character, such as
the letter a, the digit character 6, or a semicolon.
• Data type _Bool: can be used to store just the values 0 or 1 (used
for indicating a true/false situation). This type has been added by the
C99 standard (was not in ANSI C)
Example: Using data types
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int integerVar = 100;
float floatingVar = 331.79;
double doubleVar = 8.44e+11;
char charVar = 'W';
_Bool boolVar = 0;
printf ("integerVar = %i\n", integerVar);
printf ("floatingVar = %f\n", floatingVar);
printf ("doubleVar = %e\n", doubleVar);
printf ("doubleVar = %g\n", doubleVar);
printf ("charVar = %c\n", charVar);
printf ("boolVar = %i\n", boolVar);
return 0;
}
 The basic data type int
• Examples of integer constants: 158, –10, and 0
• No embedded spaces are permitted between the digits,
and values larger than 999 cannot be expressed using
commas. (The value 12,000 is not a valid integer constant
and must be written as 12000.)
• Integer values can be displayed by using the format
characters %i in the format string of a printf call.
• Also the %d format characters can be used to display an
integer (Kernighan&Ritchie C)
• Integers can also be expressed in a base other than
decimal (base 10): octal (base 8) or hexa (base 16).
 Octal notation for integers
• Octal notation (base 8): If the first digit of the integer
value is 0, the integer is taken as expressed in octal
notation. In that case, the remaining digits of the value
must be valid base-8 digits and, therefore, must be 0–7.
• Example: Octal value 0177 represents the decimal value
127 (1 × 82 + 7 × 8 + 7).
• An integer value can be displayed in octal notation by
using the format characters %o or %#o in the format
string of a printf statement.
 Hexadecimal notation for integers
• Hexadecimal notation (base 16): If an integer constant
is preceded by a zero and the letter x (either lowercase
or uppercase), the value is taken as being expressed in
hexadecimal. Immediately following the letter x are the
digits of the hexadecimal value, which can be composed
of the digits 0–9 and the letters a–f (or A–F). The letters
represent the values 10–15, respectively.
• Example: hexadecimal value 0xA3F represents the
decimal value 2623 (10 × 162 + 3 × 16 + 15).
• The format characters %x, %X , %#x, or %#X display a
value in hexadecimal format
 Data display vs data storage
• The option to use decimal, octal or hexadecimal notation
doesn't affect how the number is actually stored internally !
• When/where to use octal and hexa: to express computer-related
values in a more convenient way

int x =16;
printf("%i %#X %#o\n", x,x,x);

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 storage (binary)

“%i” “%#X” program

“%#o”

16 0X10 020 display

 The floating number type float
• A variable declared to be of type float can be used for storing values
containing decimal places.
• Examples of floating-point constants : 3., 125.8, –.0001
• To display a floating-point value at the terminal, the printf conversion
characters %f are used.
• Floating-point constants can also be expressed in scientific notation.The
value 1.7e4 represents the value 1.7 × 104.
• The value before the letter e is known as the mantissa, whereas the value
that follows is called the exponent. This exponent, which can be preceded
by an optional plus or minus sign, represents the power of 10 by which the
mantissa is to be multiplied.
• To display a value in scientific notation, the format characters %e should be
specified in the printf format string.
• The printf format characters %g can be used to let printf decide
whether to display the floating-point value in normal floating-point notation
or in scientific notation.This decision is based on the value of the exponent:
If it’s less than –4 or greater than 5, %e (scientific notation) format is used;
otherwise, %f format is used.
 The extended precision type
double
• Type double is very similar to type float, but it is used whenever
the range provided by a float variable is not sufficient. Variables
declared to be of type double can store roughly twice as many
significant digits as can a variable of type float.
• Most computers represent double values using 64 bits.
• Unless told otherwise, all floating-point constants are taken as
double values by the C compiler!
• To explicitly express a float constant, append either an f or F to
the end of the number: 12.5f
• To display a double value, the format characters %f, %e, or %g,
which are the same format characters used to display a float
value, can be used.
 The character type char
• A char variable can be used to store a single character.
• A character constant is formed by enclosing the character within a pair of
single quotation marks. Valid examples: 'a', ';', and '0‘.
• Character zero ( ‘0’ ) is not the same as the number (integer constant) 0.
• Do not confuse a character constant with a character string: character ‘0’
and string “0”.
• The character constant ‘\n’—the newline character—is a valid character
constant : the backslash character is a special character in the C system
and does not actually count as a character.
• There are other special characters (escape sequences) that are initiated
with the backslash character: \\, \”, \t
• The format characters %c can be used in a printf call to display the value
of a char variable
• To handle characters internally, the computer uses a numerical code in
which certain integers represent certain characters. The most commonly
used code is the ASCII code
 Assigning values to char

char letter; /* declare variable letter of type char */

letter = 'A'; /* OK */
letter = A; /* NO! Compiler thinks A is a variable */
letter = "A"; /* NO! Compiler thinks “A" is a string */
letter = 65; /* ok because characters are really
stored as numeric values (ASCII code),
but poor style */
Data display vs data storage
/* displays ASCII code for a character */

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
char ch;
ch='A';
printf("The code for %c is %i.\n", ch, ch);
return 0;
}

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 storage (ASCII code)

“%c” “%d” program

A 65 display
 The Boolean Data Type _Bool
• A _Bool variable is defined in the language to be large enough to
store just the values 0 and 1.The precise amount of memory that is
used is unspecified.
• _Bool variables are used in programs that need to indicate a
Boolean condition. For example, a variable of this type might be
used to indicate whether all data has been read from a file.
• By convention, 0 is used to indicate a false value, and 1 indicates a
true value. When assigning a value to a _Bool variable, a value of 0
is stored as 0 inside the variable, whereas any nonzero value is
stored as 1.
• To make it easier to work with _Bool variables in your program, the
standard header file <stdbool.h> defines the values bool, true,
and false:
bool endOfData = false;
• The _Bool type has beed added by C99.
• Some compilers (Borland C, Turbo C, Visual C) don’t support it
 Storage sizes and ranges
• Every type has a range of values associated with it.
• This range is determined by the amount of storage that is allocated
to store a value belonging to that type of data.
• In general, that amount of storage is not defined in the language. It
typically depends on the computer you’re running, and is, therefore,
called implementation- or machine-dependent.
– For example, an integer might take up 32 bits on your computer, or it
might be stored in 64.You should never write programs that make any
assumptions about the size of your data types !
• The language standards only guarantees that a minimum amount of
storage will be set aside for each basic data type.
– For example, it’s guaranteed that an integer value will be stored in a
minimum of 32 bits of storage, which is the size of a “word” on many
computers.
 Integer overflow
• What happens if an integer tries to get a value too big for its type
(out of range)?
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void) {
int i = 2147483647;
printf("%i %i %i\n", i, i+1, i+2);
return 0;
}

Program output:
2147483647 -2147483648 -2147483647

Explanation:
On this computer, int is stored on 32 bits: the first bit represents
the sign, the rest of 31 bits represent the value.
Biggest positive int value here: 231-1 = 2147483647
 Floating point round-off error
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
float a,b;
b = 2.0e20 + 1.0;
a = b - 2.0e20;
printf("%f \n", a);
return 0;
}

Program output:
4008175468544.000000

Explanation: the computer doesn't keep track of enough decimal places !

The number 2.0e20 is 2 followed by 20 zeros and by adding 1
you are trying to change the 21st digit. To do this correctly, the program
would need to be able to store a 21-digit number. A float number is typically
just six or seven digits scaled to bigger or smaller numbers with an
exponent.
 Type Specifiers: long, long long,
short, unsigned, signed
• Type specifiers: extend or limit the range of certain basic types on
certain computer systems
• If the specifier long is placed directly before the int declaration,
the declared integer variable is of extended range on some
computer systems.
• Example of a long int declaration: long int factorial;
• On many systems, an int and a long int both have the same
range and either can be used to store integer values up to 32-bits
wide (231–1, or 2,147,483,647).
• A constant value of type long int is formed by optionally
appending the letter L (upper- or lowercase) at the end of an integer
constant.
• Example: long int numberOfPoints = 131071100L;
• To display the value of a long int using printf, the letter l is
used as a modifier before the integer format characters i, o, and x
 Basic Data Types - Summary
Type Meaning Constants Ex. printf
int Integer value; guaranteed to contain at least 16 bits 12, -7, %i,%d, %x,
0xFFE0, 0177 %o
short int Integer value of reduced precision; guaranteed to - %hi, %hx,
contain at least 16 bits %ho
long int Integer value of extended precision; guaranteed to 12L, 23l, %li, %lx,
contain at least 32 bits 0xffffL %lo

long long Integer value of extraextended precision; guaranteed 12LL, 23ll, %lli,
int to contain at least 64 bits 0xffffLL %llx, %llo

unsigned Positive integer value; can store positive values up 12u, 0XFFu %u, %x, %o
int to twice as large as an int; guaranteed to contain at
least 16 bits (all bits represent the value, no sign bit)

unsigned - %hu, %hx,

short int %ho
unsigned 12UL, 100ul, %lu, %lx,
long int 0xffeeUL %lo

unsigned 12ull, %llu,

long long 0xffeeULL %llx, %llo
int
 Basic Data Types - Summary (contd.)
Type Meaning Constants printf
float Floating-point value; a value that can contain decimal 12.34f, 3.1e- %f, %e,
places; guaranteed to contain at least six digits of 5f %g
precision.
double Extended accuracy floating-point value; guaranteed to 12.34, 3.1e-5, %f, %e,
contain at least 10 digits of precision. %g

long Extraextended accuracy floating-point value; 12.341, 3.1e- %Lf,

double guaranteed to contain at least 10 digits of 5l %Le, %Lg
precision.
char Single character value; on some systems, sign 'a', '\n' %c
extension might occur when used in an expression.

unsigned Same as char, except ensures that sign extension -

char does not occur as a result of integral promotion.

signed Same as char, except ensures that sign extension -

char does occur as a result of integral promotion.
Knowing actual ranges for types
• Defined in the system include files <limits.h> and <float.h>
• <limits.h> contains system-dependent values that specify the
sizes of various character and integer data types:
– the maximum size of an int is defined by the name INT_MAX
– the maximum size of an unsigned long int is defined by
ULONG_MAX
• <float.h> gives information about floating-point data types.
– FLT_MAX specifies the maximum floating-point number,
– FLT_DIG specifies the number of decimal digits of precision for a float
type.
Working with arithmetic expressions
• Basic arithmetic operators: +, -, *, /
• Precedence: one operator can have a higher priority, or precedence,
over another operator.
– Example: * has a higher precedence than +
– a+b*c
– if necessary, you can always use parentheses in an expression to force the
terms to be evaluated in any desired order.
• Associativity: Expressions containing operators of the same
precedence are evaluated either from left to right or from right to left,
depending on the operator. This is known as the associative property of
an operator
– Example: + has a left to right associativity

• In C there are many more operators -> later in this course !

Working with arithmetic expressions
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int a = 100;
int b = 2;
int c = 25;
int d = 4;
int result;
result = a - b; // subtraction
printf ("a - b = %i\n", result);
result = b * c; // multiplication
printf ("b * c = %i\n", result);
result = a / c; // division
printf ("a / c = %i\n", result);
result = a + b * c; // precedence
printf ("a + b * c = %i\n", result);
printf ("a * b + c * d = %i\n", a * b + c * d);
return 0;
}
Integer arithmetic and the unary
minus operator
// More arithmetic expressions
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int a = 25;
int b = 2;
float c = 25.0;
float d = 2.0;
printf ("6 + a / 5 * b = %i\n", 6 + a / 5 * b);
printf ("a / b * b = %i\n", a / b * b);
printf ("c / d * d = %f\n", c / d * d);
printf ("-a = %i\n", -a);
return 0;
}
 The modulus operator

// The modulus operator

#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int a = 25, b = 5, c = 10, d = 7;
printf ("a %% b = %i\n", a % b);
printf ("a %% c = %i\n", a % c);
printf ("a %% d = %i\n", a % d);
printf ("a / d * d + a %% d = %i\n",
a / d * d + a % d);
return 0;
}
Modulus operator: %
Binary operator
Gets the remainder resulting from integer division
% has equal precedence to * and /
 Integer and Floating-Point
Conversions
• Assign an integer value to a floating variable:
does not cause any change in the value of the
number; the value is simply converted by the
system and stored in the floating
• Assign a floating-point value to an integer
variable: the decimal portion of the number gets
truncated.
• Integer arithmetic (division):
– int divided to int => result is integer division
– int divided to float or float divided to int => result is
real division (floating-point)
 Integer and Floating-Point
Conversions
// Basic conversions in C
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
float f1 = 123.125, f2;
int i1, i2 = -150;
char c = 'a';
i1 = f1; // floating to integer conversion
printf ("%f assigned to an int produces %i\n", f1, i1);
f1 = i2; // integer to floating conversion
printf ("%i assigned to a float produces %f\n", i2, f1);
f1 = i2 / 100; // integer divided by integer
printf ("%i divided by 100 produces %f\n", i2, f1);
f2 = i2 / 100.0; // integer divided by a float
printf ("%i divided by 100.0 produces %f\n", i2, f2);
f2 = (float) i2 / 100; // type cast operator
printf ("(float) %i divided by 100 produces %f\n", i2, f2);
return 0;
}
 The Type Cast Operator
• f2 = (float) i2 / 100; // type cast operator
• The type cast operator has the effect of converting the value of the variable
i2 to type float for purposes of evaluation of the expression.
• This operator does NOT permanently affect the value of the variable i2;
• The type cast operator has a higher precedence than all the arithmetic
operators except the unary minus and unary plus.

• Examples of the use of the type cast operator:

• (int) 29.55 + (int) 21.99 results in 29 + 21
• (float) 6 / (float) 4 results in 1.5
• (float) 6 / 4 results in 1.5
 The assignment operators
• The C language permits you to join the arithmetic operators with the
assignment operator using the following general format: op=, where
op is an arithmetic operator, including +, –, ×, /, and %.
• op can also be a logical or bit operator => later in this course
• Example:
count += 10;
– Equivalent with:
count=count+10;
• Example: precedence of op=:
a /= b + c
– Equivalent with:
a = a / (b + c)
– addition is performed first because the addition operator has higher
precedence than the assignment operator
_Complex and _Imaginary types
• Supported only by a few compilers
• Complex numbers have two components: a real part and an imaginary part. C99
represents a complex number internally with a two-element array, with the first
component being the real part and the second component being the imaginary part.

• There are three complex types:

• float _Complex represents the real and imaginary parts with type float values.
• double _Complex represents the real and imaginary parts with type double values.
• long double _Complex represents the real and imaginary parts with type long
double values.

• There are three imaginary types; An imaginary number has just an imaginary part:
• float _Imaginary represents the imaginary part with a type float value.
• double _Imaginary represents the imaginary part with a type double value.
• long double _Imaginary represents the imaginary part with a type long double
value.

• Complex numbers can be initialized using real numbers and the value I, defined in
<complex.h> and representing i, the square root of –1
 _Complex example

#include <complex.h> // for I

int main(void) {
double _Complex z1 = 3*I;
double _Complex z2=5+4*I;
double _Complex z;
z=z1*z2;
printf("%f+%f*I\n",creal(z),cimag(z) );
}
 Declaring variables
• Some older languages (FORTRAN, BASIC) allow you to use
variables without declaring them.
• Other languages (C, Pascal) impose to declare variables
• Advantages of languages with variable declarations:
– Putting all the variables in one place makes it easier for a reader to
understand the program
– Thinking about which variables to declare encourages the programmer
to do some planning before writing a program ( What information does
the program need? What must the program to produce as output?
What is the best way to represent the data?)
– The obligation to declare all variables helps prevent bugs of misspelled
variable names.
– Compiler knows the amount of statically allocated memory needed
– Compiler can verify that operations done on a variable are allowed
by its type (strongly typed languages)
 Declaration vs Definition
• Variable declaration: [Type, Identifier]
• Variable definition: a declaration which
does also reserve storage space
(memory) !
– Not all declarations are definitions
– In the examples seen so far, all declarations
are as well definitions
– Declarations which are not definitions: later in
this semester!