Absolute Beginner's Guide to C, 2nd Edition

✍ Scribed by Safari, an O'Reilly Media Company.; Perry, Gregory Rolan

• Publisher: Sams Publishing
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 436
• Edition: 2nd edition
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

For beginning programmers, this updated edition answers all C programming questions. This bestseller talks to readers at their level, explaining every aspect of how to get started and learn the C language quickly. Readers also find out where to learn more about C. This book includes tear-out reference card of C functions and statements, a hierarchy chart, and other valuable information. It uses special icons, notes, clues, warnings, and rewards to make understanding easier. And the clear and friendly style presumes no programming knowledge.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 11
Introduction......Page 23
Part 1 First Steps with C......Page 29
Rewarding and Fun......Page 31
What Is a Program?......Page 32
What You Need to Write C Programs......Page 34
The Programming Process......Page 35
Using C......Page 37
With the main() Function......Page 41
Getting a Glimpse......Page 42
The main() Function......Page 43
Kinds of Data......Page 45
In Review......Page 50
Through Comments......Page 53
Commenting on Your Code......Page 54
Specifying Comments......Page 56
White Space......Page 58
The Future of Comments......Page 59
In Review......Page 61
With printf()......Page 63
The Format of printf()......Page 64
Printing Strings......Page 66
Escape Sequences......Page 67
Conversion Characters......Page 69
In Review......Page 72
Using Variables......Page 75
Kinds of Variables......Page 76
Naming Variables......Page 77
Defining Variables......Page 78
Storing Data in Variables......Page 80
In Review......Page 83
In Character Arrays......Page 85
"I Am the String Terminator!”......Page 86
The Length of Strings......Page 87
Character Arrays: Lists of Characters......Page 88
Initializing Strings......Page 91
In Review......Page 94
They’re Preprocessor Directives......Page 97
Including Files......Page 98
Where Do I Put #include Directives?......Page 101
Defining Constants......Page 102
In Review......Page 105
With scanf()......Page 107
Looking at scanf()......Page 108
Prompting for scanf()......Page 109
Problems with scanf()......Page 110
In Review......Page 115
With Operators......Page 117
The Basics......Page 118
Order of Operators......Page 120
Break the Rules with Parentheses......Page 122
Assignments Everywhere......Page 123
In Review......Page 125
Part 2 The Operating Room......Page 127
Combine Operators and Give Typecasts......Page 129
Compound Assignment......Page 130
Watch That Order!......Page 133
Typecasting: Hollywood Could Take Lessons from C......Page 134
In Review......Page 137
With Relational Operators......Page 139
Testing Data......Page 140
Using if......Page 142
Otherwise…: Using else......Page 143
In Review......Page 146
With Logical Operators......Page 149
Getting Logical......Page 150
The Order of Logical Operators......Page 156
In Review......Page 159
Additional C Operators......Page 161
Goodbye if-else; Hello Conditional......Page 162
The Small-Change Operators: ++ and --......Page 164
Sizing Up the Situation......Page 166
In Review......Page 169
Part 3 Keeping Control......Page 173
With while and do-while Loops......Page 175
while We Repeat......Page 176
Using while......Page 178
Using do-while......Page 179
In Review......Page 182
The for Loop......Page 185
for Repeat’s Sake!......Page 186
Working with for......Page 189
In Review......Page 192
Use break and continue......Page 195
Take a break......Page 196
Let’s continue Working......Page 198
In Review......Page 201
With the switch Statement......Page 203
Making the switch......Page 204
break and switch......Page 206
Efficiency Considerations......Page 207
In Review......Page 209
With Built-In I/O Functions......Page 213
putchar() and getchar()......Page 214
The Newline Consideration......Page 217
A Little Faster: getch()......Page 219
In Review......Page 221
C’s Built-In Character and String Functions......Page 223
Character-Testing Functions......Page 224
Case-Changing Functions......Page 225
String Functions......Page 226
In Review......Page 230
The Built-In Numeric Functions Show You......Page 233
Practicing Your Math......Page 234
Doing More Conversions......Page 235
Getting Into Trig and Other Really Hard Stuff......Page 237
Getting Random......Page 239
In Review......Page 242
Part 4 C Programs and Lots of Data......Page 245
Using Arrays......Page 247
Reviewing Arrays......Page 248
Putting Values in Arrays......Page 252
We’re Not Done Yet......Page 253
In Review......Page 255
Step Through Arrays......Page 257
Filling Arrays......Page 258
Finders Keepers......Page 259
In Review......Page 264
The Bubble Sort Does the Trick......Page 267
Putting Your House in Order: Sorting......Page 268
Faster Searches......Page 272
In Review......Page 278
Using Pointers, You’ll Find Out......Page 281
Memory Addresses......Page 282
Defining Pointer Variables......Page 283
Using the Dereferencing *......Page 286
In Review......Page 288
They’re the Same Thing in C......Page 291
Array Names Are Pointers......Page 292
Getting Down in the List......Page 293
Characters and Pointers......Page 294
Be Careful with Lengths......Page 295
Arrays of Pointers......Page 297
In Review......Page 300
Try the Heap......Page 303
Thinking of the Heap......Page 305
But WHY Do I Need the Heap?......Page 306
How Do I Allocate the Heap?......Page 308
If There’s Not Enough Heap Memory......Page 311
Multiple Allocations......Page 312
In Review......Page 315
With Structures......Page 319
Defining a Structure......Page 320
Putting Data in Structure Variables......Page 325
In Review......Page 329
Part 5 Form Follows Functions......Page 331
With Sequential Files......Page 333
Disk Files......Page 334
Opening a File......Page 335
Using Sequential Files......Page 338
In Review......Page 342
Use Random Files......Page 345
Opening Random Files......Page 346
Moving Around in a File......Page 348
In Review......Page 353
Using Functions......Page 357
Form Follows C Functions......Page 358
Local or Global?......Page 362
In Review......Page 366
By Passing Variables......Page 369
Passing Arguments......Page 370
Methods of Passing Arguments......Page 371
In Review......Page 378
Using Return Values and Prototypes......Page 381
Returning Values......Page 382
The Return Data Type......Page 385
One Last Step: Prototype......Page 386
Wrapping Things Up......Page 388
In Review......Page 390
A: Where Do I Go from Here?......Page 393
C++ Programming 101......Page 394
Advanced C++......Page 395
B: Playing Around with C Blackjack......Page 397
C: The ASCII Table......Page 405
Index......Page 417
A......Page 418
C......Page 419
D......Page 421
F......Page 422
I–J......Page 424
L......Page 425
O......Page 426
P......Page 427
S......Page 428
U–V......Page 430
W–Z......Page 431

✦ Subjects

Computer Science;Programming;Reference;Computers;Technical;Science;Technology;Nonfiction