Steps in Learning a Natural Language

Learning a Programming Language

 Layout of a C program
pre-processor directives – Preceded by a ‘#’
global declarations – Optional and not a good
programming practice
int main() - standard start for all C programs 
{
local variables to function main ; - all variables used in the
function must be declared in the beginning
statements associated with function main ;
}
void f1()
{
local variables to function 1 ;
statements associated with function 1 ;
}
 Components of a C program

A C program consists of the following parts:

• Comments
• Variables
• Pre-processor Commands
• Functions
•Statements & Expressions
 Comments in C

Two types of comments

Single line and multi line comment
Single Line Comment is double forward slash
‘//’ and can be Placed Anywhere
 Multiline Comments in C

• Multi line comment can be placed anywhere

• Multi line comment starts with /*
• Multi line comment ends with */
• Any symbols written between '/*’ and '*/‘
are ignored by Compiler
Character set of C
 Constants, Variables and Keywords
• alphabets, numbers and special symbols when
properly combined form constants, variables and
keywords
• Constant - entity that doesn’t change
• Variable - entity that may change
• Keyword – reserved in programming language
(Equivalent to words in natural language with
predefined meaning)
 Types of C Constants

Now Restrict Discussion to Primary Constants

 Types of C Variables
• Variable names - Names given to locations in memory
• Locations can contain integer, real or character
constants
• In any language, types of variables supported depend
on the types of constants that it can handle
• Because a particular type of variable can hold only
same type of constant
• Integer variable - integer constant, real variable - real
 Rules for Constructing Variable Names
• Rules for constructing variable names of all types are
same
• Combination of 1 to 31 alphabets, digits or underscores
• Some compilers allow up to 247 characters but safer to
31 characters
• First character must be an alphabet or underscore
• No commas or blanks are allowed
• No special symbol other than an underscore
• Eg: si_int m_hra pop_e_89
 Data types in C
Basic Arithmetic types - further classified into: (a)
integer types and (b) floating-point types

Enumerated types - arithmetic types that are used

to define variables that can be assigned only certain
discrete integer values throughout the program

Type void - indicates that no value is available

Derived types - They include (a) Pointer types, (b)

Array types, (c) Structure types, (d) Union types and
(e) Function types
 Keywords
• 32 keywords available in C

Compiler vendors (like Microsoft, Borland, etc.)

provide their own keywords
Discuss Valid and Invalid variable names
• BASICSALARY
•_basic
• basic-hra
• #MEAN
• group.
• 422
• population in 2006
• FLOAT
• hELLO
 I/O in C
• Basic operation in any language
• Input is got through a function scanf which is
equivalent to input or raw_input in Python
• Syntax of scanf
• int scanf(const char *format, ...) 
• Basically two or more arguments
• First format string, followed by address of variables
that are going to hold values entered by user
 I/O in C
• int printf(const char *format, ...)
• contains one or more arguments
• first argument is the format string
 printf and scanf format codes
code type format
d int decimal (base ten) number
o int octal number (no leading '0'
supplied in printf)
hexadecimal number (no leading '0x'
supplied in printf; accepted if
x or X int present in scanf) (for printf, 'X'
makes it use upper case for the
digits ABCDEF)
decimal number ('l' can also be
ld long applied to any of the above to
change the type from 'int' to 'long')
 printf and scanf format codes
code type format
u Unsigned int decimal number
lu unsigned long decimal number
c char [footnote] single character
s char pointer string
number with six digits
f float [footnote]
of precision

lf double [footnote] number with six digits

of precision
 Address of a variable
• Address of a variable can be obtained by putting a
‘&’ before the variable name
 Arithmetic instructions in C
• To perform arithmetic operations between constants
and variables
• Operands shall be either constant or variables
• Variables can be of any type of integer or floating point
value or character except for modulus operator
• Modulus operator cannot be applied for floating point
values but can be applied for integer and character types
 Example 1
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = 27;
int b = 25;
int c = a -b;
printf("%d",c);
}
 Output 1
2
 Example 2
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
char a = 273;
char b = 25;
int c = a%b;
printf("%d",c);

}
 Output 2
warning: overflow in implicit constant conversion [-
Woverflow]

17

Character – range is 0 to 255

256 is 0
257 is 1 and so on
 Example 3
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
char a = 27;
char b = 25;
char c = a -b;
printf("%c",c);

}
 Output 3
A special character
 Arithmetic Operators in C
Operator Description
+ Adds two operands
− Subtracts second operand from the first.
∗ Multiplies both operands
∕ Divides numerator by denominator
% Modulus Operator and remainder of after
an integer division.
++ Increment operator increases the integer
value by one
-- Decrement operator decreases the integer
value by one
 Precedence of Operators in C
++, -- Post increment Operators
++, -- Pre increment Operators

Parenthesis can be used to override default precedence

 Example 4
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a, b,c;
a = 4;
b = 2;

c = -a+--b;

printf ( "c = %d", c) ;

}
 Output 4
c = -3
 Example 5
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a, b,c;
a = 4;
b = 2;
c = -a+ b--;

printf ( "c = %d", c) ;

printf ( "b = %d", b) ;
}
 Output 5
c = -2
b=1
 Example 6
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a, b,c;
a = 4;

c = ++a + a++;

printf ( "c = %d", c) ;

printf ( "a = %d", a) ;

}
 Output 6
c = 10 a = 6
 Example 7
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a, b,c;
a = 4;

c = ++a + ++a;

printf ( "c = %d", c) ;

printf ( "a = %d", a) ;

}
 Output 7
c = 12 a = 6
 Example 8
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a, b,c;
a = 4;

c = a++ + ++a;

printf ( "c = %d", c) ;

printf ( "a = %d", a) ;

}
 Output 8
c = 10 a = 6
 Associativity of Operators in C
When precedence of two operators are same then
associativity of operator is considered for evaluation
 Compile and Run

• Compile and run the program named as isogram.c

• gcc isogram.c – to compile
• ./a.out – to run
 Automatic Type Conversion in C
Convert a variable from one data type to another data
type
When the type conversion is performed automatically by
the compiler without programmers intervention, such
type of conversion is known as implicit type
conversion or type promotion.

The compiler converts all operands into the data type of

the largest operand.
 Rules for Implicit Type Conversion in C
• Sequence of rules that are applied while
evaluating expressions are given below:
• All short and char are automatically converted to
int, then,
• If either of the operand is of type long double,
then others will be converted to long double and
result will be long double.
• Else, if either of the operand is double, then
others are converted to double.
• Else, if either of the operand is float, then others
are converted to float.
 Rules for Type Conversion in C
• Else, if either of the operand is unsigned long int, then
others will be converted to unsigned long int.
• Else, if one of the operand is long int, and the other is
unsigned int, then
• if a long int can represent all values of an unsigned int,
the unsigned int is converted to long int.
• otherwise, both operands are converted to unsigned
long int.
• Else, if either operand is long int then other will be
converted to long int.
• Else, if either operand is unsigned int then others will be
converted to unsigned int.
 Example 9
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
char a = 65;
char b = 100;
int c = a%b;
printf("%c",c);

}
 Output 9
A
 Example 10
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = 165;
int b = 100;
int c = a/b;
printf("%d",c);

}
 Output 10
1
 Example 11
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = 165;
int b = 100;
float c = a/b;
printf("%f",c);

}
 Output 11
- 1.000000
 Example 12
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = 165;
int b = 100;
float c = a/b;
printf("%f",c);

}
 Output 12
- 1.000000
 Example 13
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = 165;
float b = 100;
float c = a/b;
printf("%f",c);

}
 Output 13
- 1.650000
 Explicit Type Conversion
Type conversion performed by the programmer is known
as explicit type conversion
Explicit type conversion is also known as type casting.
Type casting in c is done in the following form:
(data_type)expression;
where, data_type is any valid c data type,
and expression may be constant, variable or an expression
For example, x=(int)a+b*d;
 Explicit Type Conversion
The following rules have to be followed while converting
the expression from one type to another to avoid the loss
of information:
• All integer types to be converted to float.
• All float types to be converted to double.
• All character types to be converted to integer.
 Example 14
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = 165;
int b = 100;
float c = (float)(a/b);
printf("%f",c);

}
 Output 14
1.000000
 Example 15
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int a = 165;
int b = 100;
float c = (float) a/b;
printf("%f",c);

}
 Output 15
1.650000
 Assignment
• Students have to check all operators for all types of
operands, also work on to understand precedence of
operators
Scope and Lifetime of a Variable in C Language

Scope of a variable - Area of our program where we can

actually access the variable.

Life Time of a variable - Time for which the particular

variable outlives in memory during execution of program.
 Global vs Local Scope

Global scope :
When variable is defined outside all functions.
It is then available to all the functions of the program and
all the blocks program contains.
Local scope :
When variable is defined inside a function or a block, then
it is locally accessible within the block and hence it is a
local variable.
 Global vs Local Scope
int global = 100;          // global variable declared
void main()
{
   int local = 10;         // local variable declared
   printf("Global variable is %d",global);
   printf("Local variable is %d",local); 
func1();
}
void func1()
{
   printf("Global inside func1 is %d",global);  
 Storage Classes in C
Four Storage Classes, classified based on life and scope of access:

Storage Life Scope

Class
Auto Created when a function is Can be accessed
called and destroyed  only within the
automatically when function function where
exits it is declared
Default – int n;

Register Similar to Auto but stored in Similar to Auto

register, a faster memory.
Number of register is limited.
Therefore automatically
converted to auto if necessary
register int number;
 Storage Classes in C
Storage Class Life Scope
Static • Created when a function Accessible only
is called inside the function
• Mandatory for where it is defined
programmer to initialize
• Lives till the program
executes
static int n =10;
Extern Created when the Global variables
program execution starts that can be shared
across files
extern int n;
Static in C
Extern in C
Extern in C
Declaration and Definition of Variables in C
• Declaration – Information to compiler about the
variable
• Definition – Memory is allocated for the variable
according to type
• For all storage classes declaration and definition are
same except for extern
• When a keyword extern precedes, its only a
declaration and the compiler waits for definition
without raising error