CS101: Introduction to

Computers
Conditional Expressions

CS101, Programming (These lecture slides are

Nov-19 courtesy of CSE Department, IIT Kanpur) 1
 Conditional Expressions
An expression that evaluates to either
true or false.
 Often known as Boolean expression.
C does not have a separate Boolean
data type
 Value 0 is treated as false.
 Non-zero values are treated as true.

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 Conditional Expressions
If an expression evaluates to true, we
get a value 1
 Think of 1 as default true value
If an expression evaluates to false, we
get a value 0

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 Relational Operators
Compare two quantities
Operator Function
> Strictly greater than
>= Greater than or equal to
< Strictly less than
<= Less than or equal to
== Equal to
!= Not equal to

Nov-19
Work on int, char, float,
CS101, Programming
double… 4
 Examples
Rel. Expr. Result Remark
3>2 1
3>3 0
‘z’ > ‘a’ 1 ASCII values used for char
2 == 3 0
‘A’ <= 65 1 'A' has ASCII value 65
‘A’ == ‘a’ 0 Different ASCII values
(‘a’ – 32) == ‘A’ 1
5 != 10 1
1.0 == 1 AVOID May give unexpected result
due to approximation

Avoid mixing int and float values while

comparing. Comparison with floats is not exact!
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 Examples
# include <stdio.h>
int main() {
float x;
x = 0.1;
printf(“%d,”, x==0.1);
printf(“%d”, x!=0.1);
return 0;
}

Output: 0,1

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 Logical Operators
Logical Function Allowed Types
Op
&& Logical AND char, int, float, double
|| Logical OR char, int, float, double
! Logical NOT char, int, float, double

Remember
 value 0 represents false.
 any other value represents true.

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 Truth Tables
E1 E2 E1 && E2 E1 || E2
0 0 0 0
0 Non-0 0 1
Non-0 0 0 1
Non-0 Non-0 1 1

E !E
0 1
Non-0 0
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 Examples
Expr Result Remark
2 && 3 1
2 || 0 1
‘A’ && ‘0’1 ASCII value of ‘0’≠0
‘A’ && 0 0
‘A’ && ‘b’1
! 0.0 1 0.0 == 0 is
guaranteed
! 10.05 0 Any real ≠ 0.0
(2<5) && (6>5) 1 Compound expr

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 Examples
You can create very complex
expressions, involving arithmetic,
logical and relational operators,
constants, variables, function calls.
e.g:

(x + 7 > 93) && !(y + 3 % z)

|| (abs(sqrt(w) – g) < epsilon)

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 Example
Problem: Input 3 positive integers.
Print the count of inputs that are even
and odd.
INPUT
 Do not use if-then-else
10 OUTPUT
int a; int b; int c; 5 Even=1
int cEven; // count of even inputs
3 Odd=2
scanf(“%d%d%d”, &a,&b,&c); // input a,b,c

// (x%2 == 0) evaluates to 1 if x is Even,

// 0 if x is Odd
cEven = (a%2 == 0) + (b%2 == 0) + (c%2 == 0);
printf(“Even=%d\nOdd=%d”, cEven, 3-cEven);
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 ! +- RL

* / % LR

+ - LR

< <= > >= LR

Precedence == != LR

and && LR
|| LR
Associativity = RL
(Refined)
 Class Quiz 2
What is the value of expression:
0 <= 10 <= 4
a) Compile time error

b) Run time crash

c) False (0)

The correct answer is

d) True (1)

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 Evaluation Probably not what you
intended. The intended
0 <= 10 <= 4 expression is:
0 <= 10 && 10 <= 4
(0 <= 10) <= 4
(0 <= 10) && (10 <= 4)
1 <= 4
(1) && (10 <= 4)
1 /* True */
1 && (0)

0 /*False*/
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 Conditional Statements
In daily routine
 If it is very cold, I will skip class.
 If there is a quiz tomorrow, I will first
study and then sleep. Otherwise I will
sleep now.
 If I have 500 Rs, I will order pizza. If I
have 20 Rs, I will eat Maggi. If I have 5
Rs, I will eat biscuits. If I do not have
any money, I will eat in hostel mess 

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 Conditional statements in C
3 types of conditional statements in C
 if (cond) action
else some-other-action
 if (cond) action

 switch-case

Each action is a sequence of one or

more statements!

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 if-else statement
Read two integers and print the min.
# include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int x, y;
scanf(“%d%d”, &x,&y);
if (x < y) {
printf(“%d”, x); 1. Check if x is less
} else { than y.
printf(“%d”, y); 2. If so, print x
} 3. Otherwise, print y.
return 0;
}
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 Tracing Execution of if-else
Run the program
# include <stdio.h>
int main() { Input
int x; int y;
scanf(“%d%d”, &x,&y); 6 10
if (x < y) { x y
printf(“%d\n”,x);
}
else { printf(“%d\n”,y);} 6 10
return 0;
}
6 < 10 so the if-branch is taken Output
6
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 if-else statement
General form of the if-else statement
if (expression)
statement S1
else S1 S2

statement S2
statement S3 S3
Execution of if-else statement
 First the expression is evaluated.
 If it evaluates to a non-zero value, then S1
is executed and then control (program
counter) moves to S3.
 If expression evaluates to 0, then S2 is
executed and then control moves to S3.
 S1/S2 can be block of statements!
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 if statement (no else!)
General form of the if statement
if (expression)
statement S1
S1
statement S2

Execution of if statement S2

 First the expression is evaluated.

 If it evaluates to a non-zero value, then S1
is executed and then control (program
counter) moves to the statement S2.
 If expression evaluates to 0, then S2 is
executed.

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 Example
Problem: Input a, b, c are real positive
numbers such that c is the largest of these
numbers. Print ACUTE if the triangle formed
by a, b, c is an acute angled triangle and
print NOT ACUTE otherwise.
int main() {
float a; float b; float c;
scanf(“%f%f%f”, &a,&b,&c); /* input a,b,c */

if ( (a*a + b*b) > (c*c) ) { /* expression*/

printf(“ACUTE”);
}
else {
printf(“NOT ACUTE”);
}
return 0;
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 Finding min of 3 numbers
Input
a,b,c

TRUE FALSE
a<=b

TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE

a<=c b<=c

Print Print Print Print

a c b c

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 Input
a,b,c
int a,b,c;
scanf(“%d%d%d”,&a,&b,&c);
TRUE
a<=b
FALSE if (a <= b) {
if (a <= c) {
TRUE
a<=c
FALSE TRUE
b<=c
FALSE
printf(“min = %d”,a);
}
Print Print Print Print else {
a c b c
printf(“min = %d”, c);
}
Each branch
}
translates to an
else {
if-else
if (b <= c) {
statement
printf(“min = %d”, b);
Hierarchical }
branches result else {
in nested if-s printf(“min =%d”, c);
}
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} CS101, Programming 25
More Conditionals
 Sorting a sequence of numbers (i.e.,
arranging the numbers in ascending or
descending order) is a basic primitive.
 Problem: read three numbers into a, b
and c and print them in ascending order.
 Start with the flowchart for finding minimum
of three numbers and add one more level of
conditional check.
 Then translate the flowchart into C program.
 Finding min of 3 numbers
Input Replace print by more
a,b,c comparisons and then
print.
TRUE FALSE
a<=b

TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE

a<=c b<=c

Print Print Print Print

a c b c

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 Ascending order of 3 numbers
Input
a,b,c

TRUE FALSE
a<=b

TRUE FALSE TRUE FALSE

a<=c b<=c

TRUE Print
b<=c
FALSE Print
print TRUE Print
a<=c
FALSE Print
print
a ca cb b c bc a

print print print print

abc
Nov-19
acb bac
CS101, Programming
bca 28
if (a <= b) {
if (a <= c) { /* a <= b and a <= c */
if (b <= c) { /* a <= b, a <= c, b <= c */
printf(“%d %d %d \n”, a, b, c);
} else { /* a <= b, a <= c, c < b */
printf(“%d %d %d \n”, a, c, b);
}
} else { /* a <= b, c < a*/
printf(“%d %d %d \n”, c, a, b) ;
}
} else { /* b < a */
if (b <= c) { /* b < a and b <= c */
if (a <= c) { /* b < a, b <= c, a <= c */
printf(“%d %d %d\n”, b, a, c);
} else { /* b < a, b <= c, c < a */
printf(“%d %d %d\n”, b, c, a); }
}
} else { /* b < a, c < b */
printf(“%d %d %d\n”, c, b, a); }
}
}
 Nested if, if-else
Earlier examples showed us nested
if-else statements
if (a <= b) {
if (a <= c) { … } else {…}
} else {
if (b <= c) { … } else { … }
}
Because if and if-else are also
statements, they can be used
anywhere a statement or block can
be used.
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 Else if
A special kind of nesting is the chain
of if-else-if-else-… statements
if (cond1) { if (cond1)
stmt1 stmt-block1

General form of if-else-if-else…

} else { else if (cond2)
if (cond2) { stmt-block2
stmt2 else if (cond3)
} else { stmt-block3
if (cond3) { else if (cond4)
…. stmt-block4
} else if …
} else
} last-block-of-stmt

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 Example

Given an integer day , where 1 ≤

𝑑𝑎𝑦 ≤ 7, print the name of the
weekday corresponding to day.
1: Sunday
2: Monday
…
7: Saturday

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 Printing the day

int day;
scanf (“%d”, &day);
if (day == 1) { printf(“Sunday”); }
else if (day == 2) { printf (“Monday”); }
else if (day == 3) { printf (“Tuesday”); }
else if (day == 4) { printf (“Wednesday”); }
else if (day == 5) { printf (“Thursday”); }
else if (day == 6) { printf (“Friday”); }
else if (day == 7) { printf (“Saturday”); }
else { printf (“ Illegal day %d”, day); }
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 Example 2

Given an integer day , where 1 ≤

𝑑𝑎𝑦 ≤ 7, print Weekday, if the day
corresponds to weekday, print
Weekend otherwise.
1, 7: Weekend
2,3,4,5,6: Weekday

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 Weekday - version 1

int day;
scanf (“%d”, &day);
if (day == 1) { printf(“Weekend”); }
else if (day == 2) { printf (“Weekday”); }
else if (day == 3) { printf (“Weekday”); }
else if (day == 4) { printf (“Weekday”); }
else if (day == 5) { printf (“Weekday”); }
else if (day == 6) { printf (“Weekday”); }
else if (day == 7) { printf (“Weekend”); }
else { printf (“ Illegal day %d”, day); }
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 Weekday - version 2

int day;
scanf (“%d”, &day);
if ((day == 1) || (day == 7)) {
printf(“Weekend”);
} else if ( (day == 2) || (day == 3)
|| (day == 4) || (day == 5)
|| (day == 6)) {
printf (“Weekday”);
} else {
printf (“ Illegal day %d”, day);
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} CS101, Programming 37
 Weekday - version 3

int day;
scanf (“%d”, &day);
if ((day == 1) || (day == 7)) {
printf(“Weekend”);
} else if ( (day >= 2) && (day <= 6) ) {
printf (“Weekday”);
} else {
printf (“ Illegal day %d”, day);
}

Nov-19 CS101, Programming 38

 Summary of if, if-else
if-else, nested if's, else if.
Braces {…} can be omitted if a block
has only one statement.
Multiple ways to solve a problem
 issues of better readability
 and efficiency.

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