Principles of Programming using C – 22pop13

Module-1

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Chapter 1

1. THE BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION

Today computers can be seen in schools, offices and almost everywhere. Computers
have gone through many stages of evolution. Some of the early computing machines
are as follows:

• Abacus emerged about 5000 years ago in Asia minor is considered as the first
computer.

• In abacus computations are done by using a system of sliding beads arranged on

a rack

• First mechanical adding device Pascaline was invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642.
It used a base of 10 to perform calculations. Drawback was it could perform only
addition.

• In 1694, a German mathematician and philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm von

Leibniz improved Pascaline by creating a machine that could perform both
addition and multiplication. Leibniz mechanical multiplier worked by the system
of gears and dial.

An English mathematics professor Charles Babbage developed a steam powered

machine to solve differential equations, called Difference Engine. It could perform
calculations and print results automatically.

• Charles Babbage developed Analytical Engine. In analytical engine punch cards

were used to encode machine’s instructions.

• Charles Babbage is also known as Father of Computers.

• In 1820 Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented Jacquard loom, which used punched

boards to control the patterns to be woven.

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 • In 1889 an American inventor Herman Hollerith used loom concept of punch
cards to store data, that was fed into a machine that compiled results
mechanically.

• Herman Hollerith introduced punch cards to market by starting Tabulating

Machine Company in 1896, which was later known as international Business
Machines(IBM).

2. COMPUTER GENERATIONS

Generation: Computer generation means a step of advancement in technology. It

also reflects the growth of computer industry.

First generation of computers(1945-1956):

• Mark-I an electronic relay computer.

• Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC).
• Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer(EDVAC).
• UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer).

Features of First-Generation computers:

• Vacuum tubes were used for internal operations.

• Magnetic drums were used for memory.
• Punched cards were used for input and output.
• Low level languages were used for programming.
• The system was not powerful, huge, nonportable and expensive.

Second Generation Computers(1956-1963):

Strech by IBM and LARC by Sperry-Rand were super computers of this generation
made by using Transistor Technology.

High level programming languages like COBAL(Common Business Oriented Language)

and FORTRAN(Formula Translator) were used in this generation.

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 Principles of Programming using C

• Transistors replaced vacuum tubes in second generation

• Smaller magnetic cores replaced Magnetic drums
• Programmed using Symbolic or assembly language
• Other things were same as first generation, but less heat generated due to
transistors.

Third Generation Computers(1964-1971):

Jack Kilby an engineer with Texas instruments, developed the Integrated Circuit (IC) in
1958. Operating Systems were developed which allowed to run multiple programs at
once.

Features of Third Generation Computers:

• Integrated circuits (ICs) were used for computation.

• It consists of transistors, resistors, capacitors, and diodes in single chip.
• Smaller size, cheaper and energy efficient.
• Keyboard and monitors were used for input and output.
• Magnetic hard disk was used as storage.
• Operating systems came into use.
• Programming languages like BASIC, C, C++ were used.

Fourth Generation Computers(1971-present):

• Large Scale Integration(LSI) circuit integrated hundreds of components on a

single chip.
• In 1980’s Very Large Scale Integration(VLSI) circuit integrated thousands of
components on a single chip.

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Features of Fourth Generation Computers:

• More circuits on chip LSI, VLSI and ULSI.

• Microprocessors were introduced.
• Microcomputers and personal computers were affordable to common man.
• Use of chips for memory. Storage capacity was increased from MB to several GBs
• Operating systems like windows came into use. Networking technology developed
• Systems were smaller in size and easily portable.
• The systems were faster, more powerful, more reliable, cheaper, smaller in size
and had more memory.

Fifth Generation Computers(Present and Beyond):

• Fifth generation computers will have Artificial Intelligence.

• HAL900 from Arthur C.Clarke’s novel and 2001: a space Odyssey are examples
of fifth generation computers.

Features of Fifth Generation Computers:

• Development of storage technology.

• Advancement in networking technology.

• Systems are more reliable, faster, and cheaper.

• Development of supercomputers.

• Concept of parallel processing in computers.

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3. Computer Types

Micro computers:
Microcomputers are the smallest category of computers fabricated using a
microprocessor and other integrated circuits namely Ram and I/O interfaces. It
can perform simple tasks like word processing or spreadsheet calculations. It is
also known as Personal Computer (PC). The first PC was built by IBM.

Minicomputers:
Minicomputers are relatively fast but small computers with limited Input/output
capabilities. These are designed for real time dedicated applications or multiuser
applications. Minicomputer is a multiprocessor system. Digital alpha and sun
ultra are some of the minicomputers.

Mainframes:
Mainframes are a large multiuser computer system designed to handle massive
amounts of input, output, and storage. Applications that require high
performance and large amount of data processing use mainframe computers.
Example: IBM S/390. Mainframes are commonly used in Banking sector.

Super computers:
Super computers are the largest, fastest, and most powerful computers. These
are expensive and have massive parallel processing capabilities. Example: IBM’s
deep blue. NASA uses a no. of super computers.

4. BITS, BYTES AND WORDS

Memory is an essential component of a computer. Memory is the only place in the

computer where data or information can be stored. The storage capacity of a
computer is measured in terms of bytes. One Byte includes a total of 8 individual
units called as Bits. One bit can store either a 0 or a 1 in it.

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5. INSIDE THE COMPUTER

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Central Processing Unit(CPU):

The CPU is known as the brain of the computer. The CPU interprets the instructions in
the program and executes them one by one and produces the desired result.

CPU has following three major parts:

 Control Unit.
 Arithmetic and Logic Unit.
 Registers

Control Unit: It controls and directs the transfer of data and program instructions
between various units.

It performs four basic operations, they are:

• Fetches an Instruction.

• Decodes the instruction.

• Executes the instruction.

• Stores the result.

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU): ALU performs arithmetic operations, logical
operations, Relational operations and controls the speed of these operations.
Registers: They are high speed temporary storage units of CPU.

Memory Unit: Memory unit is the only storage area in a computer. Memory unit stores
data, instructions, intermediate results, and final output generated. Secondary storage

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Central Processing Unit(CPU):

The CPU is known as the brain of the computer. The CPU interprets the instructions in
the program and executes them one by one and produces the desired result.

CPU has following three major parts:

 Control Unit.
 Arithmetic and Logic Unit.
 Registers

Control Unit: It controls and directs the transfer of data and program instructions
between various units.

It performs four basic operations, they are:

• Fetches an Instruction.

• Decodes the instruction.

• Executes the instruction.

• Stores the result.

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU): ALU performs arithmetic operations, logical
operations, Relational operations and controls the speed of these operations.
Registers: They are high speed temporary storage units of CPU.

Memory Unit: Memory unit is the only storage area in a computer. Memory unit stores
data, instructions, intermediate results, and final output generated. Secondary storage

The input unit may consist of one or more input devices such as keyboard and mouse.

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 Input unit converts the accepted data into binary form and sends it for processing.

Output Unit: The output unit displays the results in user understandable form. ex:
monitor, printers etc.

6. PRIMARY MEMORY

Primary memory performs the following functions:

 Maintains a copy of the operating system.
 Temporarily store a copy of application program that is currently being executed.
 Temporarily stores input data from input devices. Temporarily store results
generated from processing.

6.1 Cache Memory

Cache memory is a small fast memory which increases the performance of the
system by storing frequently used program code or data.

Fig. a: Working of Cache Memory

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 The above fig shows the working of cache memory. When a program is running
and CPU needs to read data or program instructions from RAM, it first checks
the Cache Memory for the data. If data is not there in cache, the CPU will read
the data from RAM into its registers and loads a copy into cache memory for
future use.

6.2 Random Access Memory (RAM) is also referred to as main memory of the
computer. The user can write Information into as well as read information from RAM.
RAM is Volatile, that is, the information in RAM is retained as long as power supply is
ON.

Types of RAM:

• SRAM: Static Random Access Memory is fast and expensive. It need not be
refreshed. It has multiple transistors for each memory cell.
• DRAM: Dynamic Random Access Memory is slower than SRAM. It needs to
be refreshed. It has single transistor and capacitor for each memory cell.
• SDRAM: Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory is a special type of
DRAM that is synchronised with the system clock. it has better efficiency.
• DDR-SDRAM: In Double Data Rate SDRAM the data transfer rate is twice
that of SDRAM. It works similar to SDRAM.

6.3 READ ONLY MEMORY(ROM)

• ROM stands for Read Only Memory.

• ROM is non-volatile i.e. The information is not lost even if power supply goes
off.
• ROM is used for permanent storage of information.
• It also possesses random access property.

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There are 3 different types of ROM they are:

i)PROM:

It stands for Programmable Read Only Memory. A special equipment called

PROM programmer is used to store any information in PROM. User can write
information into PROM only once, hence its Once programmable.

ii)EPROM:

It stands for Erasable ROM. The contents of EPROM are erased by Exposing it to
Ultraviolet light for about 20 minutes. EPROM IC must be removed from the
computer to erase contents and all the contents are erased at once. In EPROM
we cannot erase selected Memory locations. It is cheaper and reliable.

iii)EEPROM:

It stands for Electrically Erasable PROM. electrical pulse is used to program

EEPROM. EEPROM IC is not removed from the computer to erase and
reprogram. In EEPROM we can erase selected Memory locations

6.4 Registers:

They are high speed temporary storage units of CPU used to store instructions
and intermediate data or results temporarily during processing.

7. SECONDARY MEMORY

Secondary Memory or magnetic memory is the memory used to store the

information which is not currently used by the CPU. Secondary memory is non-
volatile. It is used for bulk storage and has larger capacity than primary memory.
Hard disks and floppy disks are commonly used secondary storage devices.

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8. INPUT DEVICES

Input devices are the devices attached to computer which are used to accept the data
and instructions from the outside world or user. Keyboard and mouse are most
commonly used input devices.

KEYBOARD: Keyboard is the most commonly used, simple to operate and cost-effective
input device.

The computer Keyboard has 3 categories of keys:

i)Alphanumeric keys.

ii)Special keys.

iii)Function keys.

Based on the number of function keys, keyboards are classified as:

 Regular with 84 keys or Enhanced with 101 keys.

 Multimedia keyboards.

MOUSE: MOUSE stands for Mechanically Operated User Serial Engine. It is an Input
device which is Used as a Pointing Device. It was developed at Stanford Research
Institute.

Scanner is a direct entry input device that can be moved over photograph or any
document and it converts the data That has been scanned into digital format. It
Eliminates duplication of data, reduces human efforts and improves accuracy and
performance.

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9. OUPUT DEVICES

Monitor or Visual display Unit:- Monitor is an integral part of computer’s

configuration. Programs use it to display text or graphical output, while users also
need a monitor to view the input that they key in. The performance of a monitor is
judged mainly by its image quality, resolution, energy consumption and its effect on
the eyes.

Two types are:

CRT MONITOR - The CRT monitor uses a rarefied tube containing three electron guns
and a screen coated with phosphorescent material. The guns emit electrons to create
images on the screen by selectively lighting up the phosphors. They are large and
heavy, energy inefficient and generate a lot of heat.

LCD MONITORS - Most of computers today uses LCD monitors (or their variants, LED
and TFT). An LCD screen comprises thousands of liquid crystals, which by themselves,
do not generate light but may allow or block the passage of light through them. An
image is formed by selectively applying a voltage to these crystals and using a separate
light source for light to pass through them. The backlight is provided by fluorescent
light.

IMPACT PRINTERS:

Printer is hard copy output device that produces text and graphics on a physical
medium like paper.

The printers which use a print head mechanism that strikes an inked ribbon located
between the print head and the paper print are called impact printers.

The following are the specifications of two commonly used impact printers:

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Dot-matrix printer:

• An impact printer.
• print head has 9-24 pins.
• speed 30-300 characters per second.
• buffer size varies from 1k-64k.

Line printer:

• An impact printer
• Contains chain of characters or pins
• Low quality print
• prints entire line at a time
• High speed printer

NON IMPACT PRINTERS:

Non impact printers include all printers in which print head does not make contact
with the paper and no inked ribbon is used to print.

The following are the specifications of different types of non impact printers:

Ink-jet printer:
• A non impact printer
• Prints high quality text, graphics and colour images.
• Speed 1-12 pages per minute
• Buffer size varies from 1Mb-4Mb
• Resolution 300 dots per inch

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Laser:
• A non impact printer.
• Prints very high-quality text and graphics.
• Speed 4-24 pages per minute.
• Buffer size varies from 4Mb-32Mb.
• Resolution 600-1200 dots per inch.

Plotters
Plotters are a special kind of device, which are used to print large format images, such
as engineering or construction drawings created in CAD systems.

The following are the different types of Plotters:

• Pen plotters.
• Ink jet plotters.
• Electro static plotters.
• Thermal plotters.

12. Computer Software Overview

A computer system consists of hardware, the electronic devices capable of computing

and manipulating information, and software that carries out predefined instructions to
complete a given task. The combination of physical equipment (hardware) and logical
instructions (software) gives power and versatility to the modern computing systems.

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Software

Software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the
instruction for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. A software is an
interface between user and computer. It is a set of instructions, programs that are used
to give command to hardware. It is responsible for controlling, integrating and
managing the hardware components of a computer system and for accomplishing
specific tasks.

Types of Software

Software can be divided into two major categories.

1. System Software.
2. Application Software.

System Software
 System software consists of several programs, which are directly responsible for
controlling, integrating and managing the individual hardware components of a
computer system.
 It also provides the interface between the user and component of the computer.
 The purpose of system software is to insulate the applications programmer as
much as possible from the detail of the particular complex computer being used.
 Depending on the functionality, the system software can be further divided into
two major categories; system management program and developing software.

Operating System:
 It consists of programs, which controls, which controls, coordinates, and
supervises the activities of the various components of a computer system. Its
function is to provide link between the computer hardware and the user.
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 It performs all internal management functions (disk access, memory

management, task scheduling and user interfacing) and ensures systematic
functioning of a computer system. It provides an environment to run the
programs. e.g., MS-DOS, windows XP/2000/98, Unix Linux, etc.

The operating system performs the following functions.

1. It recognises input from keyboard, sends output to the display screen.

2. It makes sure that programs running at the same time do not interfere with each
other.

3. It is also responsible for security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access
the system

BIOS:
The Basic Input / Output system (BIOS) is commonly known as System Bios. The BIOS
controls various electronic components within the main computer system. The initial
function of the BIOS is to initialize system devices such as the RAM, hard disk,
CD/DVD drive, video display card and other hardware. The BIOS sets the machine
hardware into a known state that helps the operating system to configure the hardware
components. This process is known as Booting Up.

Device Drivers:
A software, which is written with the objective of making a device functional when it is
connected to the computer is called device driver. It is a system software that acts like
an interface between the device and the user. Every device, whether it is a printer,
monitor, mouse or keyboard has a driver program associated with it for its proper
functioning.

▪ Device drivers are a set of instructions that introduce our PC to a hardware

device.

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▪ Device drivers are not independent programs, they assist and are assisted by the
operating system for the proper functioning.

Programming Languages
A programming language is a primary interface of a programmer with a computer. A
programming language is an artificial language to express computation that can be
performed by a computer.

Each language has its own syntax i.e., the set of specific rules and expresses the logical
steps of an algorithm. programming languages are divided into two categories: Low
Level Language (LLL) and High-Level Language (HLL).

Low Level Language (LLL) Low level language is divided into two parts

1. Machine Language It is sometimes, referred to as machine code or object code. It

is a collection of binary digits or bits that computer reads and interprets.
2. Assembly Language It is used to interface with computer hardware. It uses
instructed commands as substitutions for numbers allowing human to read the
code more easily than binary. It uses English –like representation to write a
program.

Language Translator:

A language translator helps in converting programming languages to machine

language. The translated program is called the object code. There are three different
kinds of language translator.

1. Assembler It is used to convert the assembly language into machine language

(i.e.,0 or 1), This language consists of mnemonic codes which are difficult to learn
and is machine dependent.

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2. Compiler It is used to convert the source code (written in high level language) into
machine language. Compiler reads whole source code at a time and trap the
errors and inform to programmer. For each high level language, the machine
requires a separate compiler.
3. Interpreter This language processor converts a high level language program into
machine language by converting it line-by-line. If there is any error in any line
during execution, it will report it at the same time and cannot resume until the
error is rectified.

Linker:

A linker is a system program that links together several object modules and libraries to
form a single and coherent program (executable). The main purpose of linker is to
resolve references among files. Linker is used to determine the memory locations that
code from each module will occupy and relates its instruction by adjusting absolute
references.

Loader:

Loader is a kind of system software, which is responsible for loading and relocation of
the executable program in the main memory. It is a part of operating system that
brings an executable file residing on disk into memory and starts its execution process.

Application Software
Application software is a computer software designed to help the user to perform
singular or multiple tasks. It is a set of instructions or program designed for specific
uses or applications, that enable the user to interact with a computer. Application
software are also called the end-user programs. These programs do the real work for
users. Ex: Office Software, Database Software, Entertainment software.

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13. Overview of C
C is a programming language developed at AT & T’ s Bell laboratories of USA in 1972. It
was designed and written by a system programmer Dennis Ritchie. The main intention
was to develop a language for solve all possible applications.

Characteristics of C language as follows:

• C is a robust language, which consists of number of built-in functions

and operators can be used to write any complex program

• Programs written in c are executed fast compared to other languages.

• C language is highly portable

• C language is well suited for structured programming.

• C is a simple language and easy to learn.

1. Algorithm: Algorithm is a step by step procedural description of the

programming logic where each step is numbered in a hierarchical order. In
algorithm, number of steps must be finite and every step must be complete and
error free. The steps must specify the input and output as per the requirement
of the user.
2. Characteristics of Algorithm: Finiteness, Definiteness, Inputs, Outputs and
Effectiveness
3. Flowchart: Flow chart is a graphical representation of an algorithm.
Flowcharts use special shapes to represent different types of actions or steps in
a process. Lines and arrows show the sequence of the steps, and the
relationships among them. In flow chart symbols or shapes are used to
represent the data flow, operations, process, and recourses used to complete a
given task.

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4. Pseudocode solution to Problem: Pseudocode is a problem-solving tool

which consists of statements written in English and C language. It is a series of
steps which describes what must be done to solve a given problem. It is used for
developing a program and it is constructed before writing a program. It is an
informal high-level description of program mixed with natural descriptions and
mathematical notation. It does not have any standard syntax.

History of C

 The root of all modern languages is ALGOL, introduced in the early 1960s.
ALGOL(Algorithmic Language) was the first computer language to use a block
structure. ALGOL gave the concept of structured programming to the com[puter
science community.

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 In 1967, Martin Richards developed a language called BCPL(Basic Combined

Programming Language) primarily for writing system software.
 In 1970, Ken Thompson created a langauge using many features of BCPL and
called it simply B. B was used to create early versions of UNIX opearting system at Bell
Laboratories. Both BCPL and B were “typeless” system programming languages.
 C was evolved from ALGOL,BCPL and B by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell
Laboratories in 1972. C uses many concepts from these languages and added concepts
of data types and other powerfull features. Since it was developed along bwith the UNIX
opearting system, it is stongly associated with UNIX. This opearating system, which
was also developed at Bell Laboratories, was coded almost entirely in C. UNIX is one of
the most popular network operating systems in use today and the heart of the Internet
data superhighway.
 During 1970s, C had evolved into what is now known as “traditional C”, The
language became more popular after publication of the book ‘The C Programming
Language’ by Brain Kerningham and Dennis Ritchie in 1978. The book was so popular
that the language came to be known as “K&R C” among the programming community.
 To assure thatv the C language remains standard, in 1983, American National
Standards Institute(ANSI) appointed a technical committee to define a standard for C.
the committee approved a version of C in December 1989 which is known as ANSI C. It
was then approved by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in 1990. C99 is a
past work version of C language.

Importance of C

 It is a robust language whose rich set of built – in functions and operators can be
used to write any complex program.
 Programs written in C are efficient and fast.
 C is highly poratble. This means that C programs written for one computer can
be run on another with little or no modification.
 C has its ability to extend itself.
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14. Basic Structure of C Program

The documentation section consists of a set of comment lines giving the name of the
program, the name author and other details which the programmer would like to use
later. The link section provides instructions to the compiler to link functions from the
system library. The definition section contains all symbolic constants. There are some
variables that are used in more than one function. Such variables are called global
variables and are declared in the global declaration section.
Every C program must have one main() function section. This section contains two
parts: Declaration and Executable part.
The declaration part declares all the variables used in the executable part. There should
be at least one statement in the executable part.
These two parts must appear between the opening ‘{‘ and ‘}’ closing braces. The program
execution begins at the opening brace and ends at the closing brace.

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The closing brace of the main function section is 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. The main function is very important compared to other sections.

Sample C program:
/*Program Prog1.c: Program to display a message*/

#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
printf(“Hello”);
}

Output:
Hello

Character Set

The characters that can be used to form words, numbers and expressions depend
upon the computer on which the program is run. The characters in C are grouped
into the following categories.

Letters- (A-Z a-z)

Digits- (0-9)
Special characters
White Spaces (Blank Space, horizontal tab, carriage return, new line, form
feed)

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Special character set in C

15. C Tokens
Smallest unit of a program is called as tokens.

Types of tokens in C:

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Keywords

Keywords have fixed meanings and these meanings cannot be changed.

These serve as basic building blocks for program statements. All
keywords must be written in lowercase.
The list of all ANSI C keywords is listed below.

Identifiers

Identifiers are names given to different entities such as variables, structures,

functions etc.

Rules to name an identifier

– An identifier can only have alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) (i.e.
letters & digits) and underscore( _ ) symbol.
– Identifier names must be unique
– The first character must be an alphabet or underscore.
– Cannot use a keyword as identifiers.
– Only first thirty-one (31) characters are significant.
– Must not contain white spaces.
– Identifiers are case-sensitive.

Constants
Constants refer to fixed values that the program may not alter during its
execution. These fixed values are also called literals.
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Constants can be of any of the basic data types like:

Integer constant
Real (Floating) constant
Character constant
String literal

Integer Constants:
An integer constant refers to a sequence of digits. There are three types of integers,
namely decimal, octal and hexadecimal. Decimal integers consist of a set of digits
0 through 9, preceded by an optional – or + sign. Some examples of decimal integer
constants are:
123
-431
0
34567
+678

Spaces, commas, and non-digit characters are not permitted between digits. For
example:
15 750
20,000
Rs 1000
An octal integer constant consists of any combination of digits from the set 0
through 7 with a leading 0. Some examples are:
037
0
0435
0567

A sequence of digits preceded by 0x is considered as hexadecimal integer. They

may also include alphabets A through F or a through F. The letters A through F

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represent the numbers 10 through 15. The examples for hexadecimal integers are:
0x2
0x9
F
0xbc
d 0x

Floating-point constants:
Integer numbers are inadequate to represent quantities that vary continuously, such
as distances, heights, temperatures, prices and so on. These quantities are
represented by numbers containing fractional parts like 23.78. Such numbers are
called floating-point constants or real constants. Examples for floating-point
constants are given below.
213.
.95
-.71
+.5

A real number may also be expressed in exponential (or specific notation). For
example the value 213.45 may be written as 2.1345e2 in exponential notation. e2

means multiply by 102. The general form is mantissa e exponent.

Character Constants:
A character constant contains a single character enclosed within a pair of single
quote marks. Examples of character constants are: ‘5’ ‘X’ ‘;’ ‘ ‘

Note that the character constant ‘5’ is not the same as the number 5. The last
constant is a blank space. Character constants have integer values known as
ASCII values.

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For Example:

printf (“%d”, ‘A’); // prints the number 65(ASCII value of ‘A’)

printf(“%c”, 65); //prints letter ‘A’

It is also possible to perform arithmetic operations on character constants.

Backslash Character Constants:

C supports some special backslash character constants that are used in output
functions. For example, the symbol ‘\n’ stands for new line character. The below
table gives a list of backslash constants.
Constant Meaning
\a Audible alert(bell)
\b Back space
\f Form feed
\n New line character
\r Carriage return
\t Horizontal tab
\v Vertical tab
\’ Single quote
\” Double quote
\? Question mark
\\ Backslash mark
\0 Null character

Note that each one of them represents one character, although they consist of two
characters. These character combinations are called escape sequences.

String constants:
A string constant is a sequence of characters enclosed in double quotes. The letters
may be numbers, special characters and blank space.

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Examples are given below:

“THANK YOU” “2345” “?.....” “7+8-9” “X”
Remember that a character constant ‘X’ is not equivalent to the single character
string constant (“X”). A single character string constant does not have an equivalent
integer value as a single character constant. These types of constants are used in
programs to build meaningful programs.

Meaning of variables:
A variable is a data name that may be used to store a data value. Unlike the
constants that remain unchanged during the execution of a program, a variable
may take different values at different times during execution. A variable name can
be chosen by the programmer in a meaningful way to reflect its function or nature
in the program. Some examples are given below.
Average
Height
Total
Counter
_1

Rules for defining variables:

Variable names may consist of letters, digits, and the underscore ( _ ) character,
subject to the rules given below:
1. The variables must always begin with a letter. Some systems permit
underscore as the first character.

2. ANSI standard recognizes a length of 31 characters. However, the length

should not be normally mare than eight characters. Since first eight
characters are treated as significant by many compilers.
3. Uppercase and lowercase are significant. That is, the variable Rate is not the
same as rate or TOTAL.
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4. The variable name should not be a keyword.

5. White space is not allowed.

Valid variable Names Invalid Names
ph_value 345
student1 %
name (rate)
Distance 1student

Variable Definition
A variable definition tells the compiler where and how much storage to create for the
variable. A variable definition specifies a data type and contains a list of one or more
variables.
Declaration of variables:
Declaration should appear at the beginning of a program before the variable names
are used.
Syntax:
data_type variable_name;
where data_type can be any basic or derived datatypes like int, float, short, char
etc. varibale_name can be any valid identifier.
Ex:
int
number;
float rate;
char
grade;

When a variable name is declared then a memory location is identified and given this
name.
Variable Initialization:
The process of assigning initial values to a variable during declaration is called
as variable initialization. Syntax:

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datatype variable1=value;

Ex: We can initialize a variable called num1 of type int with the vale 10 as follows:

int num1=10;

We can initialize two variables with names length and breadth, both of type float
with values 15 and 20 respectively as:

float length=15, breadth=20;

16. Data Types

C language has varieties of data types. Storage representations and machine
instructions differ from machine to machine. The fundamental or primary data types
are:
– Integer (int)
– Character(char)
– Floating point(float)
– Double-precision floating point (double).
Many of them also has extended data types such as long, double, short, unsigned and
signed. The range of basic data types are given below:
Data Range of values
types
char -128 to 127
int -32,768 to 32,767
float 3.4e-38 to 3.4e+38
double 1.7e-308 to 1.7e+308
char, int, float and double are all keywords and therefore their use is reserved. They
may not be used as names of variables. char stands for “character” and int stands for
“integer”. The keywords short int, long int and unsigned int may be and usually are,
shortened to just short, long, and unsigned, respectively. Also, double and long float are
equivalent, but double is the keyword usually used.

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Integer Types:
Integers are whole numbers with a range of values supported by a particular
machine.
Generally integers occupy one word of storage. If we use a 16 bit word length,
the size of the integer value is limited to the range -32768 to +32767.
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.
C has three classes of integer storage both unsigned and signed forms.
– short int
– int
– long int
For example, short int represents fairly small integer. Values and requires half
the amount of storage as a regular int number uses.
Unlike signed integers, unsigned integers use all the bits for the magnitude of
the number and are always positive.
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.
Floating point types:
Floating point (or real) numbers are stored in 32 bits (on all 16 bit and 32 bit
machines), with 6 digits of precision.
Floating point numbers are defined in C by the keyword float.
The type double can be used when the accuracy provided by a float number is
not sufficient.
A double data type number uses 64 bits giving a precision of 15 digits. These
are known as double precision numbers.
To extend the precision further, we may use long double which 80 bits.

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Character types:
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.

Storage classes

A storage class defines the scope (visibility) and life-time of variables and/or
functions within a C Program. They precede the type that they modify. We have
four different storage classes in a C program –
auto
register
static
extern
The auto Storage Class
The auto storage class is the default storage class for all local variables.
void fun( )
{
int mount;

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auto int month;

}
The example above defines two variables within the same storage class. 'auto'
can only be used within functions, i.e., local variables.

The register Storage Class

The register storage class is used to define local variables that should be stored
in a register instead of RAM. This means that the variable has a maximum size
equal to the register size
register int miles;

The static Storage Class

The static storage class instructs the compiler to keep a local variable in
existence during the life-time of the program instead of creating and destroying it
each time it comes into and goes out of scope. Therefore, making local variables
static allows them to maintain their values between function calls.
static in x;

The extern Storage Class

The extern storage class is used to give a reference of a global variable that is
visible to ALL the program files. When you use 'extern', the variable cannot be
initialized however, it points the variable name at a storage location that has been
previously defined.
extern long total;

Defining Symbolic Constants

#define pre-processor directives are used to define symbolic constants.

The #define directive format is

#define symbolic_name replacement-value

When this line appears in a file, all subsequent occurrences of identifier

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that do not appear in string literals will be replaced by replacement-text

automatically before the program is compiled.
#define PI 3.1415
The value 3.1415 is replaced in every occurrence of symbolic constant PI in the
program.

Declaring a variable as constant

A constant variable remains constant during the execution of the program.

const data type qualifier is used to declare a variable as constant.
const int class_size = 60;
This tells the compiler that the value of class-size must not be modified by the
program.

Declaring a variable as volatile

ANSI standard defines another qualifier ‘volatile’ that tells the compiler that
variable’s value may be changed at any time by external sources (from outside
the program). For example,
volatile int date;

volatile variable can be modified by the program itself. This can be prevented by
using const qualifier as follows:
volatile const int location = 100;

17. Operators and Expressions

Arithmetic Operators

The binary arithmetic operators are +, - ,*, / and the modulus operator %. The %
operator cannot be applied to float or double. The arithmetic operators *, / and %
have the higher precedence than the + and – operators.
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Relational Operators

The relational operators are: = = != > >= < <=. The relational
operators have lower precedence than the arithmetic operators. If a=10 and b=20
then:

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Logical Operators

The Logical operators are:

&& (Logical AND)

|| (Logical OR)
! (Logical NOT)

In Logical AND operator, if expressions on both the sides of the logical AND
operator is true, then the whole expression is true.
In Logical OR operator, if expressions on one or both the sides of the logical OR
operator is true, then the whole expression is true.
The Logical NOT operator takes a single expression and negates the value of the
expression. That is, logical NOT produces a zero if the expression evaluates to a non-
zero value and produces a 1 if the expression produces a zero.
Following table shows all the logical operators supported by C language. Assume
variable A holds 1 and variable B holds 0, then:

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Assignment Operators

An assignment operator is used for assigning a value to a variable. The assignment

operator = is used to assign a value to a variable. Most binary operators have a
corresponding assignment operator op= .
+= -+ *= /= %= >>= <<= &= ^= |=

Ex: a+=b is equivalent to a=a+b

Increment and Decrement Operators

C provides two operators for incrementing and decrementing variables. The increment
operator ++ adds 1 to its operand, while the decrement operator -- subtracts 1.
The ++ and -- may be used either as prefix operators (before the variable, as in ++n), or
postfix (after the variable: n++). In both the cases, the effect is to increment n. But the
expression ++n increments n before its value is used, while n++ increments n after its
value has been used.
If n is 5, then
x = n++; //sets x to 5,but
x = ++n; //sets x to 6.
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 Principles of Programming using C

In both the cases, n becomes 6.

Note: The increment and decrement operators can only be applied to variables. An
expression like (i+j)++ is illegal.

Bitwise Operators

C provides six operators for bit

manipulation. & bitwise AND

| bitwise inclusive OR
^ bitwise exclusive OR
<< left shift
>> right shift
~ one’s complement (unary)

The bitwise AND operator is used to mask off some set of bits.
Ex: n = n & 0177; sets to zero all but low order 7 bits of n

The bitwise OR operator is used to turn bits on:

Ex: n = n | 0011

The bitwise exclusive OR operator ^ sets a one in each bit position where other
operands have different bits, and zero where they are the same.
The shift operators << and >> perform left and right shifts of their left operand by the
number of bit positions given by the right operand, which must be positive.
Ex: x<<2, shifts the value of x left by two positions, filling the vacated bits with zero.
The unary operator ~ yields the one’s complement of an integer, that is, it converts
each 1-bit into a 0-bit and vice versa.

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Conditional Operators

The conditional operator uses the following form:

expr1 ? expr2 :expr3

The expression expr1 is evaluated first. I it is non-zero (true), then the expression
expr2 is evaluated, and that is the value of the conditional expression. Otherwise
expr3 is evaluated, and that is the value. Only one of expr2 and expr3 is evaluated.
Thus to set z to the maximum of a and b, we use a conditional operator as:
z=(a>b)?a:b;

18. Type Conversions

Converting one data type to another data type is called type conversion. Two types:
Implicit type conversion
Explicit type conversion

Implicit type conversion

Implicitly converting a variable from one data type to another is called as implicit type
conversion. This is automatically done by the compiler.
When an operator has operands of different types, they are converted to a common type
according to a small number of rules:

If either operand is long double, convert the other to long double

If either operand is double, convert the other to double
If either operand is float, convert the other to float
Convert char and short to int
If either operand is long, convert the other to long

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Consider the following code in which an integer data type is promoted to float. This is
known as promotion (when a lower level data type is promoted to a higher type).

float x;
int y = 3;
x = y;
Now, x = 3.0, as the integer value is automatically converted into its equivalent floating
point representation.

Now, consider the following group of statements:

float f = 3.5;
int i;
i = f;
The statement i = f results in f to be demoted to type int, ie., the fractional part of f will
be lost and I will contain 3 (not 3.5). In this case demotion takes place i.e., a higher
level data type is converted into a lower type.

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Explicit Type Conversion

Explicit Type Conversion can be forced (“coerced”) in any expression, with a unary
operator called a cast.
In the construction, (type-name) expression
The expression is converted to a forcefully to the type specified in the type name.
int a = 500, b = 70;
float res;
Ex:
res = (float) a / b;
In the above example, the value obtained by dividing a by b, will be converted
to floating number and will be stored in the variable res.

19. Precedence and Associativity (Order of evaluation)

 Precedence specifies the order in which the different operators in an

expression should be evaluated.
 Associativity specifies the order in which the operators with the same
precedence should be evaluated.

The below table summarizes the rules for precedence and associativity of all types
of operators. Operators on the same line have the same precedence; rows are in
order of decreasing precedence.

Rules for evaluation of expression

 First, parenthesized sub expression from left to right is evaluated.

 If parentheses are nested, the evaluation begins with the innermost sub-
expression.

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 The precedence rule is applied in determining the order of application of

operators in evaluating sub-expression.
 The associativity rule is applied when two or more operators of the same
precedence level appear in a sub-expression.
 Arithmetic expressions are evaluated from left to right using the rules of
precedence.
 When parentheses are used, the expressions within parentheses assume
highest priority.

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Web Resources

1. Need of computer language: https://www.zoom.us/j/757632733

2. Basics of Computer: https://youtu.be/zkAr7P1S-c8

3. Learning to Program in C:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk2fK2IIiiQ

4. Tokens in C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5De6OILHH9A

5. Fundamental Data types:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNeOx1rQ25E&t=432s

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Video Resources

1. Introduction-> https://youtu.be/tMOKg2OfntU

2. Functional Units of a computer-> https://youtu.be/keB0Bqtrba4

3. Computer Memory--> https://youtu.be/_RRDWqlMMXU

4. Secondary Memory--> https://youtu.be/cRi0ym8hQfw

5. I/O Devices--> https://youtu.be/g_UrrqJLdpU

6. Ports and Connectors: https://youtu.be/132Dhf6ANDQ

7. Software Basics: https://youtu.be/QcBpRmBcgFI

8. Computer Networks: https://youtu.be/KAFkt81Niu4

9. Overview Of C: https://youtu.be/XDdyI3W1LPE

10. C-Tokens: https://youtu.be/FXprL9eYrho

11. C-Operators: https://youtu.be/8GRmmHvkYsk

12. Type-Conversion: https://youtu.be/-Omv9KUEc9g

13. Basic C-Programs: https://youtu.be/BkZ3ppL9Up0

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Question Bank

1. What is a Computer? List and explain different types of computers.

2. Write a note on various computer generations.

3. With a neat diagram explain the basic structure of a computer.

4. What is Software? Explain different types of software.

5. Explain the steps involved in execution of C program.

6. Explain the basic structure of C program with example.

7. What are the rules to be followed to declare variables with example?

8. Define C tokens. List and explain different C tokens.

9. Define data type. Explain primitive data types supported by C language.

10. Write a note on different types of Type conversion, with example/program for each.

11. List and explain all C operators.

12. Explain ternary operator with suitable example.

13. Write a note on Operator precedence and Associativity.

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University Questions

1. With a neat block diagram of computer, explain its components.

2. Describe the types of computer.

3. Classify the following into input and output devices: Monitors, visual display unit,

track balls, Bar code reader, digital camera, film recorder, microfiche, OMR,

electronic whiteboard, Plotters.

4. Define the terms: Network, LAN, WAN, MAN, and network topology.

5. Write the basic structure of C program. Explain each section briefly with suitable

example.

6. Define a token. Explain the different tokens available in C language.

7. Define operator. Explain any 6 operators with suitable example.

8. State whether the following are valid identifiers or not: integer, float, I am,

123_AbC.

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