C Programming Language: History, Features, Structure and Why Study it

This article describes a brief history, formation and structure of the famous C programming language which is considered to be the standard programming language taught to students who are new to learning computer programming. History of C Programming Language. C was created in 1972 at Bell Laboratories of USA by a team lead by Dennis [ [ ...]

Some Fundamentals in C Programming Language

THIS CHAPTER  DESCRIBES SOME FUNDAMENTAL TERMS  that you must understand before you can learn how to program in C. A general overview of the nature of programming in a higher-level language is provided, as is a discussion of the process of compiling a program developed in such a language. 1. Programming Computers are really very [ [ ...]

Compiling and Running Your First C Program

IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU ARE INTRODUCED to the C language so that you can see what programming in C is all about. What better way to gain an appreciation for this language than by taking a look at an actual program written in C? To begin with, you’ll choose a rather simple example—a program that [ [ ...]

Working with Variables in C Programming Language

Early computer programmers had the onerous task of having to write their programs in the binary language of the machine they were programming. This meant that computer instructions had to be hand-coded into binary numbers by the programmer before they could be entered into the machine. Furthermore, the programmer had to explicitly assign and reference [ [ ...]

Understanding Data Types and Constants in C Programming Language

You have already been exposed to the C basic data type int. As you will recall, a variable declared to be of type int can be used to contain integral values only—that is, values that do not contain decimal places. The C programming language provides four other basic data types: float, double, char, and _Bool.A [ [ ...]

Working with Arithmetic Expressions in C Programming Language

In C, just as in virtually all programming languages, the plus sign (+) is used to add two values, the minus sign (–) is used to subtract two values, the asterisk (*) is used to multi- ply two values, and the slash (/) is used to divide two values. These operators are known as binary [ [ ...]

Combining Operations with Assignment: The Assignment Operators in C Programming Language

The C language permits you to join the arithmetic operators with the assignment opera- tor using the following general format: op= Types _Complex and _Imaginary.  In this format, op is any of the arithmetic operators, including +, –, ´, /, and %. In addition, op can be any of the bit operators for shifting and [ [ ...]

Types _Complex and _Imaginary in C Programming Language

Before leaving this chapter, it is worthy to note two other types in the language called _Complex and _Imaginary for working with complex and imaginary numbers. Support for _Complex and _Imaginary types is optional for a compiler.3 For more information, look at the summary of data types in Appendix A. Source: Kochan Stephen G. (2020), [ [ ...]

Program Looping in C Programming Language

IF YOU ARRANGE  15 DOTS  in the shape of a triangle, you end up with an arrangement that might look something like this: The first row of the triangle contains one dot, the second row contains two dots, and so on. In general, the number of dots it takes to form a triangle containing n [ [ ...]

Program Looping in C: The for Statement

Let’s dive right in and take a look at a program that uses the for statement. The purpose of Program 5.2 is to calculate the 200th triangular number. See if you can determine how the for statement works. Program 5.2   Calculating the 200th Triangular Number /* Program to calculate the 200th triangular number Introduction of [ [ ...]

Program Looping in C: The while Statement

The while statement further extends the C language’s repertoire of looping capabilities. The syntax of this frequently used construct is as follows: while ( expression ) program statement The expression specified inside the parentheses is evaluated. If the result of the expression evaluation is TRUE, the program statement that immediately follows is executed. After execution [ [ ...]

Program Looping in C: The do Statement

The two looping statements discussed so far in this chapter both make a test of the con- ditions before the loop is executed. Therefore, the body of the loop might never be exe- cuted at all if the conditions are not satisfied. When developing programs, it sometimes becomes desirable to have the test made at [ [ ...]

Making Decisions in C: The if Statement

The C programming language provides a general decision-making capability in the form of a language construct known as the if statement. The general format of this statement is as follows: if ( expression ) program statement Imagine that you could translate a statement such as “If it is not raining, then I will go swimming” [ [ ...]

Making Decisions in C: The switch Statement

The type of if-else statement chain that you encountered in the last program exam- ple—in which the value of a variable is successively compared against different values—is so commonly used when developing programs that a special program statement exists in the C language for performing precisely this function. The name of the statement is the [ [ ...]

Making Decisions in C: Boolean Variables

Many new programmers soon find themselves with the task of having to write a pro- gram to generate a table of prime numbers. To refresh your memory, a positive integer p is a prime number if it is not evenly divisible by any other integers, other than 1 and itself. The first prime integer is [ [ ...]

Making Decisions in C: The Conditional Operator

Perhaps the most unusual operator in the C language is one called the conditional opera- tor. Unlike all other operators in C—which are either unary or binary operators—the conditional operator is a ternary operator; that is, it takes three operands. The two sym- bols that are used to denote this operator are the question mark [ [ ...]

Defining an Array in C Programming Language

You can define a variable called grades, which represents not a single value of a grade, but an entire set of grades. Each element of the set can then be referenced by means of a number called an index number or subscript. Whereas in mathematics a subscripted vari- able, xi, refers to the ith element [ [ ...]

Initializing Arrays in C Programming Language

Just as you can assign initial values to variables when they are declared, so can you assign initial values to the elements of an array. This is done by simply listing the initial values of the array, starting from the first element.Values  in the list are separated by commas and the entire list is enclosed [ [ ...]

Working with Arrays in C: Character Arrays

The purpose of Program 7.6 is to simply illustrate how a character array can be used. However, one point is worthy of discussion. Can you spot it? Program 7.6   Introducing  Character Arrays #include <stdio.h> int main (void) { char word[] = { ‘H’, ‘e’, ‘l’, ‘l’, ‘o’, ‘!’ }; int  i; for ( i = [ [ ...]

Working with Arrays in C: Multidimensional Arrays

The types of arrays that you have been exposed to so far are all linear arrays—that is, they all dealt with a single dimension. The C language allows arrays of any dimension to be defined. In this section, you take a look at two-dimensional arrays. One of the most natural applications for a two-dimensional array [ [ ...]