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C Programming Language Tutorial

Last updated : April 20, 2023

In this C programming language tutorial, you will learn:

• Overview
• What is C Language?
• Benefits of Using C Language
• Applications of C Language
• C Tutorial Index/Topics

Overview

The C programming language is one of the most widely used programming languages and has huge importance in Computer Science. Because of its fundamental structure, it is being preferred by Google and Algorithm Development. Initially, it was developed for working on operating systems (i.e. UNIX OS) for minicomputers, but lately, it gained much importance in every field. C language is a general-purpose, portable, and easy-to-use programming language that makes it important for everyone.

To provide better learning resources, IncludeHelp has several C programming tutorials from beginners to advanced algorithmic problems with examples and explanations. In addition to learning C tutorials, we have provided articles for the best Job preparation, including Interview Question sets.

What is C Language?

C is a procedural computer programming language that has been used throughout the world for over four decades. Bell Labs have a significant contribution to the development of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and C language is one of those contributions. Dennis Ritchie, between 1972 and 1973, initially developed C. During the 1980s, C gradually started gaining popularity around the globe, and it has become one of the most widely used programming languages. Since 1989, C has been standardized by the ANSI (ANSI C) and by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

Being a procedural language, C facilitates with structured programming and allows us to implement recursion and lexical variable scope. 

C has a definitive memory management system by providing three different ways to allocate memory for object:

• Static memory allocation
• Automatic memory allocation
• Dynamic memory allocation

Benefits of Using C Language

Moreover, C as a Programming language exhibits other characteristics listed below:

• It consists of a large number of bitwise, logical and arithmetic operators: +, +=, ++, &, ||, etc.
• C has a fixed number of keywords (i.e. small set), so it also provides us a free hand to use multiple terms throughout the code.
• It also includes a full set of control flow primitives i.e. if/else as conditional and, for, do-while, while as loop primitives.
• C has a definitive feature i.e. Functions:
  1. Functions in C permit run-time polymorphism.
  2. Values returned by a function can be ignored, when not needed.
  3. Functions can be defined with different scopes

Applications of C Language

C is not an outdated language and many world's leading companies are using C programming for their computational development. Most of the software is based on C, and it laid the foundation of other programming languages. Many algorithms are implemented in C and therefore, it also opens wide opportunities in research. Moreover, because of its fundamental features and its ability to be a foundation of computer science, It is still the most preferred programming language for programmers and back-end developers.

Following are the key applications of C as a Programming Language:

• Software Development
• Operating Systems
• Graphical User Interface Development
• Gaming and Animation
• Hardware Manipulation
• Embedded Systems
• Robotics
• Competitive Programming
• Job at Google!!

C Tutorial Index/Topics

• C Basics
• C Data Types
• C Input/Output
• C Operators
• C Conditional Statements
• C Control Statements
• C Strings
• C Functions
• C Arrays
• C Structure and Unions
• C Pointers
• C Preprocessor Directives
• C Command-line Arguments
• C File Handlings
• C Graphics
• C Library Functions
• C Interview Questions
• C FAQs
• C Find Output Programs
• C Advance Topics
• C Tips and Tricks
• C Important Topics

C Basics

1. Introduction & getting started with C
2. C language - History, Popularity reasons, Characteristics, Basic structure etc
3. Advantages and Disadvantages of C Programming Language
4. Basics of C language
5. C language character set
6. Difference between C and C++
7. Difference between gcc and g++
8. Why we should use C?
9. Some basic rules of writing a C program
10. Comments in C programming
11. C Tokens
12. Identifier/Variable naming conventions in C language [Rules and Recommendations]
13. Variable Initialization
14. const in c programming
15. Character Constant in C language
16. Octal Literals in C language
17. Hexadecimal (hex) Literals in C language
18. Automatic (auto) variables in c language
19. Difference between Local and Global variables in C
20. How to access global variables using 'extern'?
21. Is exit() and return statements are same?
22. How to print float value till number of decimal points using printf?
23. How to print multiple line messages using single printf?
24. Argument index specification in printf
25. Value returned by scanf() function
26. Returned values of printf and scanf in C
27. What do 'lvalue' and 'rvalue' mean
28. Difference between automatic (auto) and static variables in a C language
29. What is Scope in C language? Write difference between local and global variables/Scope
30. C programming errors

C Data Types

1. C language data types and operators
2. Basic Data Types and their Sizes
3. 'unsigned char' for memory optimization in c programming
4. Difference between short, short int and int data types in C programming
5. unsigned int vs size_t in C
6. Introduction to storage classes in C
7. Storage classes (with examples) in C
8. Type Conversion in C
9. Use of bool in C language
10. Type Qualifiers in C language

C Input/Output

1. Read string with spaces using scanf() function
2. How can I read an input string of unknown length in C language?
3. Disadvantages of scanf() function in C language
4. scanf() need '%lf' for doubles, when printf() is okay with just '%f'
5. Format specifier for unsigned short int
6. printf() format specifier for bool
7. Arguments for printf() that formats a long datatype
8. Correct format specifier for double in printf() in C
9. Is there a printf() converter to print in binary format?
10. printf() statement within another printf() statement in C
11. Difference between printf and puts in c programming language
12. Difference between printf and sprintf in c programming language
13. Difference between %d and %i format specifier in C programming language
14. Single Character Input and Output using getch(), getche(), getchar(), putchar() and putch()
15. Formatted Input & Output using printf() and scanf()
16. Octal and Hexadecimal Escape Sequences in C
17. Convert float value to string using gcvt() in C language
18. Difference between gets() and fgets() in C
19. Input an unsigned integer value using scanf() in C
20. Input octal value using scanf() in C
21. Input a hexadecimal value using scanf() in C
22. Input decimal, octal and hexadecimal values in character variables using scanf() in C
23. Input an integer value in any format (decimal, octal or hexadecimal) using '%i' in C
24. Input individual characters using scanf() in C
25. Skip characters while reading integers using scanf() in C
26. Read a memory address using scanf() and print its value in C
27. Printing an address of a variable in C
28. printf() examples/variations in C

C Operators

1. Precedence and associativity of Arithmetic Operators
2. Difference b/w operators and operands in C
3. Unary Operators in C with Examples
4. Equality Operators in C,C++
5. Logical AND (&&) operator with example
6. Logical OR (||) operator with example
7. Logical NOT (!) operator with example
8. Modulus on negative numbers in C language
9. How expression a=b=c (Multiple Assignment) evaluates in C programming?
10. How expression a==b==c (Multiple Comparison) evaluates in C programming?
11. Complex return statement using comma operator in c programming language
12. Explain comma operator with an example
13. Bitwise Operators and their working
14. Bitwise One's Compliment (Bitwise NOT Operator) in C
15. Modulus of two float or double numbers in C language

C Conditional Statements

1. if statement syntax
2. if else statement syntax
3. if else if (ladder if) statement syntax
4. switch case statement syntax
5. If else statements in C language [Tutorial]
6. Switch Case Tutorial, Syntax, Examples and Rules in C language
7. Switch Statements (features, disadvantages and difference with if else)
8. Switch case statement in C language
9. Using range with switch case statement

C Control Statements

1. Syntax of goto statement in C/C++
2. 'goto' Statement in C language
3. Syntax of break statement in C/C++
4. Syntax of continue statement in C/C++
5. Use of break and continue within the loop in c
6. Print numbers from 1 to N using goto statement
7. Looping Tutorial in C programming
   • Looping programs in C
8. Nested Loops in C programming language
9. Difference between Entry Controlled and Exit Controlled Loop in C
10. Difference between Sentinel and Counter Controlled loop
11. How to use for loop as infinite loop in C?

C Strings

1. Strings in C language programming
2. Standard Library String functions in C language
3. memcpy() function in C with Example
4. Write your own memcpy() function in C
5. memset() function in C with Example
6. Write your own memset() function in C

C Functions

1. C Library and User Define Functions (UDF)
2. Static functions in C Language
3. The scope of function parameters in C programming language
4. Recursion in C Programming
5. Recursion Tutorial, Example, Advantages and Disadvantages

C Arrays

1. Arrays in C programming language
2. More on Arrays
3. Properties/characteristics of an array
4. typedef Example with character array (define an alias to declare strings) in C

C Structure and Unions

1. C Structure - Definition, Declaration, Access with/without pointer
2. Initialize a struct in accordance with C programming language
3. Size of structure with no members
4. Pointer to structure in C
5. Nested Structure Initialization in C language
6. Nested Structure with Example in C language
7. Size of struct in C | padding, alignment in struct
8. How to copy complete structure in a byte array (character buffer)?
9. typedef Example with structure in C
10. C Union - Definition, Declaration, Accessing elements
11. Pointer to Union in C language

C Pointers

1. Pointers in C language
2. Pointer Rules in C programming language
3. Pointers Declarations in C programming language
4. C pointer Address operators
5. Accessing the value of a variable using pointer in C
6. Address of (&) and dereference (*) operators with the pointers in C
7. NULL pointer in C
8. Pointers as Argument in C programming language
9. Declaration, Use of Structure Pointers in C programming language
10. Pointer arithmetic in C programming language
11. C pointer to an array
12. Evaluation of statement '*ptr++' in C language
13. Pointer and non-pointer variables declarations together in C?
14. Pointer to an array of integers in C language [Declarations, Initialization with Example]
15. Pointer to Pointer (Double Pointer) in C
16. void pointer as function argument in C
17. Difference between char s[] and char *s declarations in C
18. Copying integer value to character buffer and vice versa in C
19. Difference between Call by Reference and Call by Value | Use of Pointer
20. Typedef function pointer

C Preprocessor Directives

1. Recommendation for defining a macro in C language
2. Macro expansion directives (#define, #undef) in C language
3. Complex macro with arguments (function like macro) in C language
4. C language #ifdef, #else, #endif Pre-processor with Example
5. C language #if, #elif, #else, #endif Pre-processor with Example
6. Parameterized Macro - we cannot use space after the Macro Name
7. Stringizing Operator (#) in C
8. Token Pasting Directive Operator (##) in C

C Command-line Arguments

1. C language Command Line Arguments

C File Handlings

1. Basics of file handling with writing and reading text
2. File handling solved programs

C Graphics

1. Introduction and Graphics Modes in Turbo C Compiler
2. Using Colors in Text Mode
3. Graphics Modes in Turbo C Compiler
4. OUTTEXTXY and SETTEXTSTYLE functions with Example
5. Draw Circle and Rectangle
6. graphics.h header file functions and examples
7. Some More Interesting Functions

C Library Functions

1. printf()
2. fopen()
3. freopen()
4. fclose()
5. feof()
6. ferror()
7. putc()
8. fgetc()
9. fputc()
10. fflush()
11. fgetpos()
12. fprintf()
13. fputs()
14. fread()
15. fseek()
16. fsetpos()
17. ftell()
18. fwrite()
19. getc()
20. snprintf()
21. getchar()
22. putchar()
23. puts()
24. remove()
25. rename()
26. rewind()

C Interview Questions

1. C interview Que. & Ans. (Page 1)
2. C interview Que. & Ans. (Page 2)
3. C interview Que. & Ans. (Page 3)
4. C interview Que. & Ans. (Page 4)
5. C interview Que. & Ans. (Page 5)
6. C interview Que. & Ans. (Page 6)
7. Embedded C Interview Questions and Answers

C FAQs

1. What is the function to execute Linux/Windows DOS commands in C language?
2. What is NULL pointer and how it is defined?
3. For a user-defined data type, what should be used typedef or #define?
4. Is char string[5] = “Hello”; valid?
5. Error - undefined reference to 'pow' with C program in GCC Linux
6. Error - undefined reference to 'pthread_create' with C program in GCC Linux
7. Missing ampersand/address of (&) in scanf() (C language Error)
8. Too few arguments to function (C language Error)
9. C FAQ - Can we initialize structure members within structure definition?
10. What happens if we use out of bounds index in an array in C language?
11. What happens if we use an uninitialized array in C language?

C Find Output Programs

1. Find output of C programs (if else statement) | set 1
2. Find output of C programs (if else statement) | set 2
3. Find output of C programs (Bitwise Operators) | Set 1
4. Find output of C programs (Bitwise Operators) | Set 2
5. Find output of C programs (Strings) | Set 1
6. Find output of C programs (Strings) | Set 2
7. Find output of C programs (Structures) | Set 1
8. Find output of C programs (Mixed topics) | Set 1
9. Find output of C programs (Mixed topics) | Set 2
10. Find output of C programs (Mixed topics) | Set 3
11. Find output of C programs (Character) | Set 1
12. Find output of C programs (floating point) | Set 1
13. Find output of C programs (For loops) | Set 1
14. Find output of C programs (Arrays) | Set 1

C Advance Topics

1. Process Identification (pid_t) data type in C language
2. getpid() and getppid() functions in C Linux
3. Important points (rules) to remember while writing C/C++ program
4. C programming tips for Embedded Development
5. C programming optimization techniques
6. What are the differences between C and Embedded C?
7. File management system calls in C programming
8. Multithreading in C/C++
9. Sum of an array using Multithreading in C/C++

C Tips and Tricks

1. C - Fastest way to copy two bytes integer number (short int) into byte buffer
2. C - Pre-Increment is faster than post-increment
3. C - How to create delay function according to program need?
4. Why should we use 'f' with float literal in C?
5. Replacing a part of string in C
6. Comparing fixed number of characters of two strings in C language
7. A safest way to check value using 'Equal To' (==) operator in C
8. Check EVEN or ODD without using Modulus (%) Operator in C
9. How can we use a single byte to store 8 values in C?
10. A funny trick to use C++ in C language program
11. An amazing trick to print maximum value of an unsigned integer in C
12. Print maximum value of an unsigned int using One's Compliment (~) Operator in C
13. Why we should use switch instead of if else?
14. How to initialize array elements with hexadecimal values in C?
15. How should we declare/define a pointer variable?

C Important Topics

1. Working with Hexadecimal values in C programming language
2. Working with octal values in C programming language
3. Convert ASCII string (char[]) to BYTE array in C
4. Convert ASCII string (char[]) to octal string (char[]) in C
5. Convert ASCII string (char[]) to hexadecimal string (char[]) in C
6. How to assign binary value in a variable directly?
7. How to check a particular bit is SET or not using C program?
8. How to set, clear, and toggle a bit in C language?
9. Value of 'EOF' in c programming language
10. How to print printf("Hello world."); using printf() in c programming
11. Print text in new line without using '\n' in c programming
12. return 0 from int main() in c programming
13. 'Super Loop' Architecture for Embedded C
14. Executing system commands using C program
15. Infix To Postfix Conversion Using Stack [with C program]
16. Evaluation of Postfix Expressions Using Stack [with C program]
17. Polynomial Addition Using Structure [with C program]
18. Popular functions of conio.h header file in C language
19. SQLite with C language
20. Table creation, data insertion in SQLite database using C language