C - Variables: Type Desc Ription

C - VARIABLES
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A variable is nothing but a name g iven to a storag e area that our prog rams can manipulate. Each variable in C has
a specific type, which determines the size and layout of the variable's memory; the rang e of values that can be
stored within that memory; and the set of operations that can be applied to the variable.
T he name of a variable can be composed of letters, dig its, and the underscore character. It must beg in with
either a letter or an underscore. Upper and lowercase letters are distinct because C is case-sensitive. Based on
the basic types explained in previous chapter, there will be the following basic variable types:
T ype
Desc ription
char
T ypically a sing le octet(one byte). T his is an integ er type.
int
T he most natural size of integ er for the machine.
float
A sing le-precision floating point value.
double
A double-precision floating point value.
void
Represents the absence of type.
C prog ramming lang uag e also allows to define various other types of variables, which we will cover in
subsequent chapters like Enumeration, Pointer, Array, Structure, Union, etc. For this chapter, let us study only
basic variable types.
Variable Definition in C:
A variable definition means to tell the compiler where and how much to create the storag e for the variable. A
variable definition specifies a data type and contains a list of one or more variables of that type as follows:
type variable_list;
Here, type must be a valid C++ data type including char, w_char, int, float, double, bool or any user-defined
object, etc., and variable_list may consist of one or more identifier names separated by commas. Some valid
declarations are shown here:
int
char
float
double
i, j, k;
c, ch;
f, salary;
d;
T he line int i, j, k; both declares and defines the variables i, j and k; which instructs the compiler to create
variables named i, j and k of type int.
Variables can be initialized (assig ned an initial value) in their declaration. T he initializer consists of an equal sig n
followed by a constant expression as follows:
type variable_name = value;
Some examples are:

extern int d = 3, f = 5;
int d = 3, f = 5;
byte z = 22;
char x = 'x';
//
//
//
//
declaration of
definition and
definition and
the variable x
d and f.
initializing d and f.
initializes z.
has the value 'x'.
For definition without an initializer: variables with static storag e duration are implicitly initialized with NULL (all
For definition without an initializer: variables with static storag e duration are implicitly initialized with NULL (all
bytes have the value 0); the initial value of all other variables is undefined.
Variable Declaration in C:
A variable declaration provides assurance to the compiler that there is one variable existing with the g iven type
and name so that compiler proceed for further compilation without needing complete detail about the variable. A
variable declaration has its meaning at the time of compilation only, compiler needs actual variable declaration at
the time of linking of the prog ram.
A variable declaration is useful when you are using multiple files and you define your variable in one of the files
which will be available at the time of linking of the prog ram. You will use extern keyword to declare a variable at
any place. T houg h you can declare a variable multiple times in your C prog ram but it can be defined only once in a
file, a function or a block of code.
Example
T ry following example, where variables have been declared at the top, but they have been defined and initialized
inside the main function:
#include <stdio.h>
// Variable declaration:
extern int a, b;
extern int c;
extern float f;
int main ()
{
/* variable definition: */
int a, b;
int c;
float f;
/* actual initialization */
a = 10;
b = 20;
c = a + b;
printf("value of c : %d \n", c);
f = 70.0/3.0;
printf("value of f : %f \n", f);
return 0;
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:
value of c : 30
value of f : 23.333334
Same concept applies on function declaration where you provide a function name at the time of its declaration and
its actual definition can be g iven anywhere else. For example:
// function declaration
int func();
int main()
{
// function call
int i = func();
}
// function definition
int func()
{
return 0;
}
Lvalues and Rvalues in C:

T here are two kinds of expressions in C:
1. lvalue : An expression that is an lvalue may appear as either the left-hand or rig ht-hand side of an
assig nment.
2. rvalue : An expression that is an rvalue may appear on the rig ht- but not left-hand side of an assig nment.
Variables are lvalues and so may appear on the left-hand side of an assig nment. Numeric literals are rvalues and
so may not be assig ned and can not appear on the left-hand side. Following is a valid statement:
int g = 20;
But following is not a valid statement and would g enerate compile-time error:
10 = 20;

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C - VARIABLES

http://www.tuto rialspo int.co m/cpro g ramming /c_variable s.htm

Co pyrig ht tuto rials po int.co m

T ypically a sing le octet(one byte). T his is an integ er type.

T he most natural size of integ er for the machine.

A sing le-precision floating point value.

A double-precision floating point value.

Represents the absence of type.

Some examples are:

Lvalues and Rvalues in C:

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