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C language preliminaries

C is a high-level, general-purpose programming language invented by Dennis Ritchie, known for its popularity among application developers. It features a structured approach, portability across different machines, and a rich set of operators and data types, making it suitable for both system and application software. The document also outlines the basic structure of a C program, including tokens, keywords, identifiers, and provides a simple example program that displays 'Hello world'.

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Sowmya Santosh
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9 views

C language preliminaries

C is a high-level, general-purpose programming language invented by Dennis Ritchie, known for its popularity among application developers. It features a structured approach, portability across different machines, and a rich set of operators and data types, making it suitable for both system and application software. The document also outlines the basic structure of a C program, including tokens, keywords, identifiers, and provides a simple example program that displays 'Hello world'.

Uploaded by

Sowmya Santosh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C LANGUAGE

PRELIMINARIES
INTRODUCTION
 C is a high level language. It is both
general purpose and a specific purpose
programming language.
 C is the most popular and common
programming language for every
application developer.
 C is invented by Dennis Ritchie.
CHARACTERISTICS OF C
 C is a general purpose programming language.
 C is structured programming language.
 Helps in development of system software.
 It has a rich set of operators.
 It provides compact representation for expressions.
 No rigid format. Any number of statements can be typed
in a single line.
 Portability. Any C program can be run on different
machines with little or no modifications.
 Supports a rich set of data types.
 Very less number of reserved words.
APPLICATIONS OF C
System software
 Operating systems
 Interpreters
 Compilers
 Assemblers
 Editors
 Loaders
 Linkers
Application software
 Database Management system
 Graphics packages
 Spread sheets
 CAD/CAM applications
 Word processors
 Office Automation Tools
 Scientific and Engineering applications
CHARACTER SET
The characters used in C language are
grouped in into following three
categories:
 Alphabets
 Digits
 Special characters
 Alphabets Upper letters case A-Z
Lower letters case a-
z

 Digits 0 through 9
, Comma
. Period
 Special characters: Colon
; Semicolon
# Hash
& Ampersand
~ Tilde
\ backslash
C TOKENS
The basic and smallest units of a C
program are called C tokens. There are
6 types of tokens in C. They are:
 Keywords
 Identifiers
 Constants
 Strings
 Operators
 Special symbols
KEYWORDS AND
IDENTIFIERS
Every word in a C program is either a keyword or an
Identifier
IDENTIFIERS
Identifiers are names given to the program elements such
as variables, arrays and functions.
Rules for Forming Identifier Names
 The first character must be an alphabet or an underscore.
 All succeeding characters must be either letters or digits.
 Uppercase and lowercase identifiers are different in C.
 No special character or punctuation symbols are allowed
except underscore “_”
 No two successive underscores are allowed
 Keywords should not be used as identifiers.
BASIC STRUCTURE OF C
PROGRAM
The basic components of C
program are:
 main ()
 A pair of curly braces { }
 Declarations and statements
 User-defined functions
 Structure of a C program:

preprocessor statements
Global declarations;
main()
{
declarations;
statements;
}
user defined function
EXAMPLE PROGRAM
TO DISPLAY HELLO WORLD
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
printf(“Hello world”);
}

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