BCSC 1102 : Intro To Programming Week 8

Dr. Shem Mbandu Angolo, PhD

The Co-operatetive University of Kenya

September - December 2024

Contents
1 Introduction to Structures 2

2 Declaring and Using Structures 2

2.1 Declaring Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.1 Basic Structure Declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.2 Declaring and Initializing Structure Variables . . . . . . . 2
2.1.3 Typedef for Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2 Using Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3 Nested Structures and Arrays of Structures 3

3.1 Nested Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2 Arrays of Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3 Using Arrays in Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4 Introduction to Unions 6
4.1 Declaring Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.2 Using Unions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

5 Example: Simple Library System 8

5.1 Library System Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1
 1 Introduction to Structures
Structures in C allow the grouping of variables of different data types under a
single name. This is particularly useful for representing complex data.

2 Declaring and Using Structures

2.1 Declaring Structures
A structure is declared using the struct keyword. There are several ways to
declare a structure in C.

2.1.1 Basic Structure Declaration

1 struct Book {
2 char title [50];
3 char author [50];
4 int pages ;
5 float price ;
6 };

2.1.2 Declaring and Initializing Structure Variables

1 // Declare and initialize in one step

2 struct Book book1 = {" The Great Gatsby " , " F . Scott
Fitzgerald " , 218 , 10.99};
3

4 // Declare and initialize using dot notation

5 struct Book book2 ;
6 strcpy ( book2 . title , "1984") ;
7 strcpy ( book2 . author , " George Orwell ") ;
8 book2 . pages = 328;
9 book2 . price = 14.99;

2.1.3 Typedef for Structures

Using typedef allows the definition of a new type name for the structure, sim-
plifying variable declaration.
1 typedef struct {
2 char title [50];
3 char author [50];
4 int pages ;
5 float price ;

2
 6 } Book ;
7

8 Book book3 = {" To Kill a Mockingbird " , " Harper Lee " ,
281 , 7.99};

2.2 Using Structures

To use a structure, we need to create a variable of that structure type.
1 # include < stdio .h >
2 # include < string .h >
3

4 struct Book {
5 char title [50];
6 char author [50];
7 int pages ;
8 float price ;
9 };
10

11 int main () {
12 struct Book book1 ;
13

14 // Assigning values to structure members

15 strcpy ( book1 . title , " The Great Gatsby ") ;
16 strcpy ( book1 . author , " F . Scott Fitzgerald ") ;
17 book1 . pages = 218;
18 book1 . price = 10.99;
19

20 // Accessing structure members

21 printf (" Title : % s \ n " , book1 . title ) ;
22 printf (" Author : % s \ n " , book1 . author ) ;
23 printf (" Pages : % d \ n " , book1 . pages ) ;
24 printf (" Price : $ %.2 f \ n " , book1 . price ) ;
25

26 return 0;
27 }

3 Nested Structures and Arrays of Structures

3.1 Nested Structures
Structures can contain other structures as members.
1 # include < stdio .h >
2 # include < string .h >

3
 3

4 struct Date {
5 int day ;
6 int month ;
7 int year ;
8 };
9

10 struct Book {
11 char title [50];
12 char author [50];
13 int pages ;
14 float price ;
15 struct Date published ;
16 };
17

18 int main () {
19 struct Book book1 ;
20

21 // Assigning values to structure members

22 strcpy ( book1 . title , "1984") ;
23 strcpy ( book1 . author , " George Orwell ") ;
24 book1 . pages = 328;
25 book1 . price = 14.99;
26 book1 . published . day = 8;
27 book1 . published . month = 6;
28 book1 . published . year = 1949;
29

30 // Accessing structure members

31 printf (" Title : % s \ n " , book1 . title ) ;
32 printf (" Author : % s \ n " , book1 . author ) ;
33 printf (" Pages : % d \ n " , book1 . pages ) ;
34 printf (" Price : $ %.2 f \ n " , book1 . price ) ;
35 printf (" Published : %02 d -%02 d -% d \ n " , book1 .
published . day , book1 . published . month , book1 .
published . year ) ;
36

37 return 0;
38 }

3.2 Arrays of Structures

Structures can be used in arrays, allowing the storage of multiple records.
1 # include < stdio .h >
2 # include < string .h >
3

4
 4 struct Book {
5 char title [50];
6 char author [50];
7 int pages ;
8 float price ;
9 };
10

11 int main () {
12 struct Book library [2];
13

14 // Assigning values to the first book

15 strcpy ( library [0]. title , " To Kill a Mockingbird ") ;
16 strcpy ( library [0]. author , " Harper Lee ") ;
17 library [0]. pages = 281;
18 library [0]. price = 7.99;
19

20 // Assigning values to the second book

21 strcpy ( library [1]. title , " Pride and Prejudice ") ;
22 strcpy ( library [1]. author , " Jane Austen ") ;
23 library [1]. pages = 279;
24 library [1]. price = 9.99;
25

26 // Accessing array of structures

27 for ( int i = 0; i < 2; i ++) {
28 printf (" Book % d :\ n " , i + 1) ;
29 printf (" Title : % s \ n " , library [ i ]. title ) ;
30 printf (" Author : % s \ n " , library [ i ]. author ) ;
31 printf (" Pages : % d \ n " , library [ i ]. pages ) ;
32 printf (" Price : $ %.2 f \ n \ n " , library [ i ]. price ) ;
33 }
34

35 return 0;
36 }

3.3 Using Arrays in Structures

Structures can also contain arrays as members.
1 # include < stdio .h >
2 # include < string .h >
3

4 struct Student {
5 char name [50];
6 int scores [5]; // Array to hold scores in 5
subjects
7 };

5
 8

9 int main () {
10 struct Student student1 ;
11

12 // Assigning values
13 strcpy ( student1 . name , " Alice ") ;
14 int tempScores [5] = {85 , 90 , 78 , 92 , 88};
15 for ( int i = 0; i < 5; i ++) {
16 student1 . scores [ i ] = tempScores [ i ];
17 }
18

19 // Printing values
20 printf (" Name : % s \ n " , student1 . name ) ;
21 printf (" Scores : ") ;
22 for ( int i = 0; i < 5; i ++) {
23 printf ("% d " , student1 . scores [ i ]) ;
24 }
25 printf ("\ n ") ;
26

27 return 0;
28 }

4 Introduction to Unions
Unions are similar to structures but use the same memory location for all their
members. This means only one member can hold a value at a time.
1 # include < stdio .h >
2 # include < string .h >
3

4 union Data {
5 int intValue ;
6 float floatValue ;
7 char strValue [20];
8 };
9

10 int main () {
11 union Data data ;
12

13 data . intValue = 10;

14 printf (" data . intValue : % d \ n " , data . intValue ) ;
15

16 data . floatValue = 220.5;

17 printf (" data . floatValue : %.2 f \ n " , data . floatValue )
;

6
18

19 strcpy ( data . strValue , " Hello , World !") ;

20 printf (" data . strValue : % s \ n " , data . strValue ) ;
21

22 return 0;
23 }

4.1 Declaring Unions

Unions are declared using the union keyword.
1 union Data {
2 int intValue ;
3 float floatValue ;
4 char strValue [20];
5 };

4.2 Using Unions

Unions are used similarly to structures.
1 # include < stdio .h >
2 # include < string .h >
3

4 union Data {
5 int intValue ;
6 float floatValue ;
7 char strValue [20];
8 };
9

10 int main () {
11 union Data data ;
12

13 // Assigning and accessing union members

14 data . intValue = 10;
15 printf (" data . intValue : % d \ n " , data . intValue ) ;
16

17 data . floatValue = 220.5;

18 printf (" data . floatValue : %.2 f \ n " , data . floatValue )
;
19

20 strcpy ( data . strValue , " Hello , World !") ;

21 printf (" data . strValue : % s \ n " , data . strValue ) ;
22

23 return 0;

7
24 }

5 Example: Simple Library System

5.1 Library System Description
A simple library system that manages book records using structures and a menu
system for user interaction.
1 # include < stdio .h >
2 # include < string .h >
3

4 # define MAX_BOOKS 100

5

6 struct Date {
7 int day ;
8 int month ;
9 int year ;
10 };
11

12 struct Book {
13 char title [50];
14 char author [50];
15 int pages ;
16 float price ;
17 struct Date published ;
18 };
19

20 struct Book library [ MAX_BOOKS ];

21 int book_count = 0;
22

23 void addBook () {
24 if ( book_count < MAX_BOOKS ) {
25 struct Book newBook ;
26 printf (" Enter title : ") ;
27 getchar () ; // To consume newline character
left by previous input
28 fgets ( newBook . title , sizeof ( newBook . title ) ,
stdin ) ;
29 newBook . title [ strcspn ( newBook . title , "\ n ") ] =
’\0 ’; // Remove newline character
30 printf (" Enter author : ") ;
31 fgets ( newBook . author , sizeof ( newBook . author ) ,
stdin ) ;

8
32 newBook . author [ strcspn ( newBook . author , "\ n ") ]
= ’\0 ’; // Remove newline character
33 printf (" Enter pages : ") ;
34 scanf ("% d " , & newBook . pages ) ;
35 printf (" Enter price : ") ;
36 scanf ("% f " , & newBook . price ) ;
37 printf (" Enter published date ( dd mm yyyy ) : ") ;
38 scanf ("% d % d % d " , & newBook . published . day , &
newBook . published . month , & newBook . published
. year ) ;
39

40 library [ book_count ] = newBook ;

41 book_count ++;
42 printf (" Book added successfully !\ n ") ;
43 } else {
44 printf (" Library is full !\ n ") ;
45 }
46 }
47

48 void listBooks () {
49 if ( book_count == 0) {
50 printf (" No books in the library .\ n ") ;
51 } else {
52 for ( int i = 0; i < book_count ; i ++) {
53 printf (" Book % d :\ n " , i + 1) ;
54 printf (" Title : % s \ n " , library [ i ]. title ) ;
55 printf (" Author : % s \ n " , library [ i ]. author ) ;
56 printf (" Pages : % d \ n " , library [ i ]. pages ) ;
57 printf (" Price : $ %.2 f \ n " , library [ i ]. price )
;
58 printf (" Published : %02 d -%02 d -% d \ n \ n " ,
library [ i ]. published . day , library [ i ].
published . month , library [ i ]. published .
year ) ;
59 }
60 }
61 }
62

63 void deleteBook () {
64 if ( book_count == 0) {
65 printf (" No books to delete .\ n ") ;
66 } else {
67 int index ;
68 printf (" Enter the book number to delete : ") ;
69 scanf ("% d " , & index ) ;
70 if ( index < 1 || index > book_count ) {

9
71 printf (" Invalid book number .\ n ") ;
72 } else {
73 for ( int i = index - 1; i < book_count -
1; i ++) {
74 library [ i ] = library [ i + 1];
75 }
76 book_count - -;
77 printf (" Book deleted successfully !\ n ") ;
78 }
79 }
80 }
81

82 int main () {
83 int choice ;
84 while (1) {
85 printf ("\ nLibrary Menu :\ n ") ;
86 printf ("1. Add a title \ n ") ;
87 printf ("2. List all titles \ n ") ;
88 printf ("3. Delete a title \ n ") ;
89 printf ("4. Exit \ n ") ;
90 printf (" Enter your choice : ") ;
91 scanf ("% d " , & choice ) ;
92

93 switch ( choice ) {
94 case 1:
95 addBook () ;
96 break ;
97 case 2:
98 listBooks () ;
99 break ;
100 case 3:
101 deleteBook () ;
102 break ;
103 case 4:
104 return 0;
105 default :
106 printf (" Invalid choice . Please try
again .\ n ") ;
107 }
108 }
109 return 0;
110 }

10