Fundamentals of the C Programming Language

Objectives

C Program development environment Elements of the C language

Program comments Preprocessor directives Functions Executable Statements

General form of a C program Common Programming Errors: logic/design error, syntax error, run-time error

C Program Development Environment

The system software necessary to develop C application program are bundled into an integrated development environment (IDE) A typical IDE contains text editor, C compiler, preprocessor, libraries, other tools The C programming environment has 2 components:

Language features to carry out basic operations (e.g.: store data in variables, compare 2 data values, perform arithmetic operation, etc.) Libraries routines to carry out operations not part of the language (Standard libraries e.g.: #include <stdio.h> & programmer-defined libraries)

IDE Microsoft Visual C++

Steps:
Prepare Compile Link

Execute

These steps depend on the computer, the OS, and the C IDE that you will use.

1.

Prepare program (and data files)

Use a text editor to type your source program statements. Assign a name to your source program file (.C) and save the file into disk storage. (optional) Use the text editor to create a data files. Assign names to the data files (.txt or .dat) and save the files

2.

Compile
Perform by a compiler. C compiler has 2 separate programs: the preprocessor and the translator. Preprocessor reads the source code and prepares the code for the translator. Translator translates the code into machine language.

3.

Link (Build)
As we will see later, a C program is made up of many functions. The linker assembles all the functions into final executable program (creates exe file).

4.

Execute
If successful, it is ready for execution and get the output otherwise debug the program

A Simple C Program Example

Output:

Elements of the C language

preprocessor directive
/* Example Case: Apples Author: Mdm Badariah Solemon */ #include <stdio.h> standard int main() { variable int Qty; double Cost=0.0, Total=0.0;

comment header file

reserved word

printf ("Enter quantity of apples purchased (in Kg):"); scanf("%d", &Qty);

printf ("Enter the cost per Kg of apples (in RM per Kg):"); scanf("%lf",&Cost); Total = Cost * Qty;

statement

printf("\nTotal cost of apples = %.2f\n",Total); return 0; }

punctuation

special symbol

Program Comments

Statement in a program intended for documentation and clarification purposes Have no effect on program execution. Comments are inserted into the code using /* and */ to surround comment or // to begin comment lines.
/* This is a comment */ // This is known as comment line /* The comments can span into more than one lines */

Preprocessor directives

The C program line that begins with # provides an instruction to the C preprocessor It is executed before the actual compilation is done. Two most common directives :

#include #define

In our example (#include<stdio.h>) identifies the header file for standard input and output needed by the printf().

Functions

Every C program has a function main The function main usually calls input/output functions printf(), scanf(), etc.

These input/output functions are discussed in Chapter 4.

The word main is a C reserved word. We must not use it for declaring any other variable or constant. 4 common ways of main declaration:
int main(void) { return 0; } void main(void) {
}

main(void) {
}

main( ) {
}

The curly braces { } identify a segment / body of a program

The start and end of a function The start and end of the selection or repetition block.

Since the opening brace { indicates the start of a segment with the closing brace indicating the end of a segment, there must be just as many opening braces as closing braces } (this is a common mistake of beginners)

Statements

A specification of an action to be taken by the computer as the program executes. Each statement in C needs to be terminated with semicolon (;) Example:
#include <stdio.h> void main(void) { printf(I love programming\n); printf(You will love it too once ); printf(you know the trick\n); }

Statement has two parts :

Declaration

The part of the program that tells the compiler the names of memory cells in a program
int age, total=0.0;

Executable statements

Program lines (excluding comments) that are converted to machine language instructions and executed by the computer.

A list of statements may be enclosed in braces { } (known as compound statement)

General form of a C program

preprocessor directives main function heading { declarations executable statements } #include <stdio.h> void main(void) {

// statement(s);
}

C statements can extend over more than one line. Example:

printf (\n Your coins are worth %d dollars and %d cents.\n, dollar, change);

You can write more than one statement on a line (but not recommended). Example:
printf(Enter your name:); scanf(%,&Name);

Common Programming Errors

1.

Debugging - Process removing errors from a program Three (3) kinds of errors :
Syntax Error

a violation of the C grammar rules, detected during program translation (compilation). statement cannot be translated and program cannot be executed

2.

Run-time errors

An attempt to perform an invalid operation, detected during program execution. Occurs when the program directs the computer to perform an illegal operation, such as dividing a number by zero. The computer will stop executing the program, and displays a diagnostic message indicates the line where the error was detected **

** depends on IDE Ms Visual Studio: warning

3.

Logic Error/Design Error

An error caused by following an incorrect algorithm Very difficult to detect - it does not cause run-time error and does not display message errors. The only sign of logic error incorrect program output Can be detected by testing the program thoroughly, comparing its output to calculated results To prevent carefully desk checking the algorithm and written program before you actually type it

Summary

You learned about:

C Program development environment Elements of the C language Program comments Preprocessor directives Functions Executable Statements General form of a C program Common Programming Errors: syntax error, run-time error, logic/design error.