Programming In C

Duration:	4 days
Type:	beginner

Description

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to programming in the C language. All the features of modern C are covered, as defined by the C99 standard, plus a preview of the new features arriving in C1X. By the end of the course delegates will be able to write programs that efficiently implement algorithms, create and manipulate data structures, manage heap memory and perform file and console based I/O. The Make build tool and GCC compiler suite are incrementally introduced as the course progresses. Extra topics can be introduced as required, including signal handling, threading with Pthreads and networking.

Prerequisites

The course can be delivered to delegates with no previous programming experience, in which case a 5 day duration is recommended. Typically delegates will have already used one or more of the C family of languages, such as C++, Java, C# or Perl. If the course is delivered in a UNIX environment familiarity with the Korn shell and VI text editor is required.

List of Modules

Introduction to C

The evolution of C and its successors

Key characteristics of the C language

Examples of where C should and should not be used

Structuring C Applications

Performing basic console I/O

Declaring and working with variables

The pre-processor, compiler and linker

Standard options when using the GCC compilers

Understanding pre-processor directives

Placing declarations in header files

Placing definitions in source files

Compilation and linkage errors

Using guards in header files

Basic Programming in C

Integer and floating point types

Enumerations and unions

Basic arrays and structures

Operators, expresions and precedence

Conditional statements and iteration

Managing control flow with break and continue

Understanding and using goto safely

Dependency Management using Make

Introducing the concept of dependency trees

The structure of a simple makefile

Declaring explicit and pseudo rules

Using patterns in explicit rules

Declaring and using variables

Built in rules and variables

Writing recursive makefiles

Functions provided by make

Writing and Calling Functions

Function prototypes and definitions

Matching invocations to prototypes

The purpose and structure of a call stack

Making use of recursive functions

Declaring functions as inline

Using variable argument lists via stdarg.h

Pointers and Storage Management

Storage class specifiers in C

Understanding variable length arrays

Declaring and dereferencing pointers

The NULL macro and 0 address

The purpose of the void pointer type

Working with pointers to arrays

Working with pointers to structures

Practical uses of pointers to pointers

The const keyword and pointers

Differentiating 'const pointers' and 'pointer to const'

Declaring pointers to functions

Simplifying function pointers via typedef

Using function pointers to implement callbacks

Dynamically allocating memory from the heap

Handling out of memory conditions

String Manipulation in C

Making sense of strings as arrays of char

Understanding how string literals are compiled and used

Built in functions for manipulating strings

Using sprintf to format output

Common problems when working with strings

Support for wide characters and strings

File Access in C

Safely opening and closing files

Performing random access within a file

Reading and writing plain and formatted data