Introduction to C Programming

Duration

3 days

Overview

C is the most commonly used programming language for writing operating systems. The first operating system written in C is Unix. Later operating systems like GNU/Linux were all written in C. C is also the precursor and inspiration for almost all of the most popular high-level languages available today. In fact, Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby were all written in C, because the primary design of C is to produce portable code while maintaining performance and minimizing footprint (CPU time, memory usage, disk I/O, etc.). This is useful for operating systems, embedded systems or other programs where performance matters a lot (“high-level” interface would affect performance).

C is reasonably close to assembly machine. It support features like pointers, bytes and bit level manipulation. C allows the programmer to write directly to memory. C structures, pointers and arrays are designed to structure and manipulate memory in an efficient, machine-independent fashion. It is generally used to create hardware devices, OS, drivers and kernels. Introduction to C programming is designed for anyone who wants to become a polygot programmer, which requires understanding programming at a deeper level. Learning the C language will increase the participants programming skills. C is one of the most widely used computer language among the modern software programmers.

Objective

This course familiarizes the participants with the ins and outs of C programming language.

• Components of a C program
• Using the C pre-processor
• Using standard runtime libraries
• Using make to build programs
• Working with debugger utilities
• Using data types and scope
• Using typedef to make code more readable and portable
• Using operators and expressions
• Working with conditional and looping constructs
• Initializing a pointer and accessing the value addressed by a pointer
• Returning the value of a function
• Declaring argument data types
• ANSI function prototype syntax
• Declaring and initializing arrays and multidimensional arrays
• Using Strings and character manipulation
• Declaring and instancing a structure
• Accessing command line arguments and environment variables
• C runtime library standard I/O functions

Prerequisites

Participant must have a basic understanding of Computer Programming terminologies. A basic understanding of any of the programming languages will help in understanding the C programming concepts and move fast on the learning track.

Target Audience

This course is designed for software programmers with a need to understand the C programming language starting from scratch. This course will give participants enough understanding on C programming language from beginner to higher level of expertise.

Day 1

• Overview of C Language
• Facts about C
• Why use C
• Environment Setup
• Program Structure
• Hello world program
• Compile and Execute the program
• Basic Syntax
• Tokens in C
• Semicolons
• Comments
• Identifiers
• Keywords
• White space in C
• Data Types
• Basic, Enumerate and Derived Types
• Integer Types
• Floating-Point Types
• The void Type
• Variables
• Constants
• Lvalues and Rvalues in C
• Storage Classes
• The auto storage class
• The register storage class
• The static storage class
• The extern storage class
• The const variables
• The volatile variables
• Operators
• Arithmetic Operators
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators
• Bitwise Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Miscellaneous Operators
• Decision Making
• The if statement
• The if…else statement
• The nested if statements
• The switch statement
• The nested switch statement
• The ? : Operator
• Loops
• While Loop
• For loop
• Do…while loop
• Nested loops
• Continue, break statements
• Jump statements
• Functions
• Defining a Function
• Function Declarations
• Calling a Function
• Function Arguments
• Pass by value
• Pass by reference
• Recursion
• Variable Arguments

Day 2

• Pre-processors
• The #define
• The #include
• The #undef
• The #ifdef
• The #else
• The #endif
• The #ifndef
• The #pragma
• The typedef
• Scope Rules
• Local Variables
• Global Variables
• Formal Parameters
• Initializing Local and Global Variables
• Arrays

Introduction

• Declaring Arrays
• Initializing Arrays
• Accessing Array Elements
• Multidimensional Arrays
• Passing arrays to function
• Return array from function
• Pointers
• What are pointers
• How to use pointers
• Null Pointers
• Pointer arithmetic
• Array of pointers
• Pointer to pointer
• Passing pointers to functions in C
• Return pointer from functions in C
• Pointer to an array
• Strings
• strcpy
• strcat
• strlen
• strcmp
• strchr
• strstr
• String to Integer Conversion
• Two dimensional array of strings
• C Structures & Union
• Defining a Structure
• Accessing Structure Members
• Structures as Function Arguments
• Pointers to Structures
• Defining a Union
• Accessing Union Members
• Bit Fields
• Bit Fields Declaration

Day 3

• Sorting techniques
• Selection
• Bubble
• Insertion
• C Input and Output
• Standard Files
• getchar() and putchar()
• gets() and puts()
• scanf() and printf()
• Format Specifiers
• File I/O
• Opening Files
• Closing Files
• Writing a FIle
• Reading a File
• Random Access
• Binary I/O Functions
• Other functions
• C Header Files
• Include Syntax
• Include Operation
• Once Only Headers
• Computed Includes
• Type Casting
• Integer Promotion
• Usual Arithmetic Conversion
• Error Handling
• errno()
• perror()
• strerror()
• Divide by Zero Errors
• Program Exit Status
• Memory Management
• Allocating Memory Dynamically
• Resizing Memory
• Releasing Memory
• BIT Fiddling
• Binary numbers, bits and bytes
• Other number bases
• C’s bitwise operators
• Command Line Arguments

Programme scope, delivery arrangements and suitability are confirmed during enquiry.