Introduction to C Programming

Overview
The 5 day Introduction to C Programming class is designed to give your Programming staff a good understanding of the C Programming Language. The course is a mix of lectures and practical exercises where students can reinforce the knowledge gained in the lecture sessions.

Pre-Requisites
Prior computer programming experience in either high level or assembly languages, and an understanding of structured programming techniques.

Audience
Programmers who are required to write programs in the C Language.

Student Numbers
The maximum recommended student to instructor ratio is 12:1

Objectives
On completion of the syllabus students will be able, with the aid of course notes, to:

· Write, compile, test and execute C Programs.
· Declare and update variables using standard data types, structures and arrays.
· Control the logic and flow of a C program.
· Write functions that accept arguments and pointers to arguments.
· Write programs using the C run time library.
· Identify common programming errors.

Course Content

Why C?		Portability Efficiency Structure Standard Libraries
A Sample Program		The layout of a C Program Comments Declaring Variables Naming Conventions
C data types		Characters Integers Floating Point/Doubles
Standard terminal I/O		printf, scanf, gets, puts, getchar, putchar. Using an address vs data
Strings		Declaring and using strings The null terminator Built in string functions
Storage Classes		Automatic, register, static and external The pitfalls of incorrect types of data
Operators and Expressions		True and False Numeric & Relational Operators
Structures		Why structures? Declaring a structure template Declaring structure variables Structure pointers Arrays of structures
Unions		What is a union? Declaring a union template Declaring union variables Union pointers Arrays of unions
The Precedence Table		Operator Precedence Associativity
Data Conversion		Types of data revisited Casting data
Functions		Declaring a function prototype Pass by value Returning a value Scope of data
Decision Making		If/else constructs Nested if statements Using a switch statement The conditional operator
Logical Operators		Boolean Conditions Not And Or
Arrays		Declaring arrays Manipulating arrays Multidimensional arrays
Pointers - an introduction		Declaring pointers Pointers and arrays Derefencing pointers Pointer arithmetic
Looping		while, do and for loops Multiple loop variables break and continue
Functions revisited		Pass by Reference Passing array pointers
Library Functions		Review the standard C library Math functions String functions Input/Output Memory functions Error Handling Time functions
Pointers revisited		Dynamic Memory Allocation Using Linked Lists Pointers to pointers.
Miscellaneous		Bit manipulation Typedef Enumerated data types Header files
The Pre Processor		Tokens Writing and using macros Conditional Compilations