C Programming Language

by Kernighan, Brian W.; Ritchie, Dennis

• ISBN13: 9780131103627
• ISBN10: 0131103628
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1988-03-22
• Publisher: Pearson K12

Summary

The authors present the complete guide to ANSI standard C language programming. Written by the developers of C, this new version helps readers keep up with the finalized ANSI standard for C while showing how to take advantage of C's rich set of operators, economy of expression, improved control flow, and data structures. The 2/E has been completely rewritten with additional examples and problem sets to clarify the implementation of difficult language constructs. For years, C programmers have let K&R guide them to building well-structured and efficient programs. Now this same help is available to those working with ANSI compilers. Includes detailed coverage of the C language plus the official C language reference manual for at-a-glance help with syntax notation, declarations, ANSI changes, scope rules, and the list goes on and on.

Author Biography

Brian W. Kernighan works in the Computing Science Research Center at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies. He is Consulting Editor for Addison-Wesley's Professional Computing Series and the author, with Dennis Ritchie, of The C Programming Language.

 

Dennis Ritchie was a computer scientist notable for his influence on ALTRAN, B, BCPL, C, Multics, and Unix.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Preface	ix	(2)
Preface to the First Edition	xi
Introduction	1	(4)
Chapter 1. A Tutorial Introduction	5	(30)
1.1 Getting Started	5	(3)
1.2 Variables and Arithmetic Expressions	8	(5)
1.3 The For Statement	13	(1)
1.4 Symbolic Constants	14	(1)
1.5 Character Input and Output	15	(7)
1.6 Arrays	22	(2)
1.7 Functions	24	(3)
1.8 Arguments--Call by Value	27	(1)
1.9 Character Arrays	28	(3)
1.10 External Variables and Scope	31	(4)
Chapter 2. Types, Operators, and Expressions	35	(20)
2.1 Variable Names	35	(1)
2.2 Data Types and Sizes	36	(1)
2.3 Constants	37	(3)
2.4 Declarations	40	(1)
2.5 Arithmetic Operators	41	(1)
2.6 Relational and Logical Operators	41	(1)
2.7 Type Conversions	42	(4)
2.8 Increment and Decrement Operators	46	(2)
2.9 Bitwise Operators	48	(2)
2.10 Assignment Operators and Expressions	50	(1)
2.11 Conditional Expressions	51	(1)
2.12 Precedence and Order of Evaluation	52	(3)
Chapter 3. Control Flow	55	(12)
3.1 Statements and Blocks	55	(1)
3.2 If-Else	55	(2)
3.3 Else-If	57	(1)
3.4 Switch	58	(2)
3.5 Loops--While and For	60	(3)
3.6 Loops--Do-while	63	(1)
3.7 Break and Continue	64	(1)
3.8 Goto and Labels	65	(2)
Chapter 4. Functions and Program Structure	67	(26)
4.1 Basics of Functions	67	(4)
4.2 Functions Returning Non-integers	71	(2)
4.3 External Variables	73	(7)
4.4 Scope Rules	80	(1)
4.5 Header Files	81	(2)
4.6 Static Variables	83	(1)
4.7 Register Variables	83	(1)
4.8 Block Structure	84	(1)
4.9 Initialization	85	(1)
4.10 Recursion	86	(2)
4.11 The C Preprocessor	88	(5)
Chapter 5. Pointers and Arrays	93	(34)
5.1 Pointers and Addresses	93	(2)
5.2 Pointers and Function Arguments	95	(2)
5.3 Pointers and Arrays	97	(3)
5.4 Address Arithmetic	100	(4)
5.5 Character Pointers and Functions	104	(3)
5.6 Pointer Arrays; Pointers to Pointers	107	(3)
5.7 Multi-dimensional Arrays	110	(3)
5.8 Initialization of Pointer Arrays	113	(1)
5.9 Pointers vs. Multi-dimensional Arrays	113	(1)
5.10 Command-line Arguments	114	(4)
5.11 Pointers to Functions	118	(4)
5.12 Complicated Declarations	122	(5)
Chapter 6. Structures	127	(24)
6.1 Basics of Structures	127	(2)
6.2 Structures and Functions	129	(3)
6.3 Arrays of Structures	132	(4)
6.4 Pointers to Structures	136	(3)
6.5 Self-referential Structures	139	(4)
6.6 Table Lookup	143	(3)
6.7 Typedef	146	(1)
6.8 Unions	147	(2)
6.9 Bit-fields	149	(2)
Chapter 7. Input and Output	151	(18)
7.1 Standard Input and Output	151	(2)
7.2 Formatted Output--Printf	153	(2)
7.3 Variable-length Argument Lists	155	(2)
7.4 Formatted Input -- Scanf	157	(3)
7.5 File Access	160	(3)
7.6 Error Handling--Stderr and Exit	163	(1)
7.7 Line Input and Output	164	(2)
7.8 Miscellaneous Functions	166	(3)
Chapter 8. The UNIX System Interface	169	(22)
8.1 File Descriptors	169	(1)
8.2 Low Level I/O -- Read and Write	170	(2)
8.3 Open, Creat, Close, Unlink	172	(2)
8.4 Random Access -- Lseek	174	(1)
8.5 Example--An Implementation of Fopen and Getc	175	(4)
8.6 Example--Listing Directories	179	(6)
8.7 Example--A Storage Allocator	185	(6)
Appendix A. Reference Manual	191	(50)
A1 Introduction	191	(1)
A2 Lexical Conventions	191	(3)
A3 Syntax Notation	194	(1)
A4 Meaning of Identifiers	195	(2)
A5 Objects and Lvalues	197	(1)
A6 Conversions	197	(3)
A7 Expressions	200	(10)
A8 Declarations	210	(12)
A9 Statements	222	(3)
A10 External Declarations	225	(2)
A11 Scope and Linkage	227	(1)
A12 Preprocessing	228	(6)
A13 Grammar	234	(7)
Appendix B. Standard Library	241	(18)
B1 Input and Output: [stdio.h]	241	(7)
B2 Character Class Tests: [ctype.h]	248	(1)
B3 String Functions: [string.h]	249	(1)
B4 Mathematical Functions: [math.h]	250	(1)
B5 Utility Functions: [stdlib.h]	251	(2)
B6 Diagnostics: [assert.h]	253	(1)
B7 Variable Argument Lists: [stdarg.h]	254	(1)
B8 Non-local Jumps: [setjmp.h]	254	(1)
B9 Signals: [signal.h]	255	(1)
B10 Date and Time Functions: [time.h]	255	(2)
B11 Implementation-defined Limits: [limits.h] and [float.h]	257	(2)
Appendix C. Summary of Changes	259	(4)
Index	263

Excerpts

Preface The computing world has undergone a revolution since the publication of The C Programming Languagein 1978. Big computers are much bigger, and personal computers have capabilities that rival the mainframes of a decade ago. During this time, C has changed too, although only modestly, and it has spread far beyond its origins as the language of the UNIX operating system. The growing popularity of C, the changes in the language over the years, and the creation of compilers by groups not involved in its design, combined to demonstrate a need for a more precise and more contemporary definition of the language than the First edition of this book provided. In 1983, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) established a committee whose goal was to produce "an unambiguous and machine-independent definition of the language C," while still retaining its spirit. The result is the ANSI standard for C. The standard formalizes constructions that were hinted at but not described in the first edition, particularly structure assignment and enumerations. It provides a new form of function declaration that permits cross-checking of defini-tion with use. It specifies a standard library, with an extensive set of functions for performing input and output, memory management, string manipulation, and similar tasks. It makes precise the behavior of features that were not spelled out in the original definition, and at the same time states explicitly which aspects of the language remain machine-dependent. This second edition of The C Programming Languagedescribes C as defined by the ANSI standard. Although we have noted the places where the language has evolved, we have chosen to write exclusively in the new form. For the most part, this makes no significant difference; the most visible change is the new form of function declaration and definition. Modern compilers already support most features of the standard. We have tried to retain the brevity of the first edition. C is not a big language, and it is not well served by a big book. We have improved the exposition of critical features, such as pointers, that are central to C programming. We have refined the original examples, and have added new examples in several chapters. For instance, the treatment of complicated declarations is augmented by programs that convert declarations into words and vice versa. As before, all examples have been tested directly from the text, which is in machine-readable form. Appendix A, the reference manual, is not the standard, but our attempt to convey the essentials of the standard in a smaller space. It is meant for easy comprehension by programmers, but not as a definition for compiler writersN that role properly belongs to the standard itself. Appendix B is a summary of the facilities of the standard library. It too is meant for reference by programmers, not implementers. Appendix C is a concise summary of the changes from the original version. As we said in the preface to the first edition, C "wears well as one''s experience with it grows." With a decade more experience, we still feel that way. We hope that this book will help you to learn C and to use it well. Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie Preface to the First Edition C is a general-purpose programming language which features economy of expression, modern control flow and data structures, and a rich set of operators. C is not a "very high level" language, nor a "big" one, and is not specialized to any particular area of application. But its absence of restrictions and its generality make it more convenient and effective for many tasks than supposedly more powerful languages. C was originally designed for and implemented on the UNIX operating sys-tem on the DEC PDP-1 1, by Dennis Ritchie. The operating system, the C compiler, and essentially all UNIX applications programs (including all of the software used to prepare this book) are written in C. Production compilers also exist for several other machines, including the IBM System/370, the Honeywell 6000, and the Interdata 8/32. C is not tied to any particular hardware or system, however, and it is easy to write programs that will run without change on any machine that supports C. This book is meant to help the reader learn how to program in C. It contains a tutorial introduction to get new users started as soon as possible, separate chapters on each major feature, and a reference manual. Most of the treatment is based on reading, writing and revising examples, rather than on mere statements of rules. For the most part, the examples are complete, real programs, rather than isolated fragments. All examples have been tested directly from the text, which is in machine-readable form. Besides showing how to make effective use of the language, we have also tried where possible to illustrate useful algorithms and principles of good style and sound design. The book is not an introductory programming manual; it assumes some familiarity with basic programming concepts like variables, assignment statements, loops, and functions. Nonetheless, a novice programmer should be able to read along and pick up the language, although access to a more knowledgeable colleague will help. In our experience, C has proven to be a pleasant, expressive, and versatile language for a wide variety of programs. It is easy to learn, and it wears well as one''s experience with it grows. We hope that this book will help you to use it well. Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie