Basics of C Programming - I

Content:-

1. History,standards,GNU tools
2. Language Basics,Operators
3. Control Structures- Decision-making statements, Loops
4. Pointers and Arrays
5. Functions
6. Strings
7. Structures and Unions
8. Dynamic Memory
9. Data Structures-
    Stacks,Queues,Linked List,Trees,Searching and Sorting

The reader is urged to strictly use GCC( GNU C Compiler) for development .

1. On a Linux machine, Press Ctrl+Alt+T.
2. The terminal will open.
3. You can use any of the popular editors like Vi,ViM,emacs,nano, etc.

Let us assume that we are using the Vi editor. To start with a basic C program, follow the below mentioned steps after you have launched the terminal:-

• vi hello_world.c
• Press 'i' key. (--INSERT status will be displayed)
• Now you can type your program here
• When you are done with your code, press ESC key to come out of input mode.
• Now press “ :wq “. This will save your program and exit from the editor.
• Now you are back to the terminal again.
• Compile the code as :-
  • gcc hello_world.c -o hello_world.out
  • hello_world.out is the executable binary file generated as a result of compilation
• To execute the binary:-
  • ./hello_world.out

<< If you don't pass any outfile parameter, and just compile the code as:-

gcc hello_world.c

The binary executable file gets generated with the name a.out. You then have to execute it as usual :-

./a.out

>>

<<Linux Shell has a special feature of sentence autocompletion. To leverage it, type partial command and press the TAB key. The entire command will be autocompleted.>>

All the above mentioned steps for writing and compiling a simple C program have been depicted through the following snapshots:-

For more information on GCC, type the following on the terminal :-

                                
man gcc

 

The whole world of GCC is before you now. Explore as much as possible.