C Programming for the Absolute Beginner

334 Pages·2007·14.34 MB·English

by  Michael Vine

C Programming
for the Absolute
Beginner,
Second Edition
MICHAEL VINE
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To my son, Spencer—Go Bruins!
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
W
riting a book is not easy, especially a technical programming book. It takes
many great, patient, and talented people to write, edit, design, market,
finance, and produce a book. Without the assistance of Mitzi Koontz,
Jenny Davidson, and Heather Urschel, it would be impossible for me to share with
you my knowledge of programming in such a professional and fun manner. I
would also like to give special thanks to our technical editor, Greg Perry, who is a
true C expert. For two editions now, Greg has kept me honest and accurate in the
complicated and often misunderstood world of C programming. Thanks, Greg!
A A
BOUT THE UTHOR
M
ichael Vine has taught computer programming, web design, and database
classes at Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis, IN, and at
MTI College of Business and Technology in Sacramento, CA. Michael has
over 13 years’ experience in the information technology profession. He currently
works full-time in a Fortune 100 company as an IT Project Manager overseeing the
development of enterprise data warehouses.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Getting Started with C Programming..................... 1
Installing and Configuring the Cygwin Environment................................................. 2
main() Function...................................................................................................................... 4
Comments................................................................................................................................ 7
Keywords................................................................................................................................... 8
Program Statements.............................................................................................................. 9
Escape Sequence \n.................................................................................................... 11
Escape Sequence \t..................................................................................................... 12
Escape Sequence \r..................................................................................................... 12
Escape Sequence \\..................................................................................................... 13
Escape Sequence \”..................................................................................................... 14
Escape Sequence \’...................................................................................................... 14
Directives................................................................................................................................ 15
gcc Compiler......................................................................................................................... 15
How to Debug C Programs................................................................................................. 17
Common Error #1: Missing Program Block Identifiers..................................... 20
Common Error #2: Missing Statement Terminators......................................... 21
Common Error #3: Invalid Preprocessor Directives........................................... 21
Common Error #4: Invalid Escape Sequences..................................................... 22
Common Error #5: Invalid Comment Blocks....................................................... 23
Summary................................................................................................................................ 24
Challenges.............................................................................................................................. 25
Chapter 2 Primary Data Types................................................. 27
Memory Concepts................................................................................................................ 28
Data Types.............................................................................................................................. 29
Integers.......................................................................................................................... 29
Floating-Point Numbers............................................................................................. 29
Characters..................................................................................................................... 30
Initializing Variables and the Assignment Operator................................................. 31
Printing Variable Contents................................................................................................ 32
Conversion Specifiers.......................................................................................................... 33
Displaying Integer Data Types with printf()......................................................... 34
viii C Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition
Displaying Floating-Point Data Types with printf()............................................ 34
Displaying Character Data Types with printf().................................................... 35
Constants............................................................................................................................... 36
Programming Conventions and Styles........................................................................... 37
White Space.................................................................................................................. 37
Variable Naming Conventions................................................................................. 38
Identifying Data Types with a Prefix...................................................................... 39
Using Uppercase and Lowercase Letters Appropriately.................................... 40
Give Variables Meaningful Names.......................................................................... 41
scanf()...................................................................................................................................... 41
Arithmetic in C..................................................................................................................... 43
Operator Precedence........................................................................................................... 45
Chapter Program–Profit Wiz............................................................................................ 46
Summary................................................................................................................................ 47
Challenges.............................................................................................................................. 48
Chapter 3 Conditions............................................................... 49
Algorithms for Conditions................................................................................................ 50
Expressions and Conditional Operators............................................................... 50
Pseudo Code.................................................................................................................. 50
Flowcharts..................................................................................................................... 53
Simple if Structures............................................................................................................ 56
Nested if Structures............................................................................................................. 59
Introduction to Boolean Algebra..................................................................................... 62
and Operator................................................................................................................ 62
or Operator.................................................................................................................... 63
not Operator................................................................................................................. 63
Order of Operations.................................................................................................... 64
Building Compound Conditions with Boolean Operators............................... 65
Compound if Structures and Input Validation........................................................... 66
&& Operator.................................................................................................................. 66
|| Operator................................................................................................................... 66
Checking for Upper- and Lowercase....................................................................... 67
Checking for a Range of Values............................................................................... 68
isdigit() Function......................................................................................................... 69
The switch Structure........................................................................................................... 71
Random Numbers................................................................................................................ 74
Chapter Program–Fortune Cookie.................................................................................. 76
Summary................................................................................................................................ 78
Challenges.............................................................................................................................. 79
Contents ix
Chapter 4 Looping Structures................................................. 81
Pseudo Code for Looping Structures.............................................................................. 82
Flowcharts for Looping Structures.................................................................................. 84
Operators Continued.......................................................................................................... 88
++ Operator................................................................................................................... 88
-- Operator...................................................................................................................... 91
+= Operator................................................................................................................... 92
-= Operator..................................................................................................................... 94
The while Loop...................................................................................................................... 95
The do while Loop................................................................................................................ 98
The for Loop........................................................................................................................... 99
break and continue Statements.................................................................................... 102
System Calls........................................................................................................................ 104
Chapter Program–Concentration.................................................................................. 105
Summary.............................................................................................................................. 107
Challenges........................................................................................................................... 108
Chapter 5 Structured Programming.................................... 109
Introduction to Structured Programming................................................................. 109
Top-Down Design....................................................................................................... 110
Code Reusability........................................................................................................ 112
Information Hiding.................................................................................................. 113
Function Prototypes.......................................................................................................... 114
Function Definitions......................................................................................................... 116
Function Calls..................................................................................................................... 119
Variable Scope.................................................................................................................... 122
Local Scope.................................................................................................................. 122
Global Scope............................................................................................................... 124
Chapter Program–Trivia.................................................................................................. 125
Summary.............................................................................................................................. 129
Challenges........................................................................................................................... 130
Chapter 6 Arrays....................................................................... 131
Introduction to Arrays..................................................................................................... 131
One-Dimensional Arrays.................................................................................................. 132
Creating One-Dimensional Arrays........................................................................ 133
Initializing One-Dimensional Arrays................................................................... 133
Searching One-Dimensional Arrays...................................................................... 138
Two-Dimensional Arrays.................................................................................................. 140
Initializing Two-Dimensional Arrays................................................................... 141
Searching Two-Dimensional Arrays..................................................................... 143