Slides

Part I: The Foundation

Goal: Understand the syntax, basic data representation, and compilation. 1. Introduction to C

• The “Hello, World” Program: Structure of a C program (main function, headers).
• Compilation: How to compile and run (cc command).
• Variables & Arithmetic: Declarations, assignment, and basic arithmetic operators.
• Symbolic Constants: Using #define to avoid magic numbers. 2. Types, Operators, and Expressions
• Data Types: int, float, char, short, long, double.
• Constants: Integer, floating-point, character, and string constants.
• Operators:
  • Arithmetic (+, -, *, /, %).
  • Relational and Logical (>, ==, &&, ||).
  • Increment/Decrement (++, --).
  • Bitwise Operators (&, |, ^, <<, >>).
• Type Conversions: Implicit vs. Explicit (Casting).

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Part II: Control Flow & Logic

Goal: Controlling the execution path of the code. 3. Decision Making

• Conditional Statements: if, else, else-if.
• Multi-way Selection: The switch statement. 4. Loops
• Iteration: while, for, and do-while loops.
• Loop Control: break and continue.

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Part III: Modular Programming

Goal: Organizing code into reusable blocks. 5. Functions

• Basics: Definitions, prototypes, and return values.
• Arguments: Call by Value mechanism.
• Scope Rules: External (global) vs. Automatic (local) variables.
• Recursion: Functions calling themselves. 6. The C Preprocessor
• File Inclusion: #include.
• Macro Substitution: #define with arguments.
• Conditional Compilation: #if, #ifdef.

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Part IV: Memory & Data Management

Goal: Mastering C’s most powerful (and dangerous) features. 7. Arrays and Pointers

• Arrays: Declaration, initialization, and indexing.
• Pointers Basics: Addresses (&), Dereferencing (*).
• Pointer Arithmetic: Traversing arrays with pointers.
• Character Arrays: Strings as arrays of characters.
• Command-line Arguments: Handling argc and argv. 8. Dynamic Memory (from Standard Library)
• Storage Management: malloc, calloc, and free.

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Part V: User-Defined Types

Goal: Creating complex data structures. 9. Structures

• Basics: Defining struct, member access (.).
• Structures and Pointers: The arrow operator (->).
• Arrays of Structures: Creating tables.
• Typedef: Creating new type names. 10. Unions & Bit-fields
• Unions: Storing different types in the same memory.
• Bit-fields: Accessing specific bits within a word.

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Part VI: Interaction & System Interface

Goal: Communicating with files and the operating system. 11. Input and Output

• Standard I/O: printf, scanf, getchar, putchar.
• File I/O: fopen, fclose, getc, putc. 12. The UNIX System Interface
• Low-Level I/O: File descriptors, read, write.
• File Operations: open, creat, close, unlink.

Why this order?

1. Consolidates “Intro” material: It takes the concepts from Chapter 1 (Tutorial) and moves them into their specific technical chapters (e.g., Arrays are moved from Ch 1 to the Pointers/Arrays module).
2. Logical Progression: It moves from Syntax → Logic → Structure → Memory → Data → System.
3. Delayed Complexity: It pushes “Pointers” (the hardest topic) to the middle, after the audience understands basic variables and memory scope.