Beginning C

From Novice to Professional

By: Ivor Horton

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Hardcover | 1 November 2006 | Edition Number 4

At a Glance

Hardcover
640 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
26.2 x 18.8 x 4.2

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Published: 23rd December 2011

Hardcover

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We lelcome to Beginning C: From Novice to Professional, Fourth Edition. With this book you can become a competent C programmer. In many ways, C is an ideal language with which to learn programming. C is a very compact language, so there isn't a lot of syntax to learn before you can write real applications. In spite of its conciseness and ease, it's also an extremely powerful language that's still widely used by professionals. The power of C is such that it is used for programming at all levels, from device drivers and operating system components to large-scale applications. C compilers are available for virtually every kind of computer, so when you've learned C, you'll be equipped to program in just about any context. Finally, once you know C, you have an excellent base from which you can build an understanding of the object-oriented C++. My objective in this book is to minimize what I think are the three main hurdles the aspiring programmer must face: coming to grips with the jargon that pervades every programming language, understanding how to use the language elements (as opposed to merely knowing what they are), and appreciating how the language is applied in a practical context. Jargon is an invaluable and virtually indispensable means of communication for the expert professional as well as the competent amateur, so it can't be avoided.

Industry Reviews

From the reviews of the fourth edition:

"This tutorial is intended for a wide range of readers, from nonprogrammers to those with programming experience who don't know the C language. The book's goal is to be a comprehensive text that will lead the prospective programmer from his or her starting point all the way to a career in programming. ... It also gives a good overview of the process of program creation, including a section on dealing with errors." (William Fahle, ACM Computing Reviews, Vol. 49 (4), April, 2008)

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About the Author	p. xix
Acknowledgments	p. xxi
Introduction	p. xxiii
Programming in C	p. 1
Creating C Programs	p. 1
Editing	p. 1
Compiling	p. 2
Linking	p. 3
Executing	p. 3
Creating Your First Program	p. 4
Editing Your First Program	p. 5
Dealing with Errors	p. 6
Dissecting a Simple Program	p. 7
Comments	p. 7
Preprocessing Directives	p. 8
Defining the main() Function	p. 9
Keywords	p. 9
The Body of a Function	p. 10
Outputting Information	p. 10
Arguments	p. 11
Control Characters	p. 11
Developing Programs in C	p. 13
Understanding the Problem	p. 13
Detailed Design	p. 14
Implementation	p. 14
Testing	p. 14
Functions and Modular Programming	p. 14
Common Mistakes	p. 18
Points to Remember	p. 18
Summary	p. 19
Exercises	p. 20
First Steps in Programming	p. 21
Memory in Your Computer	p. 21
What Is a Variable?	p. 23
Variables That Store Numbers	p. 24
Integer Variables	p. 24
Naming Variables	p. 27
Using Variables	p. 29
Initializing Variables	p. 30
Arithmetic Statements	p. 31
Variables and Memory	p. 37
Integer Variable Types	p. 38
Unsigned Integer Types	p. 38
Using Integer Types	p. 39
Specifying Integer Constants	p. 40
Floating-Point Values	p. 41
Floating-Point Variables	p. 42
Division Using Floating-Point Values	p. 43
Controlling the Number of Decimal Places	p. 44
Controlling the Output Field Width	p. 44
More Complicated Expressions	p. 45
Defining Constants	p. 48
Knowing Your Limitations	p. 50
Introducing the size of Operator	p. 52
Choosing the Correct Type for the Job	p. 54
Explicit Type Conversion	p. 57
Automatic Conversion	p. 57
Rules for Implicit Conversions	p. 57
Implicit Conversions in Assignment Statements	p. 58
More Numeric Data Types	p. 59
The Character Type	p. 59
Character Input and Character Output	p. 60
The Wide Character Type	p. 63
Enumerations	p. 64
Variables to Store Boolean Values	p. 66
The Complex Number Types	p. 67
The op= Form of Assignment	p. 70
Mathematical Functions	p. 71
Designing a Program	p. 72
The Problem	p. 72
The Analysis	p. 73
The Solution	p. 75
Summary	p. 79
Exercises	p. 80
Making Decisions	p. 81
The Decision-Making Process	p. 81
Arithmetic Comparisons	p. 82
Expressions Involving Relational Operators	p. 82
The Basic if Statement	p. 82
Extending the if Statement: if-else	p. 86
Using Blocks of Code in if Statements	p. 88
Nested if Statements	p. 89
More Relational Operators	p. 92
Logical Operators	p. 96
The Conditional Operator	p. 99
Operator Precedence: Who Goes First?	p. 102
Multiple-Choice Questions	p. 106
Using else-if Statements for Multiple Choices	p. 106
The switch Statement	p. 107
The goto Statement	p. 115
Bitwise Operators	p. 116
The op= Use of Bitwise Operators	p. 119
Using Bitwise Operators	p. 119
Designing a Program	p. 122
The Problem	p. 122
The Analysis	p. 122
The Solution	p. 123
Summary	p. 126
Exercises	p. 126
Loops	p. 129
How Loops Work	p. 129
Introducing the Increment and Decrement Operators	p. 130
The for Loop	p. 131
General Syntax of the for Loop	p. 135
More on the Increment and Decrement Operators	p. 136
The Increment Operator	p. 136
The Prefix and Postfix Forms of the Increment Operator	p. 137
The Decrement Operator	p. 137
The for Loop Revisited	p. 138
Modifying the for Loop Variable	p. 140
A for Loop with No Parameters	p. 141
The break Statement in a Loop	p. 141
Limiting Input Using a for Loop	p. 144
Generating Pseudo-Random Integers	p. 146
More for Loop Control Options	p. 148
Floating-Point Loop Control Variables	p. 149
The while Loop	p. 149
Nested Loops	p. 153
Nested Loops and the goto Statement	p. 156
The do-while Loop	p. 157
The continue Statement	p. 160
Designing a Program	p. 160
The Problem	p. 160
The Analysis	p. 160
The Solution	p. 162
Summary	p. 172
Exercises	p. 173
Arrays	p. 175
An Introduction to Arrays	p. 175
Programming Without Arrays	p. 175
What Is an Array?	p. 177
Using Arrays	p. 178
A Reminder About Memory	p. 181
Arrays and Addresses	p. 184
Initializing an Array	p. 186
Finding the Size of an Array	p. 186
Multidimensional Arrays	p. 187
Initializing Multidimensional Arrays	p. 189
Designing a Program	p. 194
The Problem	p. 194
The Analysis	p. 194
The Solution	p. 195
Summary	p. 202
Exercises	p. 202
Applications with Strings and Text	p. 203
What Is a String?	p. 203
String- and Text-Handling Methods	p. 205
Operations with Strings	p. 208
Appending a String	p. 208
Arrays of Strings	p. 210
String Library Functions	p. 212
Copying Strings Using a Library Function	p. 212
Determining String Length Using a Library Function	p. 213
Joining Strings Using a Library Function	p. 214
Comparing Strings	p. 215
Searching a String	p. 218
Analyzing and Transforming Strings	p. 221
Converting Characters	p. 224
Converting Strings to Numerical Values	p. 227
Working with Wide Character Strings	p. 227
Operations on Wide Character Strings	p. 228
Testing and Converting Wide Characters	p. 229
Designing a Program	p. 231
The Problem	p. 231
The Analysis	p. 231
The Solution	p. 231
Summary	p. 238
Exercises	p. 239
Pointers	p. 241
A First Look at Pointers	p. 241
Declaring Pointers	p. 242
Accessing a Value Through a Pointer	p. 243
Using Pointers	p. 246
Pointers to Constants	p. 250
Constant Pointers	p. 251
Naming Pointers	p. 251
Arrays and Pointers	p. 251
Multidimensional Arrays	p. 255
Multidimensional Arrays and Pointers	p. 259
Accessing Array Elements	p. 260
Using Memory As You Go	p. 263
Dynamic Memory Allocation: The malloc() Function	p. 263
Memory Allocation with the calloc() Function	p. 268
Releasing Dynamically Allocated Memory	p. 268
Reallocating Memory	p. 270
Handling Strings Using Pointers	p. 271
String Input with More Control	p. 272
Using Arrays of Pointers	p. 273
Designing a Program	p. 283
The Problem	p. 283
The Analysis	p. 284
The Solution	p. 284
Summary	p. 294
Exercises	p. 294
Structuring Your Programs	p. 295
Program Structure	p. 295
Variable Scope and Lifetime	p. 296
Variable Scope and Functions	p. 299
Functions	p. 299
Defining a Function	p. 300
The return Statement	p. 304
The Pass-By-Value Mechanism	p. 307
Function Declarations	p. 309
Pointers As Arguments and Return Values	p. 310
const Parameters	p. 313
Returning Pointer Values from a Function	p. 322
Incrementing Pointers in a Function	p. 326
Summary	p. 326
Exercises	p. 327
More on Functions	p. 329
Pointers to Functions	p. 329
Declaring a Pointer to a Function	p. 329
Calling a Function Through a Function Pointer	p. 330
Arrays of Pointers to Functions	p. 333
Pointers to Functions As Arguments	p. 335
Variables in Functions	p. 338
Static Variables: Keeping Track Within a Function	p. 338
Sharing Variables Between Functions	p. 340
Functions That Call Themselves: Recursion	p. 343
Functions with a Variable Number of Arguments	p. 345
Copying a va_list	p. 348
Basic Rules for Variable-Length Argument Lists	p. 348
The main() Function	p. 349
Ending a Program	p. 350
Libraries of Functions: Header Files	p. 351
Enhancing Performance	p. 352
Declaring Functions inline	p. 352
Using the restrict Keyword	p. 353
Designing a Program	p. 353
The Problem	p. 353
The Analysis	p. 354
The Solution	p. 356
Summary	p. 371
Exercises	p. 372
Essential Input and Output Operations	p. 373
Input and Output Streams	p. 373
Standard Streams	p. 374
Input from the Keyboard	p. 375
Formatted Keyboard Input	p. 376
Input Format Control Strings	p. 376
Characters in the Input Format String	p. 382
Variations on Floating-Point Input	p. 383
Reading Hexadecimal and Octal Values	p. 384
Reading Characters Using scanf()	p. 386
Pitfalls with scanf()	p. 388
String Input from the Keyboard	p. 388
Unformatted Input from the Keyboard	p. 389
Output to the Screen	p. 394
Formatted Output to the Screen Using printf()	p. 394
Escape Sequences	p. 396
Integer Output	p. 397
Outputting Floating-Point Values	p. 400
Character Output	p. 401
Other Output Functions	p. 403
Unformatted Output to the Screen	p. 404
Formatted Output to an Array	p. 404
Formatted Input from an Array	p. 405
Sending Output to the Printer	p. 405
Summary	p. 406
Exercises	p. 406
Structuring Data	p. 409
Data Structures: Using struct	p. 409
Defining Structure Types and Structure Variables	p. 411
Accessing Structure Members	p. 411
Unnamed Structures	p. 414
Arrays of Structures	p. 414
Structures in Expressions	p. 417
Pointers to Structures	p. 417
Dynamic Memory Allocation for Structures	p. 418
More on Structure Members	p. 420
Structures As Members of a Structure	p. 420
Declaring a Structure Within a Structure	p. 421
Pointers to Structures As Structure Members	p. 422
Doubly Linked Lists	p. 426
Bit-Fields in a Structure	p. 429
Structures and Functions	p. 430
Structures As Arguments to Functions	p. 430
Pointers to Structures As Function Arguments	p. 431
A Structure As a Function Return Value	p. 432
An Exercise in Program Modification	p. 436
Binary Trees	p. 439
Sharing Memory	p. 447
Unions	p. 448
Pointers to Unions	p. 450
Initializing Unions	p. 450
Structures As Union Members	p. 450
Defining Your Own Data Types	p. 451
Structures and the typedef Facility	p. 452
Simplifying Code Using typedef	p. 453
Designing a Program	p. 454
The Problem	p. 454
The Analysis	p. 454
The Solution	p. 454
Summary	p. 464
Exercises	p. 465
Working with Files	p. 467
The Concept of a File	p. 467
Positions in a File	p. 468
File Streams	p. 468
Accessing Files	p. 468
Opening a File	p. 469
Renaming a File	p. 471
Closing a File	p. 472
Deleting a File	p. 472
Writing to a Text File	p. 473
Reading from a Text File	p. 474
Writing Strings to a Text File	p. 476
Reading Strings from a Text File	p. 477
Formatted File Input and Output	p. 480
Formatted Output to a File	p. 481
Formatted Input from a File	p. 481
Dealing with Errors	p. 483
Further Text File Operation Modes	p. 484
Binary File Input and Output	p. 485
Specifying Binary Mode	p. 486
Writing a Binary File	p. 486
Reading a Binary File	p. 487
Moving Around in a File	p. 495
File Positioning Operations	p. 495
Finding Out Where You Are	p. 496
Setting a Position in a File	p. 496
Using Temporary Work Files	p. 502
Creating a Temporary Work File	p. 502
Creating a Unique File Name	p. 502
Updating Binary Files	p. 503
Changing the File Contents	p. 508
Reading a Record from the Keyboard	p. 509
Writing a Record to a File	p. 510
Reading a Record from a File	p. 511
Writing a File	p. 512
Listing the File Contents	p. 513
Updating the Existing File Contents	p. 514
File Open Modes Summary	p. 521
Designing a Program	p. 521
The Problem	p. 522
The Analysis	p. 522
The Solution	p. 522
Summary	p. 527
Exercises	p. 527
Supporting Facilities	p. 529
Preprocessing	p. 529
Including Header Files in Your Programs	p. 530
External Variables and Functions	p. 530
Substitutions in Your Program Source Code	p. 531
Macro Substitutions	p. 532
Macros That Look Like Functions	p. 532
Preprocessor Directives on Multiple Lines	p. 534
Strings As Macro Arguments	p. 534
Joining Two Results of a Macro Expansion	p. 535
Logical Preprocessor Directives	p. 536
Conditional Compilation	p. 536
Directives Testing for Specific Values	p. 537
Multiple-Choice Selections	p. 537
Standard Preprocessing Macros	p. 538
Debugging Methods	p. 538
Integrated Debuggers	p. 539
The Preprocessor in Debugging	p. 539
Using the assert() Macro	p. 543
Additional Library Functions	p. 545
The Date and Time Function Library	p. 545
Getting the Date	p. 549
Summary	p. 555
Exercises	p. 555
Computer Arithmetic	p. 557
Binary Numbers	p. 557
Hexadecimal Numbers	p. 558
Negative Binary Numbers	p. 560
Big-Endian and Little-Endian Systems	p. 561
Floating-Point Numbers	p. 562
ASCII Character Code Definitions	p. 565
Reserved Words in C	p. 571
Input and Output Format Specifications	p. 573
Output Format Specifications	p. 573
Input Format Specifications	p. 576
Index	p. 579
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Beginning C

From Novice to Professional

At a Glance

New Edition

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

Paperback

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