C Programming Language Tutorial
In this C Tutorial, you’ll learn all the C programming basics to advanced concepts like Variables, Arrays, Pointers, Strings, Loops, etc. This C Programming Tutorial is designed for both beginners as well as experienced professionals, who’re looking to learn and enhance their knowledge of the C Programming language.
What is C?
C programming language is a general-purpose, procedural, high-level programming language used to develop computer software, computer applications, system programming, game development, web development, and more. C language was developed by Dennis M. Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1972. C is a powerful and flexible language. It is a widely used programming language. C was developed for the programming of the UNIX operating System.
C programming is known for its simplicity and efficiency. It is a better choice to start with programming, It gives you a foundational understanding of programming.
C Tutorial
C Basics
- C Introduction
- C Hello World
- C Programming Language Standard
- C Macros and Preprocessors
- C Main() Function
- Compiling a C Program
- C Advantages
- C Tokens
- C Escape Sequences
C Variables and Constants
- C Constants
- C Keywords
- C Variables and Rules
- Declare a Variable as Constant
- C Scope Rules
- Internal and External Linkage
- C Global Variables
C Data Types
C Input/Output
- printf in C
- scanf in C
- Return values of printf() and scanf() in C
- Return Type of getchar(), fgetc() and getc()
- Difference between printf(), sprintf() and fprintf()
- Difference between getc(), getchar(), getch() and getche()
C Operators
- C Arithmetic Operators
- C Relational and Logical Operators
- C Bitwise Operators
- Operator Precedence and Associativity in C
- Pre-Increment and Post-Increment
- C Sizeof Operator
- C Stringizing and Token-Pasting Operator
C Preprocessor
- C Preprocessor
- More about Preprocessor in C
- How does a Preprocessor work in C?
- What’s the difference between header files “stdio.h” and “stdlib.h”?
- math.h library in C
- How to print variable name in C?
- Write your own header file in C
- C Macros
- C Multiline Macros
- Variable length arguments for Macros
- Branch prediction macros in GCC
- typedef versus #define in C
- Difference between #define and const in C?
C Arrays & Strings
- C Arrays
- Properties of the array in C
- Initialization of multidimensional arrays in C
- Initialization of variables sized arrays in C
- How to dynamically allocate a 2D array in C?
- How to pass a 2D array as a parameter in C?
- What are the data types for which it is not possible to create an array?
- Pass an Array by Value in C
- C Strings
- Difference between single quoted and double quoted declaration of char array
- Difference between char s[] and char *s in C
C Control Statements
- C If-Else statements
- C Switch Statement
- C For Statement
- C Continue Statement
- C Break Statement
- C While Statement
- C For Versus While
- C Goto Statement
- C Using Range in Switch Case
C Functions
- C Functions
- Importance of Function Prototype in C
- How can we return multiple values from a function?
- What is the purpose of a function prototype?
- Parameter Passing Techniques
- Static Functions in C
- _Noreturn function specifier in C
- Implicit return type int in C
- __func__ identifier in C
- Callback Function in C
- Nested Functions in C
C Pointers
- C Pointers
- C Double Pointer ( Pointer to Pointer )
- C Dangling, Void, Null, and Wild Pointers
- How to declare a pointer to a function?
- C Pointer vs Array
- C Void Pointer
- C NULL Pointer
- C Function Pointer
- C near, far and huge pointers
- C Generic Linked List
- C Restrict Keyword
- C Pointer to an Array
C Storage Classes
- C Storage Classes
- C Static Variables
- C Extern Keyword
- What are the default values of static variables in C?
- C Volatile Qualifier
- C Const Qualifier
- Initialization of static variables in C
- C Register Keyword
C Enum, Struct, and Union
- C Enums
- C Structures
- C Union
- Structure Member Alignment, Padding, and Data Packing
- Operations on Struct Variables in C
- C Bit Fields
- Flexible Array members in Structure
- Difference between Structure and Union
- Anonymous Union and Structure in C
C Memory Management
- Memory Layout of C Programs
- Deallocate memory without using free( ) in C
- calloc( ) versus malloc( )
- Use of realloc( )
- What is a Memory Leak? How can we avoid it?
C File Handling
- Basics of File Handling
- fopen( ) for an existing file in write mode
- Read/Write structure to a file
- fgets( ) and gets( ) in C
- fseek( ) vs rewind( ) in C
- EOF, getc( ) and feof( ) in C
- Remove Function in C
- Merge the Contents of Two files into the Third file
- Print Contents of File in C
Misc
- Interesting Facts in C Programming
- ASCII NULL, ASCII 0 (‘0’) and Numeric literal 0
- Difference between “int main()” and “int main(void)” in C
- Line Slicing in C
- How Linkers Resolve Multiply-Defined Global Symbols?
- Difference between %d and %i format specifier
- Modulus on Negative Numbers
- return statement vs exit() in main()
- How to write long strings in Multi-lines C?
- Short-hand array notation
- Why C treats array parameters as pointers?
- Local Labels in C
- lvalue and rvalue in C language
- Macros vs Functions
- Hygienic Macros
- How does free() know the size of memory to be deallocated?
- Function Interposition in C with an example of user-defined malloc()
- Error Handling in C Programs
- Multithreading in C
- Get the stack size and set the stack size of thread attribute in C
- Database Connectivity using C
C Interview Questions
C Programming Examples
Why Learn C?
C programming language is the most popular language. It is a must for software engineering students. If you learn C, It will help you to learn other languages easily like Java, C++, C#, Python, etc. C language is faster than other programming languages like Java and Python. It can handle low-level activities. We can compile the C code in a variety of computer platforms.
List of some key advantages of C language:
- Easy to learn.
- Versatile Language, which can be used in both applications and technologies.
- MIddle-level language.
- C is a structured language.
Features of C Language
There are some key features of C language that show the ability and power of C language:
- Simplicity and Efficiency: The simple syntax and structured approach make the C language easy to learn.
- Faster Language: C is a static programming language, which is faster than dynamic languages. Like Java and Python are dynamic languages, C is a compiler-based program. That is the reason for faster code compilation and execution.
- Portable: C provides the feature that you write code once and run it anywhere on any computer. It shows the machine-independent nature of the C language.
- Memory Management: C comes with the free() function to free the allocated memory at any time.
- Pointers: C comes with the feature of pointers. Through pointers, we can directly access or interact with the memory. We can initialize a pointer as an array, variables, etc.
- Structured Language: C provides the feature of structural programming, It allows you to code into different parts using functions that can be stored as libraries for reusability.
Applications of C Language
C was used in programs that were used in making operating systems. C was known as a system development language because the code written in C runs as fast as the code written in assembly language.
The use of C is given below:
- Operating Systems
- Language Compilers
- Assemblers
- Text Editors
- Print Spoolers
- Network Drivers
- Modern Programs
- Databases
- Language Interpreters
- Utilities
FAQs on C Language
Q1. How to learn C easily?
Answer:
The first steps towards learning C or any language are to write a hello world program it gives the understanding of how to write and execute a code after this learn the following:
- Variables
- Operators
- Conditionals
- Loops and Errors
- Arrays and Strings
- Pointers and Memory
- Functions
- Structures
- Recursions
Q2. Difference between C and C++?
Answer:
C
- C is a procedural programming language.
- It does not support Function overloading.
- Operator overloading is not supported.
- C does not support data hiding which leads to security concerns.
C++
- C++ is both a procedural and object-oriented programming language.
- It supports function overloading.
- Operator overloading is supported.
- Data hiding is supported in C++ by Data Encapsulation.
Q3. Is C easy to learn for beginners?
Answer:
While C is one of the easy languages, it is still a good first language choice to start with because almost all programming languages are implemented in it. It means that once you learn C language, it’ll be easy to learn more languages like C++, Java, and C#.
