#9 Functions

C Notes Vol-2 by Saurabh Shukla

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#9 Functions
By Saurabh Shukla | 2017©mysirg.com

What is Function?

Function is one of the most important topics in C language. It is more about the arrangement of the
code which has many benefits.

 Function is a piece of code to perform a particular task

 Function is a block of code which performs usually a unit task
 It has some name for identification
 Action statements in C language can only reside in some function block.
 The format of function is as follows:

 return_type is data type (like int, char, float, etc) , which can be anything depending upon
the requirement.
 function_name is any name chosen by the programmer. Naming rules are same as applied in
the case of variable names, that is, name is any combination of alphabet, digit or underscore
and cannot start with digit.
 Arguments are 0 or more variable declarations.
 Function body or block is everything in the pair of curly braces ( { } ).
 You cannot write action statements without function block. The following code will not
compile in C language

 You must put action statements in a block. Above code is to add two numbers taken from
user through keyboard. Say this is one task of adding two numbers. The correct way to write
code is:
 #9 Functions
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 add is function name.

 Where is return type? In the absence of return type it is considered as int.
 Function has no arguments thus the parenthesis left empty.
 Return type of add() function shouldn’t be int, as function is not actually returning a value,
because of which a warning occurs during compilation of the program, stated- “Function
should return a value”. As the default return type is int, compiler expected from function to
return a value of type int.
 How a function can actually return a value. It can be achieved by using return keyword,
which we are going to cover in this chapter only.
 The more important point is what should be the return type of add(). As it is not going to
return any value, return type should be void. So the correct version of the function is:

 The above code is called function definition of add()

 You can have any number of function in a C program
 Function names must be unique
 You can define functions in any order
 main() is also a function
 Execution of program always begins from main() function, irrespective of its position in the
program.
 You cannot define a function inside a function
 #9 Functions
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 Function definition is different from function declaration and function call.

 There are two types of functions
o Predefined Functions
o User defined Functions

 add() is a user defined function.

 main() is also a user defined function.
 There must be some function with the name main() in the program so that program can
begin its execution, otherwise it will not run.
 printf, scanf are prime examples of predefined functions. Notice that in the above function
add(), we used a statement printf and statement scanf. Please do not get confused, you are
not defining printf or scanf inside the function add(), but you are calling functions printf()
and scanf().
 Function call is a representative of function code.

 You can call a function any number of times. You are calling printf two times in add function
 Where is printf defined? All predefined functions reside in C library, which is a set of library
files. After compilation of your code, linker associates your function calls to the appropriate
definition of function from the library.
 Function declaration is another jargon which is different from function definition and
function call.
 Function declaration is also known as function prototype.
 It is a single line statement written for the compiler to process.
 You declare variables before using them, why? It is because; variable names are new words
to the compiler. You need to inform compiler about the purpose of the new word in
advance. In the same way, function names are also new to the compiler, you should first
declare them.
 ANSI stated about C function declarations- “Function declaration is recommended but not
compulsory”. You can use function without actually declaring them, but recommendation is
to always declare explicitly.
 #9 Functions
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 In the absence of function declaration, compiler automatically declares it in a preset manner

which is sometimes do not fit for the definition. This may lead to abnormal behavior of the
code. So it is strongly recommended to write function declaration by your own.
 The general format of function prototype is
o return_type function_name(argument);
 return_type is any data type, function_name is name of the function and arguments are 0 or
more variable types.
 Return type, function name and arguments in function declaration should match with the
return type function name and arguments in the function definition.
 Function declaration can be done outside the function body, called global declaration. This is
useful when more than one function in your program wants to call declared function.
 Function can be declared inside the function prior to any action statement in the block.

 C Program must have at least one function.

 Function is a block of code which can be used many times, by simply calling it any number of
times.
 Function is a way to achieve modularization. Modularization is splitting up of a bigger task
into several smaller subtasks, which reduces the complexity of the problem.
 Suppose you have to make a program of calculator. It is a big task. You can logically divide it
into several independent subtasks. Like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.
Now you can define each subtask with the help of function. This reduces the complexity of
your program.

Benefits of function

You can make a big complex program by simply writing whole code in main function, which should
be discouraged, because of many reasons:

 Messy look, hard to read and understand

 Wastage of memory
 Not easy to debug or modify
 Hard to maintain
 #9 Functions
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Logical breakdown of overall task of the program make it easy to create, maintain and understand.
Following are the benefits of functions.

 It avoids re-writing of same code over and over

 Achieve modularization
 Easy to read
 Easy to debug
 Easy to modify
 Better memory utilization
o Function consumes memory on its call
o Function releases memory after its execution

Ways to define a function

So far you have understood how a function can be defined, but there will be more to study. How a
function can take arguments? How a function can return a value? Such questions are answered in
this section. On the basis of arguments and return value, functions can be defined in the following
four ways.

 Takes Nothing, Returns Nothing

 Takes Something, Returns Nothing
 Takes Nothing, Return Something
 Takes Something, Returns Something

Takes nothing, returns nothing

In the above program, function add is defined as takes nothing and return something. Empty
parenthesis of function add() indicates that the function is not taking any value. Data type void
before the function name is used to tell compiler that this function is not going to return any value.
 #9 Functions
C Notes Vol-2 by Saurabh Shukla
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Execution of the program begins with main function. Main function calls add function. Now add
function is executed. After completion of add function, control goes back to main function, exactly
from where the add function was invoked.

 Function can use only those variables which are declared in its body. Function cannot access
variables of other function.
 To return a value, you have to use return keyword. In this example, there is no need of
return keyword, as it is of nature, returns nothing.

Takes Something, Returns Nothing

Suppose main function has two variables, x and y, there are some values in the variables. Now you
want to add them (or any other operation using values of x and y). You know that there is a add()
function defined to add two numbers, but the way it was designed in previous example, can add
only values stored in variables, a and b. To accomplish this task

 You can replace a and b with x and y respectively, but you are wrong. Function add() can’t
access variables, x and y, as they belongs to main function. You know that function can’t
access variables of another function.
 Another option is to copy data of x and y into a and b correspondingly. Yes this is the way.

In the following example, observe how we copy data of x and y of main() function into a and b of
add() function. This is called function call by passing values or simply function call by value.

 First line is the declaration of function add(). You can see two times int is written in the
parenthesis, informing compiler about two arguments of type int must be passed on call to
the function add().
 In main() function, there are two variables x and y. call to scanf function allows input of two
integers and collected in variables x and y.
 #9 Functions
C Notes Vol-2 by Saurabh Shukla
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 In add(x,y), values of x and y are copied to variables a and b of add() function. The value of x
goes into a and value of y goes into b. Here x and y are called actual arguments. a and b are
called formal arguments.
 In the definition of add() function, parenthesis is not blank, therefore it is called takes
something. You can see the declaration of two variables in the parenthesis. They are a and b,
known as formal arguments. Do not declare them again in the function’s body; otherwise it
will be a re-declaration error. You cannot declare formal arguments like this
void add(int,a,b) ; this is wrong
You have to use data type for each variable in the formal arguments.
 The number of formal arguments decides exactly how many values need to be supplied
during call of function. Here, since we have declared two variables in the parenthesis, we
can pass exactly two int type values during call of add() function.
 It would be a blunder if you think about taking values from user using scanf() for variables a
and b, because you have already received values in a and b.

Takes Nothing, Returns Something

Another way to define a function is takes nothing, returns something. You already know about takes
nothing, so our more focus is towards returns something.

 First line is function declaration. Return type is int, which means the function add is going to
return value of type int. Empty parenthesis shows its takes nothing nature.
 In the main function, variable s is declared to hold result which you will be getting on call of
function add()
 In the line s=add(), function call will be going to replace by the value getting returned from
the function add().
 In the add function, as it is of nature takes nothing, you have to take values from user. So
printf and scanf are present in the code.
 Once result is calculated and stored in c, it is returned to the calling function.
 #9 Functions
C Notes Vol-2 by Saurabh Shukla
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 In the main function, returned value is collected in variable s.

 Next is the printf statement to print value of s.

Takes Something, Return Something

Another way to define a function is takes something and returns something. Since you have
understood takes something in the second way and return something in the third way of defining
functions, now you can apply your brain to understand the following example.

References:

YouTube video links

 Lecture 9 Functions in C language part 1

o https://youtu.be/5ED2NGXvv6s?list=PL7ersPsTyYt2Q-SqZxTA1D-melSfqBRMW
 Lecture 9 Functions in C language part 2
o https://youtu.be/1egX1-DoS_s?list=PL7ersPsTyYt2Q-SqZxTA1D-melSfqBRMW
 Lecture 9 Functions in C language part 3
o https://youtu.be/t7ApbGmiGB4?list=PL7ersPsTyYt2Q-SqZxTA1D-melSfqBRMW
 Lecture 9 Functions in C language part 4
o https://youtu.be/AMXno1XVvoI?list=PL7ersPsTyYt2Q-SqZxTA1D-melSfqBRMW
 Lecture 9 Functions in C language part 5
o https://youtu.be/ty43LEprTPo?list=PL7ersPsTyYt2Q-SqZxTA1D-melSfqBRMW
 Why I am not using header files.
o https://youtu.be/j51aSRF5c10?list=PL7ersPsTyYt2sohwBWF03kSpW1Ymt0Q9R

Exercise
 #9 Functions
C Notes Vol-2 by Saurabh Shukla
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1. Write a function to calculate area of circle. (Takes something, returns something)

2. Write a function to calculate area of triangle. (Takes something, returns something)
3. Write a function to calculate sum of first N natural number. ((Takes something, returns
something)
4. Write a function to calculate factorial of a number. (Takes something, returns something)
5. Write a function to calculate xy. (Takes something, returns something)
6. Write a function count digits in a given number. (Takes something, returns something)
7. Write a function to calculate number of combination to select r items from n items. (Takes
something, returns something)
8. Write a function to reverse a number. (Takes something, returns something)
9. Write a function to calculate LCM of two numbers. (Takes something, returns something)
10. Write a function to print N terms of Fibonacci series. (Takes something, returns Nothing)
11. Write a program to express a given number as a sum of two prime numbers. Print all
possible solutions. Define as many functions as required in the program.
12. Write a function to check whether a given number is even or odd. Function prototype must
be
a. int isEven(int);
13. Write a function to check whether a given number is Prime or not. Function prototype must
be
a. int isPrime(int);
14. Write a function to print all prime numbers between two given numbers. Function prototype
must be (you can use isPrime() function)
a. void printAllPrime(int, int);
15. Write a function to find the immediately next prime number of a given number. Function
prototype must be (you can use isPrime() function)
a. int nextPrime(int);
16. Write a function to print N lines of Pascal triangle. Function prototype must be (You can use
functions to calculate factorial and combination)
a. void pascalTriangle(int);
17. Explore functions of math.h, conio.h and stdlib.h
18. Write a program to print System Date.
19. Write a program to generate a random number using predefined functions.
20. Write a function to print first N prime numbers.
 #9 Functions
C Notes Vol-2 by Saurabh Shukla
www.mysirg.com