Practical C Programming

by Oualline, Steve

• ISBN13: 9781565923065
• ISBN10: 1565923065
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-08-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

There are lots of introductory C books, but this is the first one that has the no-nonsense, practical approach that has made Nutshell Handbooks famous.C programming is more than just getting the syntax right. Style and debugging also play a tremendous part in creating programs that run well and are easy to maintain. This book teaches you not only the mechanics of programming, but also describes how to create programs that are easy to read, debug, and update.Practical rules are stressed. For example, there are fifteen precedence rules in C (&& comes before comes before ?:). The practical programmer reduces these to two: Multiplication and division come before addition and subtraction.Contrary to popular belief, most programmers do not spend most of their time creating code. Most of their time is spent modifying someone else's code. This books shows you how to avoid the all-too-common obfuscated uses of C (and also to recognize these uses when you encounter them in existing programs) and thereby to leave code that the programmer responsible for maintenance does not have to struggle with. Electronic Archaeology, the art of going through someone else's code, is described.This third edition introduces popular Integrated Development Environments on Windows systems, as well as UNIX programming utilities, and features a large statistics-generating program to pull together the concepts and features in the language.

Author Biography

Steve Oualline lives in Southern California, where he works as a software engineer for a major phone company. In his free time he is a real engineer on the Poway Midland Railroad. Steve has written almost a dozen books on programming and Linux software. His web site is http://www.oualline.com .

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
How This Book is Organized	xvi	(1)
Chapter by Chapter	xvi	(4)
Notes on the Third Edition	xix	(1)
Font Conventions	xix	(1)
Obtaining Source Code	xx	(2)
Comments and Questions	xxii	(1)
Acknowledgments	xxii	(1)
Acknowledgments to the Third Edition	xxiii
I. Basics	1	(112)
1. What Is C?	3	(8)
How Programming Works	4	(2)
Brief History of C	6	(1)
How C Works	7	(2)
How to Learn C	9	(2)
2. Basics of Program Writing	11	(27)
Programs from Conception to Execution	11	(1)
Creating a Real Program	12	(1)
Creating a Program Using a Command-Line Compiler	13	(3)
Creating a Program Using an Integrated Development Environment	16	(17)
Getting Help on UNIX	33	(1)
Getting Help in an Integrated Development Environment	34	(1)
IDE Cookbooks	34	(3)
Programming Exercises	37	(1)
3. Style	38	(11)
Common Coding Practices	42	(3)
Coding Religion	45	(1)
Indentation and Code Format	45	(1)
Clarity	46	(1)
Simplicity	47	(1)
Summary	48	(1)
4. Basic Declarations and Expressions	49	(14)
Elements of a Program	49	(1)
Basic Program Structure	50	(1)
Simple Expressions	51	(1)
Variables and Storage	52	(1)
Variable Declarations	53	(1)
Integers	54	(1)
Assignment Statements	54	(2)
printf Function	56	(1)
Floating Point	57	(1)
Floating Point Versus Integer Divide	58	(2)
Characters	60	(1)
Answers	61	(1)
Programming Exercises	62	(1)
5. Arrays, Qualifiers, and Reading Numbers	63	(21)
Arrays	63	(1)
Strings	64	(3)
Reading Strings	67	(3)
Multidimensional Arrays	70	(1)
Reading Numbers	71	(2)
Initializing Variables	73	(2)
Types of Integers	75	(2)
Types of Floats	77	(1)
Constant Declarations	77	(1)
Hexadecimal and Octal Constants	78	(1)
Operators for Performing Shortcuts	78	(1)
Side Effects	79	(1)
++X or X++	80	(1)
More Side-Effect Problems	81	(1)
Answers	82	(1)
Programming Exercises	83	(1)
6. Decision and Control Statements	84	(11)
if Statement	84	(1)
else Statement	85	(1)
How Not to Use strcmp	86	(1)
Looping Statements	87	(1)
while Statement	87	(2)
break Statement	89	(1)
continue Statement	90	(1)
Assignment Anywhere Side Effect	91	(1)
Answer	92	(1)
Programming Exercises	93	(2)
7. Programming Process	95	(18)
Setting Up	97	(1)
Specification	98	(1)
Code Design	98	(1)
Prototype	99	(2)
Makefile	101	(3)
Testing	104	(1)
Debugging	104	(3)
Maintenance	107	(1)
Revisions	107	(1)
Electronic Archaeology	107	(1)
Marking Up the Program	108	(1)
Using the Debugger	108	(1)
Text Editor as a Browser	108	(1)
Add Comments	109	(2)
Programming Exercises	111	(2)
II. Simple Programming	113	(164)
8. More Control Statements	115	(12)
for Statement	115	(3)
switch Statement	118	(5)
switch, break, and continue	123	(1)
Answers	124	(1)
Programming Exercises	125	(2)
9. Variable Scope and Functions	127	(13)
Scope and Class	127	(3)
Functions	130	(4)
Functions with No Parameters	134	(1)
Structured Programming	135	(1)
Recursion	136	(2)
Answers	138	(1)
Programming Exercises	138	(2)
10. C Preprocessor	140	(16)
#define Statement	140	(6)
Conditional Compilation	146	(2)
include Files	148	(2)
Parameterized Macros	150	(2)
Advanced Features	152	(1)
Summary	152	(1)
Answers	152	(2)
Programming Exercises	154	(2)
11. Bit Operations	156	(17)
Bit Operators	158	(1)
The and Operator (&)	158	(2)
Bitwise or (XXX)	160	(1)
The Bitwise Exclusive or (XXX)	161	(1)
The Ones Complement Operator (Not) (XXX)	161	(1)
The Left- and Right-Shift Operators (XXX)	162	(1)
Setting, Clearing, and Testing Bits	163	(3)
Bitmapped Graphics	166	(6)
Answers	172	(1)
Programming Exercises	172	(1)
12. Advanced Types	173	(10)
Structures	173	(2)
Unions	175	(2)
typedef	177	(1)
enum Type	178	(1)
Casting	179	(1)
Bit Fields or Packed Structures	179	(2)
Arrays of Structures	181	(1)
Summary	182	(1)
Programming Exercises	182	(1)
13. Simple Pointers	183	(26)
Pointers as Function Arguments	188	(1)
const Pointers	189	(2)
Pointers and Arrays	191	(4)
How Not to Use Pointers	195	(2)
Using Pointers to Split a String	197	(3)
Pointers and Structures	200	(1)
Command-Line Arguments	201	(5)
Programming Exercises	206	(1)
Answers	206	(3)
14. File Input/Output	209	(20)
Conversion Routines	212	(3)
Binary and ASCII Files	215	(1)
The End-of-Line Puzzle	216	(2)
Binary I/O	218	(1)
Buffering Problems	219	(1)
Unbuffered I/O	220	(4)
Designing File Formats	224	(2)
Answers	226	(1)
Programming Exercises	227	(2)
15. Debugging and Optimization	229	(36)
Debugging	229	(11)
Interactive Debuggers	240	(4)
Debugging a Binary Search	244	(10)
Runtime Errors	254	(1)
The Confessional Method of Debugging	255	(1)
Optimization	256	(8)
Answers	264	(1)
Programming Exercises	264	(1)
16. Floating Point	265	(12)
Floating-Point Format	265	(1)
Floating Addition/Subtraction	266	(1)
Multiplication	267	(1)
Division	268	(1)
Overflow and Underflow	268	(1)
Roundoff Error	269	(1)
Accuracy	269	(1)
Minimizing Roundoff Error	270	(1)
Determining Accuracy	270	(2)
Precision and Speed	272	(1)
Power Series	272	(3)
Programming Exercises	275	(2)
III. Advanced Programming Concepts	277	(110)
17. Advanced Pointers	279	(25)
Pointers and Structures	279	(3)
free Function	282	(1)
Linked List	283	(3)
Structure Pointer Operator	286	(1)
Ordered Linked Lists	287	(1)
Double-Linked Lists	288	(4)
Trees	292	(4)
Printing a Tree	296	(1)
Rest of Program	296	(4)
Data Structures for a Chess Program	300	(2)
Answers	302	(1)
Programming Exercises	303	(1)
18. Modular Programming	304	(25)
Modules	304	(1)
Public and Private	305	(1)
The extern Modifier	306	(2)
Headers	308	(2)
The Body of the Module	310	(1)
A Program to Use Infinite Arrays	310	(3)
The Makefile for Multiple Files	313	(3)
Using the Infinite Array	316	(6)
Dividing a Task into Modules	322	(1)
Module Division Example: Text Editor	323	(1)
Compiler	324	(1)
Spreadsheet	325	(2)
Module Design Guidelines	327	(1)
Programming Exercises	328	(1)
19. Ancient Compilers	329	(8)
K&R-Style Functions	329	(3)
Library Changes	332	(1)
Missing Features	333	(1)
Free/Malloc Changes	333	(1)
lint	334	(1)
Answers	334	(3)
20. Portability Problems	337	(7)
Modularity	337	(1)
Word Size	338	(1)
Byte Order Problem	338	(1)
Alignment Problem	339	(2)
NULL Pointer Problem	341	(1)
Filename Problems	341	(1)
File Types	342	(1)
Summary	342	(1)
Answers	343	(1)
21. C's Dustier Corners	344	(4)
do/while	344	(1)
goto	344	(2)
The ?: Construct	346	(1)
The , Operator	346	(1)
volatile Qualifier	346	(1)
Answer	347	(1)
22. Putting It All Together	348	(34)
Requirements	348	(1)
Specification	348	(2)
Code Design	350	(5)
Coding	355	(1)
Functional Description	355	(2)
Expandability	357	(1)
Testing	358	(1)
Revisions	359	(1)
A Final Warning	359	(1)
Program Files	359	(22)
Programming Exercises	381	(1)
23. Programming Adages	382	(5)
General	382	(1)
Design	383	(1)
Declarations	383	(1)
switch Statement	383	(1)
Preprocessor	384	(1)
Style	384	(1)
Compiling	384	(1)
Final Note	384	(1)
Answer	385	(2)
IV. Other Language Features	387	(12)
A. ASCII Table	389	(2)
B. Ranges and Parameter Passing Conversions	391	(2)
C. Operator Precedence Rules	393	(2)
D. A Program to Compute a Sine Using a Power Series	395	(4)
Glossary	399	(22)
Index	421