CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Computer Programming & Problem Solving ( CPPS-1 )

C Building Blocks
Chapter # 2

 Variables and Constants Types of Variables

 The scanf ( ) function
 Address Operator
 The getch ( ) function
 Different types of Operators
 Comments

Variables
Variables may be the most fundamental aspect of any computer language. A
variable is a space in the computer’s memory set aside for a certain kind of data
and given a name for easy reference. Therefore variables are used so that the
same space in memory can hold different values at different times.

For example, suppose you are writing a program to calculate someone’s

paycheck. You will need to store at least the hourly rate and the hours worked. If
you want to do the calculation for more than one employee, you will need to use
the same program and the same spaces in the memory to store similar data for
additional employees. A variable is a space in a memory that plays the same role
many times, but may contain different values each time.

Defining a variable in C
int num ;

If there are more than one variable to be defined then they can be defined
combined or separately. For example:

int a, b, c;
int a;
int b;
int c;

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Basic Data Types in C Language

C Language supports five basic data types.

No of total Bytes
Data Type Description Syntax occupied in
memory
1. Character Character data char 1

2. Integer Signed whole int 2

Integer

3. Float Floating point float 4

number

4. Double Double precision double 8

floating point
number
5. Void Valueless void 0

Variable Definitions

Variable are generally declared as:

type var-name;

Here ‘type’ is the data type and ‘var-name’ is the variable name.

For example:

int number;

Value Assignment to the Variable

A programmer can assign a unique value to the variable. The general form of an
assignment statement is

type var-name = value;

OR

var-name = value;

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

For example:

int year = 2001;

number = 6;

Figure of an Integer in Memory

Each rectangle is
1 byte of memory

This Integer has the Each Integer occupies

value 6 2 bytes of memory

What happens by writing the statement int number = 6 ?

When you define a variable, the compiler sets aside an appropriate amount of
memory to store that variable. In the above case we have specified an
Integer variable, so the compiler will set aside 2 bytes of memory. This is
large enough to hold numbers from –32768 to 32767 i.e 0 - 65535 for
unsigned integers.

int number;

unsigned int number;

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

 For situations when the normal integer is too small, the long integer
( type long or long int ) can be used. It occupies 4 bytes of memory and can
hold integers from –2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.

 There are also 2 kinds of floating point variables. One floating point variable
type float, occupies 4 bytes and can hold numbers from 10 e+38 to 10 e-38
with between 6 and 7 digits of precision. A double-precision floating point
variable, type double, occupies 8 bytes and can hold numbers from about
10 e+308 to 10 e-308 with about 15 digits of precision. There is also a larger
long double type. It occupies 10 bytes and can hold numbers from about
10 e+4932 to 10 e-4932.

 The unsigned int type holds numbers from 0 to 65,535, rather than from
–32,768 to 32,767 as the regular int type does.

 There is no string variable type in C Language. Instead, strings are

represented by arrays of characters.

Program

void main (void)

{
int rollno;
char section;
float gpa = 3.25;
rollno = 100;
section = ‘A’;

clrscr( );

printf (“ My name is %s. My Roll no is %d. “, “Ahmad”, rollno );

printf (“ I study in section %c and my GPA is %f. “, section, gpa);

Output:

My name is Ahmad. My Roll no is 100. I study in section A and my GPA is 3.25.

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Field Width Specifiers

The printf( ) gives programmer considerable power to format the printed output.
By default floating point variable prints with 6 digits to the right of the decimal
place.
For example:

printf (“ GPA = %f “, 3.25);

Output:
GPA = 3.250000

Field Width Specifiers controls how many characters will be printed following the
decimal point.

For example:

printf (“ GPA = %2f “, 3.25);

Output:
GPA = 3.25

printf (“ GPA = %3f “, 3.25);

Output:
GPA = 3.250

Escape Sequences
In C Language backslash symbol ( \ ) is considered an “Escape” character:
because it causes an escape from the normal interpretation of a string, so that
the next character is recognized as having a special meaning.
The following list shows the common escape sequence.

\n New line
\t Tab ( move 8 characters forward )
\b Backspace
\r Carriage Return
\f Form feed ( move to the top of the next page on the printer )
\’ Single Quote
\” Double Quote
\\ Backslash
\ xdd ASCII code in hexadecimal notation
\ ddd ASCII code in Octal notation ( each d represents a digit )

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Program

void main (void)

{
clrscr( );

printf (“ Hello students, \” Have a nice time. ” \n “ );

Output

Hello students, “ Have a nice time.”

The Scanf ( ) Function

In C Language, printf ( ) is the output statement where as the scanf ( ) is the input
function statement.

Program

void main (void)

float years, days;

clrscr( );

printf ( “ Please type your age in years. “ );

scanf ( “ %f “, &years );

days = years * 365;

printf ( “ You are %.1f days old.”, days );

Output
Please type your age in years. 10
You are 3650 days old.

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

The scanf ( ) function can accepts input to several variables in one statement.

For example: scanf ( “ %s %d”, &name, &age );

In this program there are two new symbols:

1. * ( Arithmetic Operator )
2. & ( Address Operator )

Class Assignment No 1.
1. What do you mean by variable definition and variable assignment. Give
examples.
2. What happens by writing the statement int number = 6
3. Difference between \n, \r, \f and \t.
4. Write a program that take the input of your age and then calculate the total
number of hours old.

Address Operator ( & )

What is the purpose of & ?

The C compiler requires the arguments of scanf ( ) to be the address of the

variables, rather than the variables themselves. Memory of the computer is
divided into addressed bytes, and these bytes are numbered from 0 to the upper
limit of your memory ( 655357 if you have 640 K memory ). These numbers are
called the addresses of the bytes. Each variable occupies a certain location in
the memory and its address is that of the first byte it occupies.

The figure given below shows an integer with a value of 2 at the address 1212.

Figure of Addresses of Variable

1210 1

1211

1212

1213 10
1214

1215

Address of Integer Variable Integer Variable

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Suppose we have, declared an integer variable, num in a program, and assigned

it the value 2. If the program later refers to the name of the variable, num,
the compiler will give the value stored in that variable, or 2. However, if
you refer to the name of the variable preceded by the ampersand, &num,
the compiler will give the address where num is stored. Here is the
program that demonstrates this operation:

Program

void main (void)

{
int num;

clrscr( );

num = 2;

printf ( “ Value = %d, and Address = %d “, num, &num );

Output:

Value = 2 and Address = 5528.

The getch ( ) function

 getch ( ) vs scanf ()

void main (void)

{
char ch;

clrscr( );

print ( “ Type any Charater: “ );

ch = getch ( );

printf ( “ \n The character you typed was %c “, ch);

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

 You do not have to press the [ Return ] Key.

 It only takes a character.

 If you typed any wrong character, you cannot move backward to correct it.

get  get from outside

ch  character
e  echo ( write )

Class Assignment No 2.
1. What is the purpose of & ?
2. Differentiate between getch ( ) and getche ( ) with example.
3. Write a program that takes a user marks for the 5 subjects and then calculate
the total marks obtained by the user.
4. Write a program using: = =, + +, % and < = operators.

Operators
Operators are words or symbol that causes a program to do something to
variables.

In C Language there are basically 4 types of operators.

 Arithmetic Operator
 Relational Operator
 Arithmetic Assignment Operator
 Increment Operator

1. Arithmetic Operator

C Language uses 4 types of Arithmetic Operator that are common in most

programming languages and one the remainder operators which is not so
common.

+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
% Remainder

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Operator Precedence

 Multiplication and division operators are carried out before addition and
subtraction.
 Programmers can alter the order of evaluation using parenthesis.
 Remainder Operator ( % ) is also called Modulo Operator.

For Example:

Answer = 13 % 5

Answer = 3

It is possible to include expressions involving Arithmetic Operator directly into

printf ( ) and other kinds of statements.

Program

void main (void)

{
int num;
clrscr( );

num = 2;

printf ( “Number plus 4 id %d “, num + 4 );

getch ( );
}

2. Arithmetic Assignment Operator

These operators are specially for C programmers. With the help of these
operators, programmer can compress programming statements.

In C Language there are 5 types of Arithmetic Assignment Operator

+= Addition Arithmetic Assignment Operator

-= Subtraction Arithmetic Assignment Operator
*= Multiplication Arithmetic Assignment Operator
/= Division Arithmetic Assignment Operator
%= Remainder Arithmetic Assignment Operator

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

For Example:

total = total + number;

In C Language this statement can be rewritten as

total + = number;

Program

void main (void)

{
int total = 0;
int count = 10;

clrscr( );

printf ( “ Total = %d \n “, total );

total + = count;

printf ( “ Total = %d \n “, total );

total + = count;

printf ( “ Total = %d \n “, total );

getch ( );

Output:

Total = 0
Total = 10
Total = 20

3. Relational Operator

C Language uses another operator that is not common in other languages i.e
the Increment Operator.

For Example:

num + +; or num - -;

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Program

void main (void)

{
int num = 0;
clrscr( );

printf ( “ Number = %d \n “, num );

printf ( “ Number = %d \n “, num + + );

printf ( “ Number = %d \n “, num );

getch ( );

Output:

Number = 0
Number = 0
Number = 1

4. Increment Operator

Relational Operator checks the relation about the variables.

Program

void main (void)

{
int age ;
clrscr( );

age = 15;
printf ( “ Is age less than 20 ? %d \n “, age < 20 );

age = 30;
printf ( “ Is age less than 20 ? %d \n “, age < 20 );

getch ( );

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Output:

Is age less than 20 ? 1

Is age less than 20 ? 0

Therefore the output of the relational operator will be 1 if the relation is true and
0, if the relation is false.

In C Language, there are 6 Relational Operators:

< Less than

> Greater than
<= Less than or Equal to
>= Greater than or Equal to
== Equal to
!= Not Equal to

Precedence between Operators

Program
void main (void)

printf ( “ Answer is %d “, 2 + 1 < 4 );

getch ( );

Output:

Answer = 1

Program
void main (void)

printf ( “ Answer is %d “, 1 < 2 + 4 );

getch ( );

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CE-102: CPPS-1 ( Chapter # 2 ) Batch 2001, Section: A, B, C, D

Output:

Answer = 5 (Wrong)

Answer = 1 ( Right )

Note

Arithmetic Operators have higher precedence i.e they are evaluated before the
Relational Operators.

Comments

It is helpful to be able to put comments into the source code that can be ready by
humans but are visible but are invisible to the compiler.
A Comments begins with the two-character symbol slash-asterisk ( /* ) and ends
with an asterisk-slash ( */ ).

For example:

Program

/* This program displays the name and roll number of the student */

void main (void)

{
int rollno;
rollno = 100;
clrscr( );

printf (“ My name is %s. My Roll no is %d. “, “Ahmad”, rollno );

getch( );
}

Output:

My name is Ahmad. My Roll no is 100.

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