Vinay's World of Programming
C Tutorial
If you're ready to start right away, click this link, otherwise, read the
read the following text to find out more about what you need to have and
know.
Click here to start
About My C Tutorial
While browsing the web, I've often come across several C Tutorials. However,
most of them seemed to me aimed more at getting one started with the language
rather than actually completely covering it.
I'm trying to change that. I've dealt with all topics in great detail and
offered plenty of explanation on each topic. This C tutorial is almost like
an online book. I've tried to ensure that nothing of any importance is omitted.
I've tried to present the material in a natural and easy to follow sequence.
It is quite a common feature of this tutorial for a topic to be just introduced first, and then dealt with in greater detail in a later chapter. This is done to ensure that the logical flow if the tutorial is not
disturbed. Sometimes the basics of another topic are necessary to properly demonstrate the subject at hand. On the whole I've tried to avoid taking large stepa to make learning easy and fun.
Any suggestions or comments would be more than welcome.
My Assumptions About You
While writing this tutorial, I've made the following assumptions about you,
the reader:
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You are familiar with the computer, and the operating environment you use.
In other words, you know how to create text files, run programs and other
such tasks, and are familiar with exploring menus, and the likes.
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I have assumed no prior programming knowledge. However any knowledge of other
languages like BASIC, or Pascal will make it easier for you to get the hang
of C programming, because programming is not about learning the syntax and
commands of various languages... it is about putting what you know together
to get what you want.
What you need
You will need the following software to compile and run the programs:
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An ANSI C compiler. This is a program that converts C programs to binary
object modules that can later be converted to an executable program. Commercial
compilers like Borland and Microsoft are very powerful, and you will probably
want to use thenm ultimately. But if you don't have a C compiler yet,
several shareware and freeware compilers are available on the internet.
Some freeware/shareware compilers are listed on the
download page. I recommend
Pacific C
(697kb) by Hi-Tech Software.
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A linker. This is program that converts object modules created by the compiler
to an executable program. i.e. EXE or COM files on DOS/Win95 systems. A linker
is provided with all commercial compilers, but not with most shareware compilers.
Some freeware/shareware linkers are available on the
download page. NOTE: Pacific C includes a linker.
Companion Books
Although you don't actually need any book to go along with the C Tutorial,
you might find it useful or easier to follow if you had one with you.
Check out some of the books in the Books Section.
I recommend "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan & Ritchie. It is
the main reference book I've used in preparing this tutorial.
Introduction
Today, most professional and hobbyist programming is done in C (or its extension
C++). While C is extremely powerful and versatile, its is also quite easy
to learn. If you are interested in learning programming, C is the place to
start. Once you have reasonably mastered C, you can go on to learn C++ and
learn to program under windows.
This tutorial is designed to teach you to write programs in ANSI C, the original
C standard. This means that the programs you learn to write here will work
on any platform (DOS, Macintosh, Unix etc.) for which you can find a C compiler.
(However, since rest of my site refer only to DOS/Windows programming I will
deal with the specifics of DOS only.) While most compilers available today,
like Borland and Microsoft have greatly expanded the capabilities of C, at
their heart, they still contain good old ANSI C. Once you've covered this
tutorial, you should be in a position to explore the additional capabilities
of your compiler, and write more sophisticated and powerful programs.
Conventions Used
I've used a consistant style and used certain conventions throughout the C Tutorial, and indeed the whole website:
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This gives indications of problems, for example a page under construction, or an incompatible browser.
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Analogous to footnotes in a book, this is usually a side discussion related to the topic at hand. It may be used to clarify or highlight a certain point, or provide a little extra information or explanation that is not strictly required at the moment.
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Program listings and keywords are printed in a monospaced font like this, to make them clear and unambiguous.
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New terms introduced are printed in italics.
Getting Started
If you've obtained all required programs (compiler, linker etc.) you are
now ready to start the tutorial.