Learn C
C is a general-purpose programming language that has been widely used for over 50 years.
C is very powerful; it has been used to develop operating systems, databases, applications, etc.
What is C?
C is a general-purpose programming language created by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Laboratories in
1972.
It is a very popular language, despite being old. The main reason for its popularity is because it is a
fundamental language in the field of computer science.
C is strongly associated with UNIX, as it was developed to write the UNIX operating system.
Why Learn C?
It is one of the most popular programming languages in the world
If you know C, you will have no problem learning other popular programming languages such
as Java, Python, C++, C#, etc, as the syntax is similar
C is very fast, compared to other programming languages, like Java and Python
C is very versatile; it can be used in both applications and technologies
Difference between C and C++
C++ was developed as an extension of C, and both languages have almost the same syntax
The main difference between C and C++ is that C++ supports classes and objects, while C
does not.
Syntax:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello World!");
return 0;
}
Line 1: #include <stdio.h> is a header file library that lets us work with input and output
functions, such as printf() (used in line 4). Header files add functionality to C programs.
Line 2: A blank line. C ignores white space. But we use it to make the code more readable.
Line 3: Another thing that always appear in a C program is main(). This is called a function.
Any code inside its curly brackets {} will be executed.
Line 4: printf() is a function used to output/print text to the screen. In our example, it will
output "Hello World!".
Note that: Every C statement ends with a semicolon ;
Note: The body of int main() could also been written as:
int main(){printf("Hello World!");return 0;}
Remember: The compiler ignores white spaces. However, multiple lines makes the code
more readable.
Line 5: return 0 ends the main() function.
Line 6: Do not forget to add the closing curly bracket } to actually end the main function.
Statements
A computer program is a list of "instructions" to be "executed" by a computer.
In a programming language, these programming instructions are called statements.
The following statement "instructs" the compiler to print the text "Hello World" to the
screen:
It is important that you end the statement with a semicolon ;
If you forget the semicolon (;), an error will occur and the program will not run:
Most C programs contain many statements.
The statements are executed, one by one, in the same order as they are written:
Output (Print Text)
To output values or print text in C, you can use the printf() function:
Double Quotes
When you are working with text, it must be wrapped inside double quotations marks "".
If you forget the double quotes, an error occurs:
You can use as many printf() functions as you want. However, note that it does not insert a
new line at the end of the output:
New Lines
To insert a new line, you can use the \n character:
You can also output multiple lines with a single printf() function. However, this could make
the code harder to read:
Tip: Two \n characters after each other will create a blank line:
What is \n exactly?
The newline character (\n) is called an escape sequence, and it forces the cursor to change
its position to the beginning of the next line on the screen. This results in a new line.
Examples of other valid escape sequences are:
Comments in C
Comments can be used to explain code, and to make it more readable. It can also be used to
prevent execution when testing alternative code.
Comments can be singled-lined or multi-lined.
Single-line Comments
Single-line comments start with two forward slashes (//).
Any text between // and the end of the line is ignored by the compiler (will not be executed).
This example uses a single-line comment before a line of code:
C Multi-line Comments
Multi-line comments start with /* and ends with */.
Any text between /* and */ will be ignored by the compiler:
Single or multi-line comments?
It is up to you which you want to use. Normally, we use // for short comments, and /* */ for
longer.
Good to know: Before version C99 (released in 1999), you could only use multi-line
comments in C.
C Variables
Variables are containers for storing data values, like numbers and characters.
In C, there are different types of variables (defined with different keywords), for example:
int - stores integers (whole numbers), without decimals, such as 123 or -123
float - stores floating point numbers, with decimals, such as 19.99 or -19.99
char - stores single characters, such as 'a' or 'B'. Characters are surrounded by single quotes
Declaring (Creating) Variables
To create a variable, specify the type and assign it a value:
Syntax
type variableName = value;
Where type is one of C types (such as int), and variableName is the name of the variable (such
as x or myName). The equal sign is used to assign a value to the variable.
So, to create a variable that should store a number, look at the following example:
Example
Create a variable called myNum of type int and assign the value 15 to it:
int myNum = 15;
You can also declare a variable without assigning the value, and assign the value later:
Example
// Declare a variable
int myNum;
// Assign a value to the variable
myNum = 15;
Output Variables
You learned from the output chapter that you can output values/print text with the printf() function:
Example
printf("Hello World!");
Try it Yourself »
In many other programming languages (like Python, Java, and C++), you would normally use a print
function to display the value of a variable. However, this is not possible in C:
Example
int myNum = 15;
printf(myNum); // Nothing happens
Try it Yourself »
To output variables in C, you must get familiar with something called "format specifiers", which you
will learn about in the next chapter.
Format Specifiers
Format specifiers are used together with the printf() function to tell the compiler what type of data
the variable is storing. It is basically a placeholder for the variable value.
A format specifier starts with a percentage sign %, followed by a character.
For example, to output the value of an int variable, use the format specifier %d surrounded by
double quotes (""), inside the printf() function:
Example
int myNum = 15;
printf("%d", myNum); // Outputs 15
Try it Yourself »
To print other types, use %c for char and %f for float:
Example
// Create variables
int myNum = 15; // Integer (whole number)
float myFloatNum = 5.99; // Floating point number
char myLetter = 'D'; // Character
// Print variables
printf("%d\n", myNum);
printf("%f\n", myFloatNum);
printf("%c\n", myLetter);
Try it Yourself »
To combine both text and a variable, separate them with a comma inside the printf() function:
Example
int myNum = 15;
printf("My favorite number is: %d", myNum);
Try it Yourself »
To print different types in a single printf() function, you can use the following:
Example
int myNum = 15;
char myLetter = 'D';
printf("My number is %d and my letter is %c", myNum, myLetter);
Try it Yourself »
You will learn more about Data Types in a later chapter.
Print Values Without Variables
You can also just print a value without storing it in a variable, as long as you use the correct format
specifier:
Example
printf("My favorite number is: %d", 15);
printf("My favorite letter is: %c", 'D');
Try it Yourself »
However, it is more sustainable to use variables as they are saved for later and can be re-used
whenever.
Change Variable Values
If you assign a new value to an existing variable, it will overwrite the previous value:
Example
int myNum = 15; // myNum is 15
myNum = 10; // Now myNum is 10
Try it Yourself »
You can also assign the value of one variable to another:
Example
int myNum = 15;
int myOtherNum = 23;
// Assign the value of myOtherNum (23) to myNum
myNum = myOtherNum;
// myNum is now 23, instead of 15
printf("%d", myNum);
Try it Yourself »
Or copy values to empty variables:
Example
// Create a variable and assign the value 15 to it
int myNum = 15;
// Declare a variable without assigning it a value
int myOtherNum;
// Assign the value of myNum to myOtherNum
myOtherNum = myNum;
// myOtherNum now has 15 as a value
printf("%d", myOtherNum);
Try it Yourself »
Add Variables Together
To add a variable to another variable, you can use the + operator:
Example
int x = 5;
int y = 6;
int sum = x + y;
printf("%d", sum);
Declare Multiple Variables
To declare more than one variable of the same type, use a comma-separated list:
Example
int x = 5, y = 6, z = 50;
printf("%d", x + y + z);
Try it Yourself »
You can also assign the same value to multiple variables of the same type:
Example
int x, y, z;
x = y = z = 50;
printf("%d", x + y + z);
Try it Yourself »
C Variable Names
All C variables must be identified with unique names.
These unique names are called identifiers.
Identifiers can be short names (like x and y) or more descriptive names (age, sum, totalVolume).
Note: It is recommended to use descriptive names in order to create understandable and
maintainable code:
Example
// Good variable name
int minutesPerHour = 60;
// OK, but not so easy to understand what m actually is
int m = 60;
Try it Yourself »
The general rules for naming variables are:
Names can contain letters, digits and underscores
Names must begin with a letter or an underscore (_)
Names are case-sensitive (myVar and myvar are different variables)
Names cannot contain whitespaces or special characters like !, #, %, etc.
Reserved words (such as int) cannot be used as names
Real-Life Example
Often in our examples, we simplify variable names to match their data type (myInt or myNum
for int types, myChar for char types, and so on). This is done to avoid confusion.
However, for a practical example of using variables, we have created a program that stores different
data about a college student:
Example
// Student data
int studentID = 15;
int studentAge = 23;
float studentFee = 75.25;
char studentGrade = 'B';
// Print variables
printf("Student id: %d\n", studentID);
printf("Student age: %d\n", studentAge);
printf("Student fee: %f\n", studentFee);
printf("Student grade: %c", studentGrade);
Try it Yourself »
Calculate the Area of a Rectangle
In this real-life example, we create a program to calculate the area of a rectangle (by multiplying the
length and width):
Example
// Create integer variables
int length = 4;
int width = 6;
int area;
// Calculate the area of a rectangle
area = length * width;
// Print the variables
printf("Length is: %d\n", length);
printf("Width is: %d\n", width);
printf("Area of the rectangle is: %d", area);
Try it Yourself »
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