In real life we are often faced with situations where we are required to make a choice between a number of alternatives rather than only one or two. For example, which school to join or which hotel to visit or still harder which girl to marry (you almost always end up making a wrong decision is a different matter altogether!). Serious C programming is same; the choice we are asked to make is more complicated than merely selecting between two alternatives. C provides a special control statement that allows us to handle such cases effectively; rather than using a series of if statements. This control instruction is in fact the topic of this chapter. Towards the end of the chapter we would also study a keyword called goto, and understand why we should avoid its usage in C programming.
Decisions Using switch
The control statement that allows us to make a decision from the number of choices is called a switch, or more correctly a switch-case-default, since these three keywords go together to make up the control statement. They most often appear as follows:
switch ( integer expression )
{
case constant 1 :
do this ;
case constant 2 :
do this ;
case constant 3 :
do this ;
default :
do this ;
}
The integer expression following the keyword switch is any C expression that will yield an integer value. It could be an integer constant like 1, 2 or 3, or an expression that evaluates to aninteger. The keyword case is followed by an integer or a character constant. Each constant in each case must be different from all the others. The “do this” lines in the above form of switch represent any valid C statement.
What happens when we run a program containing a switch? First, the integer expression following the keyword switch is evaluated. The value it gives is then matched, one by one, against the constant values that follow the case statements. When a match is found, the program executes the statements following that case, and all subsequent case and default statements as well. If no match is found with any of the case statements, only the statements following the default are executed. A few examples will show how this control structure works.
Consider the following program:
main( )
{
int i = 2 ;
switch ( i )
{
case 1 :
printf ( "I am in case 1 \n" ) ;
case 2 :
printf ( "I am in case 2 \n" ) ;
case 3 :
printf ( "I am in case 3 \n" ) ;
default :
printf ( "I am in default \n" ) ;
}
}
The output of this program would be:
I am in case 2
I am in case 3
I am in default
The output is definitely not what we expected! We didn’t expect the second and third line in the above output. The program prints case 2 and 3 and the default case. Well, yes. We said the switch executes the case where a match is found and all the subsequent cases and the default as well.
If you want that only case 2 should get executed, it is upto you to get out of the switch then and there by using a break statement. The following example shows how this is done. Note that there is no need for a break statement after the default, since the control comes out of the switch anyway.
main( )
{
int i = 2 ;
switch ( i )
{
case 1 :
printf ( "I am in case 1 \n" ) ;
break ;
case 2 :
printf ( "I am in case 2 \n" ) ;
break ;
case 3 :
printf ( "I am in case 3 \n" ) ;
break ;
default :
printf ( "I am in default \n" ) ;
}
}
The output of this program would be:
I am in case 2
Lesson 3: Variables and Data Types
During programming we need to store data. This data is stored in variables. Variables are locations in memory for storing data. The memory is divided into blocks. It can be viewed as pigeon-holes. You can also think of it as PO Boxes. In post offices there are different boxes and each has an address. Similarly in memory, there is a numerical address for each location of memory (block). It is difficult for us to handle these numerical addresses in our programs. So we give a name to these locations. These names are variables. We call them variables because they can contain different values at different times.
The variable names in C may be started with a character or an underscore ( _ ). But avoid starting a name with underscore ( _ ). C has many libraries which contain variables and function names normally starting with underscore ( _ ). So your variable name starting with underscore ( _ ) may conflict with these variables or function names.
In a program every variable has
o Name
o Type
o Size
o Value
The variables having a name, type and size (type and size will be discussed later) are just empty boxes. They are useless until we put some value in them. To put some value in these boxes is known as assigning values to variables. In C language, we use assignment operator for this purpose.
In C language equal-to-sign (=) is used as assignment operator. Do not confuse the algebraic equal-to with the assignment operator. In Algebra X = 2 means the value of X is 2, whereas in C language X = 2 (where X is a variable name) means take the value 2 and put it in the memory location labeled as X, afterwards you can assign some other value to X, for example you can write X = 10, that means now the memory location X contains the value 10 and the previous value 2 is no more there.
Data Types
A variable must have a data type associated with it, for example it can have data types like integer, decimal numbers, characters etc. The variable of type Integer stores integer values and a character type variable stores character value. The primary difference between various data types is their size in memory. Different data types have different sizes in memory depending on the machine and compilers. There are very few data types in C language. These data types are reserved words of C language. The reserve words can not be used as a variable name. Let’s take a look into different data types that the C language provides us to deal with whole numbers, real numbers and character data.
Whole Numbers
The C language provides three data types to handle whole numbers.
o int
o short
o long
The data type int is used to store whole numbers (integers). The integer type has a space of 4 bytes (32 bits for windows operating system) in memory. And it is mentioned as ‘int’ which is a reserved word of C, so we can not use it as a variable name. In programming before using any variable name we have to declare that variable with its data type. If we are using an integer variable named as ‘i’, we have to declare it as
int i ;
The above line is known as declaration statement. The declaration statement int i ; reserves 4 bytes of memory and labels it as ‘i’. This happens at the execution time.
We noted that the integer occupies four bytes in memory. So if we have to store a small integer like 5, 10 or 20, C provides another data type for storing small whole numbers which is called short. The size of short is two bytes and it can store numbers in range of -32768 to 32767. So if we are going to use a variable for which we know that it will not increase from 32767, for example the age of different people, then we use the data type short for age.
short age = 5;
On the other side if we have a very large whole number that cannot be stored in an int then we use the data type long provided by C. So when we are going to deal with very big whole numbers in our program, we use long data type. We use it in program as:
long x = 300500200;
Real Numbers
The C language provides two data types to deal with real numbers (numbers with decimal points e.g. 1.35, 735.251). The real numbers are also known as floating point numbers.
o float
o double
To store real numbers, float data type is used. The float data type uses four bytes to store
a real number. Here is program that uses float data types.
float f = 325.32501
If we need to store a large real number which cannot be store in four bytes, then we use double data type. Normally the size of double is twice the size of float. In program we use it as:
double x = 345624.769123;
char Data Type
So far we have been looking on data types to store numbers, In programming we do need to store characters like a,b,c etc. For storing the character data C language provides char data type. By using char data type we can store characters in variables. While assigning a character value to a char type variable single quotes are used around the character as ‘a’.
/* This program uses short data type to store values */
#include
main()
{
char x;
x = ’a’;
cout << “The character value in x = “;
cout << x;
}
Arithmetic Operators
In C language we have the usual arithmetic operators for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. C also provides a special arithmetic operator which is called modulus. All these operators are binary operators which means they operate on two operands. So we need two values for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and modulus.
Addition +
Subtraction -
Multiplication *
Division /
Modulus %
There is one thing to note in division that when we use integer division (i.e. both operands are integers) yields an integer result. This means that if, for example, you are dividing 5 by 2 (5 / 2) it will give integer result as 2 instead of actual result 2.5. Thus in integer division the result is truncated to the whole number, the fractional part (after decimal) is ignored. If we want to get the correct result, then we should use float data type. The modulus operator returns the remainder after division. This operator can only be used with integer operands. The expression x % y returns the remainder after x is divided by y. For example, the result of 5 % 2 will be 1, 23 % 5 will be 3 and 107%10 will be 7.
Precedence of Operators
The arithmetic operators in an expression are evaluated according to their precedence. The precedence means which operator will be evaluated first and which will be evaluated after that and so on. In an expression, the parentheses ( ) are used to force the evaluation order. The operators in the parentheses ( ) are evaluated first. If there are nested parentheses then the inner most is evaluated first. The expressions are always evaluated from left to right. The operators *, / and % have the highest precedence after parentheses. These operators are evaluated before + and –
operators. Thus + and – operators has the lowest precedence. It means that if there are * and + operators in an expression then first the * will be evaluated and then its result will be added to other operand. If there are * and / operators in an expression (both have the same precedence) then the operator which occurs first from left will be evaluated first and then the next, except you force any operator to evaluate by putting parentheses around it.
The variable names in C may be started with a character or an underscore ( _ ). But avoid starting a name with underscore ( _ ). C has many libraries which contain variables and function names normally starting with underscore ( _ ). So your variable name starting with underscore ( _ ) may conflict with these variables or function names.
In a program every variable has
o Name
o Type
o Size
o Value
The variables having a name, type and size (type and size will be discussed later) are just empty boxes. They are useless until we put some value in them. To put some value in these boxes is known as assigning values to variables. In C language, we use assignment operator for this purpose.
In C language equal-to-sign (=) is used as assignment operator. Do not confuse the algebraic equal-to with the assignment operator. In Algebra X = 2 means the value of X is 2, whereas in C language X = 2 (where X is a variable name) means take the value 2 and put it in the memory location labeled as X, afterwards you can assign some other value to X, for example you can write X = 10, that means now the memory location X contains the value 10 and the previous value 2 is no more there.
Data Types
A variable must have a data type associated with it, for example it can have data types like integer, decimal numbers, characters etc. The variable of type Integer stores integer values and a character type variable stores character value. The primary difference between various data types is their size in memory. Different data types have different sizes in memory depending on the machine and compilers. There are very few data types in C language. These data types are reserved words of C language. The reserve words can not be used as a variable name. Let’s take a look into different data types that the C language provides us to deal with whole numbers, real numbers and character data.
Whole Numbers
The C language provides three data types to handle whole numbers.
o int
o short
o long
The data type int is used to store whole numbers (integers). The integer type has a space of 4 bytes (32 bits for windows operating system) in memory. And it is mentioned as ‘int’ which is a reserved word of C, so we can not use it as a variable name. In programming before using any variable name we have to declare that variable with its data type. If we are using an integer variable named as ‘i’, we have to declare it as
int i ;
The above line is known as declaration statement. The declaration statement int i ; reserves 4 bytes of memory and labels it as ‘i’. This happens at the execution time.
We noted that the integer occupies four bytes in memory. So if we have to store a small integer like 5, 10 or 20, C provides another data type for storing small whole numbers which is called short. The size of short is two bytes and it can store numbers in range of -32768 to 32767. So if we are going to use a variable for which we know that it will not increase from 32767, for example the age of different people, then we use the data type short for age.
short age = 5;
On the other side if we have a very large whole number that cannot be stored in an int then we use the data type long provided by C. So when we are going to deal with very big whole numbers in our program, we use long data type. We use it in program as:
long x = 300500200;
Real Numbers
The C language provides two data types to deal with real numbers (numbers with decimal points e.g. 1.35, 735.251). The real numbers are also known as floating point numbers.
o float
o double
To store real numbers, float data type is used. The float data type uses four bytes to store
a real number. Here is program that uses float data types.
float f = 325.32501
If we need to store a large real number which cannot be store in four bytes, then we use double data type. Normally the size of double is twice the size of float. In program we use it as:
double x = 345624.769123;
char Data Type
So far we have been looking on data types to store numbers, In programming we do need to store characters like a,b,c etc. For storing the character data C language provides char data type. By using char data type we can store characters in variables. While assigning a character value to a char type variable single quotes are used around the character as ‘a’.
/* This program uses short data type to store values */
#include
main()
{
char x;
x = ’a’;
cout << “The character value in x = “;
cout << x;
}
Arithmetic Operators
In C language we have the usual arithmetic operators for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. C also provides a special arithmetic operator which is called modulus. All these operators are binary operators which means they operate on two operands. So we need two values for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and modulus.
Addition +
Subtraction -
Multiplication *
Division /
Modulus %
There is one thing to note in division that when we use integer division (i.e. both operands are integers) yields an integer result. This means that if, for example, you are dividing 5 by 2 (5 / 2) it will give integer result as 2 instead of actual result 2.5. Thus in integer division the result is truncated to the whole number, the fractional part (after decimal) is ignored. If we want to get the correct result, then we should use float data type. The modulus operator returns the remainder after division. This operator can only be used with integer operands. The expression x % y returns the remainder after x is divided by y. For example, the result of 5 % 2 will be 1, 23 % 5 will be 3 and 107%10 will be 7.
Precedence of Operators
The arithmetic operators in an expression are evaluated according to their precedence. The precedence means which operator will be evaluated first and which will be evaluated after that and so on. In an expression, the parentheses ( ) are used to force the evaluation order. The operators in the parentheses ( ) are evaluated first. If there are nested parentheses then the inner most is evaluated first. The expressions are always evaluated from left to right. The operators *, / and % have the highest precedence after parentheses. These operators are evaluated before + and –
operators. Thus + and – operators has the lowest precedence. It means that if there are * and + operators in an expression then first the * will be evaluated and then its result will be added to other operand. If there are * and / operators in an expression (both have the same precedence) then the operator which occurs first from left will be evaluated first and then the next, except you force any operator to evaluate by putting parentheses around it.
Lesson 2: First C Program
The best way to learn C is to start coding right away. So here is our very first program in C.
# include
main()
{
cout << "HELLO WORLD!"; } Let's see what the above snippet of code means. # include #include is a pre-processor directive. It is not part of our program; it is an instruction to the compiler. It tells the C compiler to include the contents of a file, in this case the system file iostream.h. The compiler knows that it is a system file, and therefore looks for it in a special place. The features of preprocessor will be discussed later. For the time being take this line on faith. You have to write this line. The sign # is known as HASH and also called SHARP.
is the name of the library definition file for all Input Output Streams. Your program will almost certainly want to send stuff to the screen and read things from the keyboard. iostream.h is the name of the file which has the code to do that work for you.
main()
The name main is special, in that the main is actually the one which is run when your program is used. A C program is made up of a large number of functions. Each of these is given a name by the programmer and they refer to each other as the program runs. C regards the name "main" as a special case and will run this function first. If you forget to have a main function, or mistype the name, the compiler will give you an error.
Notice that there are parentheses (“( )”, normal brackets) with main. Here the parentheses contain nothing. There may be something written inside the parentheses. It will be discussed in later lectures.
{}
Next, there is a curly bracket also called braces("{ }"). For every open brace there must be a matching close. Braces allows to group together pieces of a program. The body of main is enclosed in braces. Braces are very important in C; they enclose the blocks of the program.
cout
cout is known as out put stream in C and C++. Stream is a complicated thing, you will learn about it later. Think of a stream as a door. The data is transferred through stream, cout takes data from computer and sends it to the output. For the moment it is a screen of the monitor. hence we use cout for output.
<<
The sign << indicates the direction of data. Here it is towards cout and the function of cout is to show data on the screen.
“HELLO WORLD!”
The thing between the double quotes (“ ”) is known as character string. In C programming character strings are written in double quotes. Whatever is written after << and within quotation marks will be direct it to cout, cout will display it on the screen.
The semicolon (;) at the end of the above statement is very important. All C statements end with a semicolon (;). Missing of a semicolon (;) at the end of statement is a syntax error and compiler will report an error during compilation. If there is only a semicolon (;) on a line than it will be called a null statement. i.e. it does nothing. The extra semicolons may be put at the end but are useless and aimless
# include
main()
{
cout << "HELLO WORLD!"; } Let's see what the above snippet of code means. # include #include is a pre-processor directive. It is not part of our program; it is an instruction to the compiler. It tells the C compiler to include the contents of a file, in this case the system file iostream.h. The compiler knows that it is a system file, and therefore looks for it in a special place. The features of preprocessor will be discussed later. For the time being take this line on faith. You have to write this line. The sign # is known as HASH and also called SHARP.
main()
The name main is special, in that the main is actually the one which is run when your program is used. A C program is made up of a large number of functions. Each of these is given a name by the programmer and they refer to each other as the program runs. C regards the name "main" as a special case and will run this function first. If you forget to have a main function, or mistype the name, the compiler will give you an error.
Notice that there are parentheses (“( )”, normal brackets) with main. Here the parentheses contain nothing. There may be something written inside the parentheses. It will be discussed in later lectures.
{}
Next, there is a curly bracket also called braces("{ }"). For every open brace there must be a matching close. Braces allows to group together pieces of a program. The body of main is enclosed in braces. Braces are very important in C; they enclose the blocks of the program.
cout
cout is known as out put stream in C and C++. Stream is a complicated thing, you will learn about it later. Think of a stream as a door. The data is transferred through stream, cout takes data from computer and sends it to the output. For the moment it is a screen of the monitor. hence we use cout for output.
<<
The sign << indicates the direction of data. Here it is towards cout and the function of cout is to show data on the screen.
“HELLO WORLD!”
The thing between the double quotes (“ ”) is known as character string. In C programming character strings are written in double quotes. Whatever is written after << and within quotation marks will be direct it to cout, cout will display it on the screen.
The semicolon (;) at the end of the above statement is very important. All C statements end with a semicolon (;). Missing of a semicolon (;) at the end of statement is a syntax error and compiler will report an error during compilation. If there is only a semicolon (;) on a line than it will be called a null statement. i.e. it does nothing. The extra semicolons may be put at the end but are useless and aimless
What is Programming?
Formally: "A program is a precise sequence of steps to solve a particular problem."
At its most basic level, programming a computer simply means telling it what to do. Without these instructions or programs computers are merely dumb machines. Computers are incredibly stupid. They do exactly what we tell them to do: no more, no less-- unlike human beings. Computers can't think by themselves. In this sense, they differ from human beings. For example, if someone asks you, “What is the time?”, “Time please?” or just, “Time?” you understand anyway that he is asking the time but computer is different. Instructions to the computer should be explicitly stated. Computer will tell you the time only if you ask it in the way you have programmed it. When you're programming, it helps to be able to "think'' as stupidly as the computer does, so that you are in the right frame of mind for specifying everything in minute detail, and not assuming that the right thing will happen by itself.
The Receipe of a good Program:
In order to design a program effectively and properly we must have a recipe to follow. In the book name ‘How to design programs’ by Matthias Felleisen and the co-worker, the idea of design recipe has been stated very elegenlty as “Learning to design programs is like learning to play soccer. A player must learn to trap a ball, to dribble with a ball, to pass, and to shoot a ball. Once the player knows those basic skills, the next goals are to learn to play a position, to play certain strategies, to choose among feasible strategies, and, on occasion, to create variations of a strategy because none fits.“ The author then continues to say that: “A programmer is also very much like an architect, a composers, or a writer. They are creative people who start with ideas in their heads and blank pieces of paper. They conceive of an idea, form a mental outline, and refine it on paper until their writings reflect their mental image as much as possible. As they bring their ideas to paper, they employ basic drawing, writing, and playing music to express certain style elements of a building, to describe a person's character, or to formulate portions of a melody. They can practice their trade because they have honed their basic skills for a long time and can use them on an instinctive level. Programmers also form outlines, translate them into first designs, and iteratively refine them until they truly match the initial idea. Indeed, the best programmers edit and rewrite their programs many times until they meet certain aesthetic standards. And just like soccer players, architects, composers, or writers, programmers must practice the basic skills of their trade for a long time before they can be truly creative. Design recipes are the equivalent of soccer ball handling techniques, writing techniques, arrangements, and drawing skills. “ Hence to design a program properly, we must:
o Analyze a problem statement, typically expressed as a word problem.
o Express its essence, abstractly and with examples.
o Formulate statements and comments in a precise language.
o Evaluate and revise the activities in light of checks and tests and
o Pay attention to detail.
All of these are activities are very useful for a programmer.
The above details are provided just for the sake of completeness and do not worry if the above sounds greek to you. it is natural. If, after going half of the course, you come back here then you will be in a perfect position to understand all of this. We have kept this boring detail to a limit. There were other topics like types of softwares, system software, application software, device drivers and the dry background of C programming language, which we have not included in this tutorial / guide. Our focus in this tutorial / guide is on programming C / C++.
At its most basic level, programming a computer simply means telling it what to do. Without these instructions or programs computers are merely dumb machines. Computers are incredibly stupid. They do exactly what we tell them to do: no more, no less-- unlike human beings. Computers can't think by themselves. In this sense, they differ from human beings. For example, if someone asks you, “What is the time?”, “Time please?” or just, “Time?” you understand anyway that he is asking the time but computer is different. Instructions to the computer should be explicitly stated. Computer will tell you the time only if you ask it in the way you have programmed it. When you're programming, it helps to be able to "think'' as stupidly as the computer does, so that you are in the right frame of mind for specifying everything in minute detail, and not assuming that the right thing will happen by itself.
The Receipe of a good Program:
In order to design a program effectively and properly we must have a recipe to follow. In the book name ‘How to design programs’ by Matthias Felleisen and the co-worker, the idea of design recipe has been stated very elegenlty as “Learning to design programs is like learning to play soccer. A player must learn to trap a ball, to dribble with a ball, to pass, and to shoot a ball. Once the player knows those basic skills, the next goals are to learn to play a position, to play certain strategies, to choose among feasible strategies, and, on occasion, to create variations of a strategy because none fits.“ The author then continues to say that: “A programmer is also very much like an architect, a composers, or a writer. They are creative people who start with ideas in their heads and blank pieces of paper. They conceive of an idea, form a mental outline, and refine it on paper until their writings reflect their mental image as much as possible. As they bring their ideas to paper, they employ basic drawing, writing, and playing music to express certain style elements of a building, to describe a person's character, or to formulate portions of a melody. They can practice their trade because they have honed their basic skills for a long time and can use them on an instinctive level. Programmers also form outlines, translate them into first designs, and iteratively refine them until they truly match the initial idea. Indeed, the best programmers edit and rewrite their programs many times until they meet certain aesthetic standards. And just like soccer players, architects, composers, or writers, programmers must practice the basic skills of their trade for a long time before they can be truly creative. Design recipes are the equivalent of soccer ball handling techniques, writing techniques, arrangements, and drawing skills. “ Hence to design a program properly, we must:
o Analyze a problem statement, typically expressed as a word problem.
o Express its essence, abstractly and with examples.
o Formulate statements and comments in a precise language.
o Evaluate and revise the activities in light of checks and tests and
o Pay attention to detail.
All of these are activities are very useful for a programmer.
The above details are provided just for the sake of completeness and do not worry if the above sounds greek to you. it is natural. If, after going half of the course, you come back here then you will be in a perfect position to understand all of this. We have kept this boring detail to a limit. There were other topics like types of softwares, system software, application software, device drivers and the dry background of C programming language, which we have not included in this tutorial / guide. Our focus in this tutorial / guide is on programming C / C++.
Forms of if
The if statement can take any of the following forms:
(a) if ( condition )
do this ;
(b) if ( condition )
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
(c) if ( condition )
do this ;
else
do this ;
(d) if ( condition )
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
else
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
(e) if ( condition )
do this ;
else
{
if ( condition )
do this ;
else
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
}
(f) if ( condition )
{
if ( condition )
do this ;
else
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
}
else
do this ;
(a) if ( condition )
do this ;
(b) if ( condition )
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
(c) if ( condition )
do this ;
else
do this ;
(d) if ( condition )
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
else
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
(e) if ( condition )
do this ;
else
{
if ( condition )
do this ;
else
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
}
(f) if ( condition )
{
if ( condition )
do this ;
else
{
do this ;
and this ;
}
}
else
do this ;
Nested if-elses
It is perfectly all right if we write an entire if-else construct within either the body of the if statement or the body of an else statement. This is called ‘nesting’of ifs. This is shown in the following program.
/* A quick demo of nested if-else */
main( )
{
int i ;
printf ( "Enter either 1 or 2 " ) ;
scanf ( "%d", &i ) ;
if ( i == 1 )
printf ( "You would go to heaven !" ) ;
else
{
if ( i == 2 )
printf ( "Hell was created with you in mind" ) ;
else
printf ( "How about mother earth !" ) ;
}
}
Note that the second if-else construct is nested in the first else statement. If the condition in the first if statement is false, then the condition in the second if statement is checked. If it is false as well, then the final else statement is executed.
You can see in the program how each time a if-else construct is nested within another if-else construct, it is also indented to add clarity to the program. Inculcate this habit of indentation, otherwise you would end up writing programs which nobody (you included) can understand easily at a later date.
In the above program an if-else occurs within the else block of the first if statement. Similarly, in some other program an if-else may occur in the if block as well. There is no limit on how deeply the ifs and the elses can be nested.
/* A quick demo of nested if-else */
main( )
{
int i ;
printf ( "Enter either 1 or 2 " ) ;
scanf ( "%d", &i ) ;
if ( i == 1 )
printf ( "You would go to heaven !" ) ;
else
{
if ( i == 2 )
printf ( "Hell was created with you in mind" ) ;
else
printf ( "How about mother earth !" ) ;
}
}
Note that the second if-else construct is nested in the first else statement. If the condition in the first if statement is false, then the condition in the second if statement is checked. If it is false as well, then the final else statement is executed.
You can see in the program how each time a if-else construct is nested within another if-else construct, it is also indented to add clarity to the program. Inculcate this habit of indentation, otherwise you would end up writing programs which nobody (you included) can understand easily at a later date.
In the above program an if-else occurs within the else block of the first if statement. Similarly, in some other program an if-else may occur in the if block as well. There is no limit on how deeply the ifs and the elses can be nested.
The if-else Statement
The if statement by itself will execute a single statement, or a group of statements, when the expression following if evaluates to true. It does nothing when the expression evaluates to false. Can we execute one group of statements if the expression evaluates to true and another group of statements if the expression evaluates to false? Of course! This is what is the purpose of the else statement that is demonstrated in the following example:
Example : In a company an employee is paid as under:
If his basic salary is less than Rs. 1500, then HRA = 10% of basic salary and DA = 90% of basic salary. If his salary is either equal to or above Rs. 1500, then HRA = Rs. 500 and DA = 98% of basic salary. If the employee's salary is input through the keyboard write a program to find his gross salary.
/* Calculation of gross salary */
main( )
{
float bs, gs, da, hra ;
printf ( "Enter basic salary " ) ;
scanf ( "%f", &bs ) ;
if ( bs < 1500 )
{
hra = bs * 10 / 100 ;
da = bs * 90 / 100 ;
}
else
{
hra = 500 ;
da = bs * 98 / 100 ;
}
gs = bs + hra + da ;
printf ( "gross salary = Rs. %f", gs ) ;
}
Example : In a company an employee is paid as under:
If his basic salary is less than Rs. 1500, then HRA = 10% of basic salary and DA = 90% of basic salary. If his salary is either equal to or above Rs. 1500, then HRA = Rs. 500 and DA = 98% of basic salary. If the employee's salary is input through the keyboard write a program to find his gross salary.
/* Calculation of gross salary */
main( )
{
float bs, gs, da, hra ;
printf ( "Enter basic salary " ) ;
scanf ( "%f", &bs ) ;
if ( bs < 1500 )
{
hra = bs * 10 / 100 ;
da = bs * 90 / 100 ;
}
else
{
hra = 500 ;
da = bs * 98 / 100 ;
}
gs = bs + hra + da ;
printf ( "gross salary = Rs. %f", gs ) ;
}
The Real Thing
We mentioned earlier that the general form of the if statement is as follows
if ( condition )
statement ;
Truly speaking the general form is as follows:
if ( expression )
statement ;
Here the expression can be any valid expression including a relational expression. We can even use arithmetic expressions in the if statement. For example all the following if statements are valid
if ( 3 + 2 % 5 )
printf ( "This works" ) ;
if ( a = 10 )
printf ( "Even this works" ) ;
if ( -5 )
printf ( "Surprisingly even this works" ) ;
Note that in C a non-zero value is considered to be true, whereas a 0 is considered to be false. In the first if, the expression evaluates to 5 and since 5 is non-zero it is considered to be true. Hence the printf( ) gets executed.
In the second if, 10 gets assigned to a so the if is now reduced to if ( a ) or if ( 10 ). Since 10 is non-zero, it is true hence again printf( ) goes to work.
In the third if, -5 is a non-zero number, hence true. So again printf( ) goes to work. In place of -5 even if a float like 3.14 were used it would be considered to be true. So the issue is not whether the number is integer or float, or whether it is positive or negative. Issue is whether it is zero or non-zero.
if ( condition )
statement ;
Truly speaking the general form is as follows:
if ( expression )
statement ;
Here the expression can be any valid expression including a relational expression. We can even use arithmetic expressions in the if statement. For example all the following if statements are valid
if ( 3 + 2 % 5 )
printf ( "This works" ) ;
if ( a = 10 )
printf ( "Even this works" ) ;
if ( -5 )
printf ( "Surprisingly even this works" ) ;
Note that in C a non-zero value is considered to be true, whereas a 0 is considered to be false. In the first if, the expression evaluates to 5 and since 5 is non-zero it is considered to be true. Hence the printf( ) gets executed.
In the second if, 10 gets assigned to a so the if is now reduced to if ( a ) or if ( 10 ). Since 10 is non-zero, it is true hence again printf( ) goes to work.
In the third if, -5 is a non-zero number, hence true. So again printf( ) goes to work. In place of -5 even if a float like 3.14 were used it would be considered to be true. So the issue is not whether the number is integer or float, or whether it is positive or negative. Issue is whether it is zero or non-zero.
The if Statement
Like most languages, C uses the keyword if to implement the decision control instruction. The general form of if statement looks like this:
if ( this condition is true )
execute this statement ;
The keyword if tells the compiler that what follows is a decision control instruction. The condition following the keyword if is always enclosed within a pair of parentheses. If the condition, whatever it is, is true, then the statement is executed. If the condition is not true then the statement is not executed; instead the program skips past it. But how do we express the condition itself in C? And how do we evaluate its truth or falsity? As a general rule, we express a condition using C’s ‘relational’ operators. The relational operators allow us to compare two values to see whether they are equal to each other, unequal, or whether one is greater than the other. Here’s how they look and how they are evaluated in C.
thisThe relational operators should be familiar to you except for the equality operator == and the inequality operator !=. Note that = is used for assignment, whereas, == is used for comparison of two quantities. Here is a simple program, which demonstrates the use of if and the relational operators.
/* Demonstration of if statement */
main( )
{
int num ;
printf ( "Enter a number less than 10 " ) ;
scanf ( "%d", &num ) ;
if ( num <= 10 )
printf ( "What an obedient servant you are !" ) ;
}
On execution of this program, if you type a number less than or equal to 10, you get a message on the screen through printf( ). If you type some other number the program doesn’t do anything. The following flowchart would help you understand the flow of control in the program.
if ( this condition is true )
execute this statement ;
The keyword if tells the compiler that what follows is a decision control instruction. The condition following the keyword if is always enclosed within a pair of parentheses. If the condition, whatever it is, is true, then the statement is executed. If the condition is not true then the statement is not executed; instead the program skips past it. But how do we express the condition itself in C? And how do we evaluate its truth or falsity? As a general rule, we express a condition using C’s ‘relational’ operators. The relational operators allow us to compare two values to see whether they are equal to each other, unequal, or whether one is greater than the other. Here’s how they look and how they are evaluated in C.
thisThe relational operators should be familiar to you except for the equality operator == and the inequality operator !=. Note that = is used for assignment, whereas, == is used for comparison of two quantities. Here is a simple program, which demonstrates the use of if and the relational operators.
/* Demonstration of if statement */
main( )
{
int num ;
printf ( "Enter a number less than 10 " ) ;
scanf ( "%d", &num ) ;
if ( num <= 10 )
printf ( "What an obedient servant you are !" ) ;
}
On execution of this program, if you type a number less than or equal to 10, you get a message on the screen through printf( ). If you type some other number the program doesn’t do anything. The following flowchart would help you understand the flow of control in the program.
Write a programe to Calculation of simple interest in c language
#include< stdio.h >
#include< conio.h >
void main( )
{
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
printf ( "Enter values of p, n, r" ) ;
scanf ( "%d %d %f", &p, &n, &r ) ;
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
printf ( "%f" , si ) ;
getch();
}
#include< conio.h >
void main( )
{
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
printf ( "Enter values of p, n, r" ) ;
scanf ( "%d %d %f", &p, &n, &r ) ;
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
printf ( "%f" , si ) ;
getch();
}
The First C Program
Armed with the knowledge about the types of variables, constants & keywords the next logical step is to combine them to form instructions. However, instead of this, we would write our first C program now. Once we have done that we would see in detail the instructions that it made use of.
Before we begin with our first C program do remember the following rules that are applicable to all C programs:
Each instruction in a C program is written as a separate statement. Therefore a complete C program would comprise of a series of statements.
The statements in a program must appear in the same order in which we wish them to be executed; unless of course the logic of the problem demands a deliberate ‘jump’ or transfer of control to a statement, which is out of sequence.
Blank spaces may be inserted between two words to improve the readability of the statement. However, no blank spaces are allowed within a variable, constant or keyword.
All statements are entered in small case letters.
C has no specific rules for the position at which a statement is to be written. That’s why it is often called a free-form language.
Every C statement must end with a ;. Thus ; acts as a statement terminator.
Let us now write down our first C program. It would simply calculate simple interest for a set of values representing principle, number of years and rate of interest.
/* Calculation of simple interest */
/* Author gekay Date: 25/05/2004 */
main( )
{
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
p = 1000 ;
n = 3 ;
r = 8.5 ;
/* formula for simple interest */
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
printf ( "%f" , si ) ;
}
Now a few useful tips about the program...
− Comment about the program should be enclosed within /* */. For example, the first two statements in our program are comments.
− Though comments are not necessary, it is a good practice to begin a program with a comment indicating the purpose of the program, its author and the date on which the program was written.
− Any number of comments can be written at any place in the program. For example, a comment can be written before the statement, after the statement or within the statement as shown below:
/* formula */ si = p * n * r / 100 ;
si = p * n * r / 100 ; /* formula */
si = p * n * r / /* formula */ 100 ;
− Sometimes it is not so obvious as to what a particular statement in a program accomplishes. At such times it is worthwhile mentioning the purpose of the statement (or a set of statements) using a comment. For example:
/* formula for simple interest */
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
− Often programmers seem to ignore writing of comments. But when a team is building big software well commented code is almost essential for other team members to understand it.
− Although a lot of comments are probably not necessary in this program, it is usually the case that programmers tend to use too few comments rather than too many. An adequate number of comments can save hours of misery and suffering when you later try to figure out what the program does.
− The normal language rules do not apply to text written within /* .. */. Thus we can type this text in small case, capital or a combination. This is because the comments are solely given for the understanding of the programmer or the fellow programmers and are completely ignored by the compiler.
− Comments cannot be nested. For example,
/* Cal of SI /* Author sam date 01/01/2002 */ */
is invalid.
− A comment can be split over more than one line, as in,
/* This is
a jazzy
comment */
Such a comment is often called a multi-line comment.
− main( ) is a collective name given to a set of statements. This name has to be main( ), it cannot be anything else. All statements that belong to main( ) are enclosed within a pair of braces { } as shown below.
main( )
{
statement 1 ;
statement 2 ;
statement 3 ;
}
− Technically speaking main( ) is a function. Every function has a pair of parentheses ( ) associated with it. We would discuss functions and their working in great detail in Chapter 5.
− Any variable used in the program must be declared before using it. For example,
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
− Any C statement always ends with a ;
For example,
float r, si ;
r = 8.5 ;
− In the statement,
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
* and / are the arithmetic operators. The arithmetic operators available in C are +, -, * and /. C is very rich in operators. There are about 45 operators available in C. Surprisingly there is no operator for exponentiation... a slip, which can be forgiven considering the fact that C has been developed by an individual, not by a committee.
− Once the value of si is calculated it needs to be displayed on the screen. Unlike other languages, C does not contain any instruction to display output on the screen. All output to screen is achieved using readymade library functions. One such
function is printf( ). We have used it display on the screen the value contained in si.
The general form of printf( ) function is,
printf ( "",
Before we begin with our first C program do remember the following rules that are applicable to all C programs:
Each instruction in a C program is written as a separate statement. Therefore a complete C program would comprise of a series of statements.
The statements in a program must appear in the same order in which we wish them to be executed; unless of course the logic of the problem demands a deliberate ‘jump’ or transfer of control to a statement, which is out of sequence.
Blank spaces may be inserted between two words to improve the readability of the statement. However, no blank spaces are allowed within a variable, constant or keyword.
All statements are entered in small case letters.
C has no specific rules for the position at which a statement is to be written. That’s why it is often called a free-form language.
Every C statement must end with a ;. Thus ; acts as a statement terminator.
Let us now write down our first C program. It would simply calculate simple interest for a set of values representing principle, number of years and rate of interest.
/* Calculation of simple interest */
/* Author gekay Date: 25/05/2004 */
main( )
{
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
p = 1000 ;
n = 3 ;
r = 8.5 ;
/* formula for simple interest */
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
printf ( "%f" , si ) ;
}
Now a few useful tips about the program...
− Comment about the program should be enclosed within /* */. For example, the first two statements in our program are comments.
− Though comments are not necessary, it is a good practice to begin a program with a comment indicating the purpose of the program, its author and the date on which the program was written.
− Any number of comments can be written at any place in the program. For example, a comment can be written before the statement, after the statement or within the statement as shown below:
/* formula */ si = p * n * r / 100 ;
si = p * n * r / 100 ; /* formula */
si = p * n * r / /* formula */ 100 ;
− Sometimes it is not so obvious as to what a particular statement in a program accomplishes. At such times it is worthwhile mentioning the purpose of the statement (or a set of statements) using a comment. For example:
/* formula for simple interest */
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
− Often programmers seem to ignore writing of comments. But when a team is building big software well commented code is almost essential for other team members to understand it.
− Although a lot of comments are probably not necessary in this program, it is usually the case that programmers tend to use too few comments rather than too many. An adequate number of comments can save hours of misery and suffering when you later try to figure out what the program does.
− The normal language rules do not apply to text written within /* .. */. Thus we can type this text in small case, capital or a combination. This is because the comments are solely given for the understanding of the programmer or the fellow programmers and are completely ignored by the compiler.
− Comments cannot be nested. For example,
/* Cal of SI /* Author sam date 01/01/2002 */ */
is invalid.
− A comment can be split over more than one line, as in,
/* This is
a jazzy
comment */
Such a comment is often called a multi-line comment.
− main( ) is a collective name given to a set of statements. This name has to be main( ), it cannot be anything else. All statements that belong to main( ) are enclosed within a pair of braces { } as shown below.
main( )
{
statement 1 ;
statement 2 ;
statement 3 ;
}
− Technically speaking main( ) is a function. Every function has a pair of parentheses ( ) associated with it. We would discuss functions and their working in great detail in Chapter 5.
− Any variable used in the program must be declared before using it. For example,
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
− Any C statement always ends with a ;
For example,
float r, si ;
r = 8.5 ;
− In the statement,
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
* and / are the arithmetic operators. The arithmetic operators available in C are +, -, * and /. C is very rich in operators. There are about 45 operators available in C. Surprisingly there is no operator for exponentiation... a slip, which can be forgiven considering the fact that C has been developed by an individual, not by a committee.
− Once the value of si is calculated it needs to be displayed on the screen. Unlike other languages, C does not contain any instruction to display output on the screen. All output to screen is achieved using readymade library functions. One such
function is printf( ). We have used it display on the screen the value contained in si.
The general form of printf( ) function is,
printf ( "
- ) ;
%f for printing real values
%d for printing integer values
%c for printing character values
In addition to format specifiers like %f, %d and %c the format string may also contain any other characters. These characters are printed as they are when the printf( ) is executed.
Following are some examples of usage of printf( ) function:
printf ( "%f", si ) ;
printf ( "%d %d %f %f", p, n, r, si ) ;
printf ( "Simple interest = Rs. %f", si ) ;
printf ( "Prin = %d \nRate = %f", p, r ) ;
The output of the last statement would look like this...
Prin = 1000
Rate = 8.5
What is ‘\n’ doing in this statement? It is called newline and it takes the cursor to the next line. Therefore, you get the output split over two lines. ‘\n’ is one of the several Escape Sequences available in C.
printf( ) can not only print values of variables, it can also print the result of an expression. An expression is nothing but a valid combination of constants, variables and operators. Thus, 3, 3 + 2, c and a + b * c – d all are valid expressions. The results of these expressions can be printed as shown below:
printf ( "%d %d %d %d", 3, 3 + 2, c, a + b * c – d ) ;
Note that 3 and c also represent valid expressions.
C Keywords
Keywords are the words whose meaning has already been explained to the C compiler (or in a broad sense to the computer). The keywords cannot be used as variable names because if we do so we are trying to assign a new meaning to the keyword, which is not allowed by the computer. Some C compilers allow you to construct variable names that exactly resemble the keywords. However, it would be safer not to mix up the variable names and the keywords. The keywords are also called ‘Reserved words’.
There are only 32 keywords available in C. Figure 1.5 gives a list of these keywords for your ready reference. A detailed discussion of each of these keywords would be taken up in later chapters wherever their use is relevant.
There are only 32 keywords available in C. Figure 1.5 gives a list of these keywords for your ready reference. A detailed discussion of each of these keywords would be taken up in later chapters wherever their use is relevant.
Types of C Variables
As we saw earlier, an entity that may vary during program execution is called a variable. Variable names are names given to locations in memory. These locations can contain integer, real or character constants. In any language, the types of variables that it can support depend on the types of constants that it can handle. This is because a particular type of variable can hold only the same type of constant. For example, an integer variable can hold only an integer constant, a real variable can hold only a real constant and a character variable can hold only a character constant.
The rules for constructing different types of constants are different. However, for constructing variable names of all types the same set of rules apply. These rules are given below.
The rules for constructing different types of constants are different. However, for constructing variable names of all types the same set of rules apply. These rules are given below.
Rules for Constructing Character Constants
A character constant is a single alphabet, a single digit or a single special symbol enclosed within single inverted commas. Both the inverted commas should point to the left. For example, ’A’ is a valid character constant whereas ‘A’ is not.
The maximum length of a character constant can be 1 character.
Ex.: 'A'
'I'
'5'
'='
The maximum length of a character constant can be 1 character.
Ex.: 'A'
'I'
'5'
'='
Rules for Constructing Real Constants
Real constants are often called Floating Point constants. The real constants could be written in two forms—Fractional form and Exponential form.
Following rules must be observed while constructing real constants expressed in fractional form:
1>A real constant must have at least one digit.
2>It must have a decimal point.
3>It could be either positive or negative.
4>Default sign is positive.
5>No commas or blanks are allowed within a real constant.
Ex.: +325.34
426.0
-32.76
-48.5792
The exponential form of representation of real constants is usually used if the value of the constant is either too small or too large. It however doesn’t restrict us in any way from using exponential form of representation for other real constants.
In exponential form of representation, the real constant is represented in two parts. The part appearing before ‘e’ is called mantissa, whereas the part following ‘e’ is called exponent.
Following rules must be observed while constructing real constants expressed in exponential form:
1>The mantissa part and the exponential part should be separated by a letter e.
2>The mantissa part may have a positive or negative sign.
3>Default sign of mantissa part is positive.
4>The exponent must have at least one digit, which must be a positive or negative integer. Default sign is positive.
5>Range of real constants expressed in exponential form is -3.4e38 to 3.4e38.
Ex.: +3.2e-5
4.1e8
-0.2e+3
-3.2e-5
Following rules must be observed while constructing real constants expressed in fractional form:
1>A real constant must have at least one digit.
2>It must have a decimal point.
3>It could be either positive or negative.
4>Default sign is positive.
5>No commas or blanks are allowed within a real constant.
Ex.: +325.34
426.0
-32.76
-48.5792
The exponential form of representation of real constants is usually used if the value of the constant is either too small or too large. It however doesn’t restrict us in any way from using exponential form of representation for other real constants.
In exponential form of representation, the real constant is represented in two parts. The part appearing before ‘e’ is called mantissa, whereas the part following ‘e’ is called exponent.
Following rules must be observed while constructing real constants expressed in exponential form:
1>The mantissa part and the exponential part should be separated by a letter e.
2>The mantissa part may have a positive or negative sign.
3>Default sign of mantissa part is positive.
4>The exponent must have at least one digit, which must be a positive or negative integer. Default sign is positive.
5>Range of real constants expressed in exponential form is -3.4e38 to 3.4e38.
Ex.: +3.2e-5
4.1e8
-0.2e+3
-3.2e-5
Rules for Constructing Integer Constants
1>An integer constant must have at least one digit.
2>It must not have a decimal point.
3>It can be either positive or negative.
4>If no sign precedes an integer constant it is assumed to be positive.
5>No commas or blanks are allowed within an integer constant.
6>The allowable range for integer constants is -32768 to 32767.
Truly speaking the range of an Integer constant depends upon the compiler. For a 16-bit compiler like Turbo C or Turbo C++ the range is –32768 to 32767. For a 32-bit compiler the range would be even greater. Question like what exactly do you mean by a 16-bit or a 32-bit compiler, what range of an Integer constant has to do with the type of compiler and such questions are discussed in detail in Chapter 16. Till that time it would be assumed that we are working with a 16-bit compiler.
Ex.: 426
+782
-8000
-7605
2>It must not have a decimal point.
3>It can be either positive or negative.
4>If no sign precedes an integer constant it is assumed to be positive.
5>No commas or blanks are allowed within an integer constant.
6>The allowable range for integer constants is -32768 to 32767.
Truly speaking the range of an Integer constant depends upon the compiler. For a 16-bit compiler like Turbo C or Turbo C++ the range is –32768 to 32767. For a 32-bit compiler the range would be even greater. Question like what exactly do you mean by a 16-bit or a 32-bit compiler, what range of an Integer constant has to do with the type of compiler and such questions are discussed in detail in Chapter 16. Till that time it would be assumed that we are working with a 16-bit compiler.
Ex.: 426
+782
-8000
-7605
Types of C Constants
C constants can be divided into two major categories:
(a)Primary Constants
(b)Secondary Constants
C Constants
[1]Primary Constants
-Integer Constant
-Real Constant
-Character Constant
[2]Secondary Constants
-Array
-Pointer
-Structure
-Union
-Enum,etc.
(a)Primary Constants
(b)Secondary Constants
C Constants
[1]Primary Constants
-Integer Constant
-Real Constant
-Character Constant
[2]Secondary Constants
-Array
-Pointer
-Structure
-Union
-Enum,etc.
Constants, Variables and Keywords
The alphabets, numbers and special symbols when properly combined form constants, variables and keywords. Let us see what are ‘constants’ and ‘variables’ in C. A constant is an entity that doesn’t change whereas a variable is an entity that may change.
In any program we typically do lots of calculations. The results of these calculations are stored in computers memory. Like human memory the computer memory also consists of millions of cells. The calculated values are stored in these memory cells. To make the retrieval and usage of these values easy these memory cells (also called memory locations) are given names. Since the value stored in each location may change the names given to these locations are called variable names.
In any program we typically do lots of calculations. The results of these calculations are stored in computers memory. Like human memory the computer memory also consists of millions of cells. The calculated values are stored in these memory cells. To make the retrieval and usage of these values easy these memory cells (also called memory locations) are given names. Since the value stored in each location may change the names given to these locations are called variable names.
Write a programe for Calculation of simple interest
#include< stdio.h >
#include< conio.h >
void main( )
{
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
clrscr();
p = 1000 ;
n = 3 ;
r = 8.5 ;
/* formula for simple interest */
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
printf ( "%f" , si ) ;
getch();
}
#include< conio.h >
void main( )
{
int p, n ;
float r, si ;
clrscr();
p = 1000 ;
n = 3 ;
r = 8.5 ;
/* formula for simple interest */
si = p * n * r / 100 ;
printf ( "%f" , si ) ;
getch();
}
What is C
C is a programming language developed at AT & T’s Bell Laboratories of USA in 1972. It was designed and written by a man named Dennis Ritchie. In the late seventies C began to replace the more familiar languages of that time like PL/I, ALGOL, etc. No one pushed C. It wasn’t made the ‘official’ Bell Labs language. Thus, without any advertisement C’s reputation spread and its pool of users grew. Ritchie seems to have been rather surprised that so many programmers preferred C to older languages like FORTRAN or PL/I, or the newer ones like Pascal and APL. But, that's what happened.
Possibly why C seems so popular is because it is reliable, simple and easy to use. Moreover, in an industry where newer languages, tools and technologies emerge and vanish day in and day out, a language that has survived for more than 3 decades has to be really good.
An opinion that is often heard today is – “C has been already superceded by languages like C++, C# and Java, so why bother to learn C today”. I seriously beg to differ with this opinion. There are several reasons for this:
I believe that nobody can learn C++ or Java directly. This is because while learning these languages you have things like classes, objects, inheritance, polymorphism, templates, exception handling, references, etc. do deal with apart from knowing the actual language elements. Learning these complicated concepts when you are not even comfortable with the basic language elements is like putting the cart before the horse. Hence one should first learn all the language elements very thoroughly using C language before migrating to C++, C# or Java. Though this two step learning process may take more time, but at the end of it you will definitely find it worth the trouble.
C++, C# or Java make use of a principle called Object Oriented Programming (OOP) to organize the program. This organizing principle has lots of advantages to offer. But even while using this organizing principle you would still need a good hold over the language elements of C and the basic programming skills.
Though many C++ and Java based programming tools and frameworks have evolved over the years the importance of C is still unchallenged because knowingly or unknowingly while using these frameworks and tools you would be still required to use the core C language elements—another good reason why one should learn C before C++, C# or Java.
Major parts of popular operating systems like Windows, UNIX, Linux is still written in C. This is because even today when it comes to performance (speed of execution) nothing beats C. Moreover, if one is to extend the operating system to work with new devices one needs to write device driver programs. These programs are exclusively written in C.
Mobile devices like cellular phones and palmtops are becoming increasingly popular. Also, common consumer devices like microwave oven, washing machines and digital cameras are getting smarter by the day. This smartness comes from a microprocessor, an operating system and a program embedded in this devices. These programs not only have to run fast but also have to work in limited amount of memory. No wonder that such programs are written in C. With these constraints on time and space, C is the language of choice while building such operating systems and programs.
You must have seen several professional 3D computer games where the user navigates some object, like say a spaceship and fires bullets at the invaders. The essence of all such games is speed. Needless to say, such games won't become popular if they takes a long time to move the spaceship or to fire a bullet. To match the expectations of the player the game has to react fast to the user inputs. This is where C language scores over other languages. Many popular gaming frameworks have been built using C language.
At times one is required to very closely interact with the hardware devices. Since C provides several language elements that make this interaction feasible without compromising the performance it is the preferred choice of the programmer.
I hope that these are very convincing reasons why one should adopt C as the first and the very important step in your quest for learning programming languages.
Possibly why C seems so popular is because it is reliable, simple and easy to use. Moreover, in an industry where newer languages, tools and technologies emerge and vanish day in and day out, a language that has survived for more than 3 decades has to be really good.
An opinion that is often heard today is – “C has been already superceded by languages like C++, C# and Java, so why bother to learn C today”. I seriously beg to differ with this opinion. There are several reasons for this:
I believe that nobody can learn C++ or Java directly. This is because while learning these languages you have things like classes, objects, inheritance, polymorphism, templates, exception handling, references, etc. do deal with apart from knowing the actual language elements. Learning these complicated concepts when you are not even comfortable with the basic language elements is like putting the cart before the horse. Hence one should first learn all the language elements very thoroughly using C language before migrating to C++, C# or Java. Though this two step learning process may take more time, but at the end of it you will definitely find it worth the trouble.
C++, C# or Java make use of a principle called Object Oriented Programming (OOP) to organize the program. This organizing principle has lots of advantages to offer. But even while using this organizing principle you would still need a good hold over the language elements of C and the basic programming skills.
Though many C++ and Java based programming tools and frameworks have evolved over the years the importance of C is still unchallenged because knowingly or unknowingly while using these frameworks and tools you would be still required to use the core C language elements—another good reason why one should learn C before C++, C# or Java.
Major parts of popular operating systems like Windows, UNIX, Linux is still written in C. This is because even today when it comes to performance (speed of execution) nothing beats C. Moreover, if one is to extend the operating system to work with new devices one needs to write device driver programs. These programs are exclusively written in C.
Mobile devices like cellular phones and palmtops are becoming increasingly popular. Also, common consumer devices like microwave oven, washing machines and digital cameras are getting smarter by the day. This smartness comes from a microprocessor, an operating system and a program embedded in this devices. These programs not only have to run fast but also have to work in limited amount of memory. No wonder that such programs are written in C. With these constraints on time and space, C is the language of choice while building such operating systems and programs.
You must have seen several professional 3D computer games where the user navigates some object, like say a spaceship and fires bullets at the invaders. The essence of all such games is speed. Needless to say, such games won't become popular if they takes a long time to move the spaceship or to fire a bullet. To match the expectations of the player the game has to react fast to the user inputs. This is where C language scores over other languages. Many popular gaming frameworks have been built using C language.
At times one is required to very closely interact with the hardware devices. Since C provides several language elements that make this interaction feasible without compromising the performance it is the preferred choice of the programmer.
I hope that these are very convincing reasons why one should adopt C as the first and the very important step in your quest for learning programming languages.
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