Introduction to C

(C Programming Language)

Dr. Thien Huynh-The

Dept. Comp. Commun. Eng.
HCMC Technology and Education
 Content

• Introduction to C Programming Language

• A simple C Program: Printing a Line of text
• Another simple C Program: adding two integers
• Memory concepts
• Arithmetic in C
• Decision making: equality and relational operators
 C programming language

• Structured and disciplined approach to program design.

1 /* Fig. 2.1: fig02_01.c

2 A first program in C */
/*...*/ indicates comments – ignored by compiler
3 #include <stdio.h>
4
#include allows C to load a particular file
5 /* function main begins program execution */
A part of every C program. The parentheses after main indicate that
6 int main( void )
main is a program building block called a function
7 {
8 printf( "Welcome to C!\n" ); Statement tells C to perform an action
9
10 return 0; /* indicate that program ended successfully */ return statement ends the function
11
12 } /* end function main */ Right brace declares and of main function
Welcome to C!

Line 7: “{“ – Left brace declares beginning of main function

 Simple C: Print a line of text

• Comments:
▪ Text surrounded by /*...*/ is ignored by C compiler
▪ Used to described program or give a note/guidance for later.

#include <stdio.h>
▪ Preprocessor directive to tell C that the propgram needs to load contents of a certain file.
▪ <stdio.h> allows standard input/output operations.

• Errors:
▪ Forgetting to terminate a comment with */
▪ Starting a comment with */ and ending a comment with /*
▪ Another solution – using // so each line of comment
 Simple C: Print a line of text

• int main()
▪ C++ programs contain one or more functions, exactly one of which must be main
▪ Parenthesis used to indicate a function
▪ Int means that the main returns an integer value
▪ Braces {...} indicate a block. The bodies of all functions must be contained in braces.

• Tips:
▪ Every function should have a comment describing the purpose
 Simple C: Print a line of text

printf( “Welcome to C!╲n” );

• Instructs computer to perform an action
▪ Specifically, prints the string of characters within quotes ( “...” )

• Entire line called a statement

▪ All statements must end with a semicolon

• Escape character ()
▪ Indicates that the function printf should do something out of the ordinary
▪ ╲n is the newline character
 Simple C: Print a line of text

return 0;
▪ A way to exit a function
▪ return 0, in this case, means that the program terminated normally

• Right brace }
▪ Indicates end of main has been reached

• Linker
▪ When a function is called, linker locates it in the library
▪ Inserts it into object program
▪ If function name is misspelled, the linker will produce an error because it will not be able to find
function in the library
 Simple C: Print a line of text

• Tips:
▪ Add a comment to the line containing the right brace, }, that closes every function, including
main.
▪ The last character printed by a function that displays output should be a newline (╲n).
▪ Indent the entire body of each function one level of indentation
▪ Tab key may be used to create indents.
 Assignment 1 (1-1)

• Write a simple program to print “Welcome to C!” in a single line using multiple
printf functions.
▪ Output will be like as follows:
Welcome to C!

• Write a simple program to print “Welcome to C!” in multiple lines with each line
containing one words using a single printf function
▪ Output will be like as follows:
Welcome
to
C!
 Assignment 2 (1-2)

• Write a program to display a sequence of text as below

“Department of Computer and Communications,
Faculty of Electrics and Electronics Engineering,
HCM City University of Technology and Education.”
Simple C: Adding two integers

Definitions of variables

Displays the literal "Enter first/second

integer" and positions the cursor to
the beginning of the next line.

Obtain a value from the user and

assign it to the variable
integer1/integer2

Calculates the total of variables integer1

and integer2 and assigns the result to
variable sum

Print the literal Sum is followed by the

numerical value of variable sum
 Simple C: Adding two integers

• As before
▪ Comments, #include <stdio.h> and main

int integer1, integer2, sum;

▪ Definition of variables
− Variables: locations in memory where a value can be stored
▪ int means the variables can hold integers (-1, 3, 0, 47)
▪ Variable names (identifiers)
− integer1, integer2, sum
− Identifiers: consist of letters, digits (cannot begin with a digit) and underscores(_)
− Case sensitive: uppercase and lowercase letters are different in C
▪ Definitions appear before executable statements
− If an executable statement references and undeclared variable it will produce a syntax (compiler)
error
 Simple C: Adding two integers

• Errors:
▪ Typing Main instead of main.
▪ Placing variable definitions among executable statements causes syntax errors.

• Tips:
▪ Multiple-word variable names can help make a program more readable. total_commissions
or totalCommissions.
▪ Separate the definitions and executable statements in a function
 Simple C: Adding two integers

scanf( "%d", &integer1 );

▪ Obtains a value from the user
− scanf uses standard input (usually keyboard)
▪ This scanf statement has two arguments
− %d - indicates data should be a decimal integer
− &integer1 - location in memory to store variable
− & is confusing in beginning – for now, just remember to include it with the variable name in scanf
statements
▪ When executing the program the user responds to the scanf statement by typing in a number,
then pressing the enter (return) key

• Tips:
▪ Place a space after each comma (,) to make programs more readable.
 Simple C: Adding two integers

= (or assignment operator)

▪ Assigns a value to a variable
▪ Is a binary operator (has two operands) besides +
− sum = variable1 + variable2;
− sum gets value of the expression variable1 + variable2
▪ Variable receiving value on left

printf( "Sum is %d ╲ n", sum );

▪ Similar to scanf
− %d means decimal integer will be printed
− sum specifies what integer will be printed
▪ Calculations can be performed inside printf statements
− printf( "Sum is %d ╲ n", integer1 + integer2 );
− No need to define the sum variable
 Simple C: Adding two integers

• Errors:
▪ A calculation in an assignment statement must be on the right side of the = operator. It is a
syntax error to place a calculation on the left side of an assignment operator.
▪ Forgetting to precede a variable in a scanf statement with an ampersand &
▪ Forgetting one or both of the double quotes surrounding the format control string in a printf or
scanf.
▪ Forgetting the % in a conversion specification in the format control string of a printf or scanf.
▪ Placing an escape sequence such as ╲n outside the format control string of a printf or scanf.
 Memory Concepts

• Variables
▪ Variable names correspond to locations in the computer's memory
▪ Every variable has a name, a type, a size and a value
▪ Whenever a new value is placed into a variable (through scanf, for example), it replaces (and
destroys) the previous value
▪ Reading variables from memory does not change them
 Memory Concepts

scanf( "%d", &integer1 );

scanf( "%d", &integer2 );
• Suppose that a user
▪ Enter the number 45 as the value for integer1
▪ Enter the number 72 as the value for integer2

• The computer will

▪ Place 45 into location integer1 on memory
▪ Place 72 into location integer2 on memory
 Memory Concepts

• Whenever a value is placed in a memory location, the value replaces the

previous value in that location and the previous value is lost.
• sum = integer1 + integer2; performs the addition also replaces whatever
value was stored in sum.
• When a value is read from a memory location, the process is said to be
nondestructive.
 Arithmetic in C

• Arithmetic calculations
▪ Use * for multiplication and / for division
▪ Integer division truncates remainder
− 7 / 5 evaluates to 1
▪ Modulus operator % returns the remainder
− 7 % 5 evaluates to 2

• Operator precedence
▪ Some arithmetic operators act before others (i.e., multiplication before addition)
− Use parenthesis when needed
▪ Example: Find the average of three variables a, b and c
− Do not use: a + b + c / 3
− Use: (a + b + c ) / 3
 Arithmetic in C

• Errors:
▪ An attempt to divide by zero is normally undefined on computer systems and generally results
in a fatal error
▪ Nonfatal errors allow programs to run to completion, often producing incorrect results.
 Arithmetic in C

• Tips:
▪ Using redundant parentheses in complex arithmetic expressions can make the expressions
clearer.
Arithmetic in C
 Floating Point Arithmetic

• Replacing %d by %f to read a real number

• Write a program to calculate circumference with R=2
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
float pi;
printf( "Value of pi: \n");
scanf( "%f", &pi);
R=2;
printf( "Circumference with R=1 is %f", 2*pi*R );
return 0;
}
 Assignment 3

• Ex1-3: Write a program to calculate (a+b)3 with a and b are inputted by user.
• Ex1-4: Write a program to calculate the volume of a cylinder with radius and
height inputted by user
 Equality and Relational Operators

• Executable statements
▪ Perform actions (calculations, input/output of data)
▪ Perform decisions
− May want to print "pass" or "fail" given the value of a test grade

• if control statement
▪ Simple version in this section, more detail later
▪ If a condition is true, then the body of the if statement executed
− 0 is false, non-zero is true
▪ Control always resumes after the if structure

• Keywords
▪ Special words reserved for C
▪ Cannot be used as identifiers or variable names
Equality and Relational Operators
 Equality and Relational Operators

• Errors:
▪ If the two symbols in any of the operators ==, !=, >= and <= are separated by spaces.
▪ If the two symbols in any of the operators !=, >= and <= are reversed as in =!, => and =<,
respectively.
▪ Confusing the equality operator == with the assignment operator =.
▪ Placing a semicolon immediately to the right of the right parenthesis after the condition in an if
statement.
▪ Placing commas (when none are needed) between conversion specifiers in the format control
string of a scanf statement.
 Equality and Relational Operators

• Tips:
▪ Indent the statement(s) in the body of an if statement.
▪ Place a blank line before and after every if statement in a program for readability.
▪ Although it is allowed, there should be no more than one statement per line in a program.
 Equality and Relational Operators

Check that num1 is equal to

num2 or not.

If they are equal together,

computer executes printf
Equality and Relational Operators
 Equality and Relational Operators

• Tips:
▪ No more than one statement per line.
▪ Choose breaking points that make sense
▪ Confirm that the operators in the expression are applied in the proper order.
 Assignment 4 (1-5)

• Write a program to print the tax order and tax percentage with income entered by
user using if statement.

Order Income per year (M) Tax (%)

1 Up to 60 5

2 From 60 up to 120 10

3 From 120 up to 216 15

4 From 216 up to 384 20

5 From 384 up to 624 25

6 From 624 up to 960 30

7 Over 960 35
 Secure C Programming

• Instead of printf( "Welcome to C! ╲ n" );, we should write puts(

"Welcome to C!" );
• Instead of printf(Welcome);, we should write printf( "%s", "Welcome " );
• Although the printf in this chapter as written are actually not insecure, these
changes are responsible coding practices that will eliminate certain security
vulnerabilities as we get deeper into C.
Reminder
Reminder
 Homeworks

E1: Write a single C statement to accomplish each of the following:

▪ a) Define the variables c, thisVariable, q76354 and number to be of type int.
▪ b) Prompt the user to enter an integer. End your prompting message with a colon (:) followed
by a space and leave the cursor positioned after the space.
▪ c) Read an integer from the keyboard and store the value entered in integer variable a.
▪ d) If number is not equal to 7, print "The variable number is not equal to 7."
▪ e) Print the message "This is a C program." on one line.
▪ f) Print the message "This is a C program." on two lines so that the first line ends with C.
▪ g) Print the message "This is a C program." with each word on a separate line.
▪ h) Print the message "This is a C program." with the words separated by tabs.
 Homeworks

E2: Write a statement (or comment) to accomplish each of the following:

▪ a) State that a program will calculate the product of three integers.
▪ b) Prompt the user to enter three integers.
▪ c) Define the variables x, y and z to be of type int.
▪ d) Read three integers from the keyboard and store them in the variables x, y and z.
▪ e) Define the variable result, compute the product of the integers in the variables x, y and
▪ z, and use that product to initialize the variable result.
▪ f) Print "The product is" followed by the value of the integer variable result.
 Homeworks

E3: Using the statements you wrote in E1, write a complete program that calculates
the product of three integers.
E4: Identify and correct the errors in each of the following statements:
a) printf( "The value is %d╲n", &number );
b) scanf( "%d%d", &number1, number2 );
c) if ( c < 7 );{
printf( "C is less than 7╲n" );
}
d) if ( c => 7 ) {
printf( "C is greater than or equal to 7╲n" );
}