Joanna Klukowska

joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

Notes include some materials provided by Andrew Case, Jinyang Li, Mohamed Zahran, and the textbooks.
Reading materials

Chapters 1-6 in The C Programming Language, by B.W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie

Section 1.2 and Aside on page 4 in Computer Systems, A Programmers Perspective by R.E. Bryant and D.R. OHallaron

Contents
1

Intro to C and Unix/Linux

1.1

Why C? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2

C vs. Java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.3

Software Development Process (Not Only in C) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.4

Basic Unix Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

First C Program and Stages of Compilation

2.1

Writing and running hello world in C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2

Hello world line by line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.3

What really happens when we compile a program? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Basics of C

3.1

Data types (primitive types) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.2

Using printf to print different data types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3.3

Control flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.4

Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.5

Variable scope

3.6

Header files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Pointers

16

4.1

Pointer Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4.2

Pointers and functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4.3

Pointers and static arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

4.4

Pointers, functions and arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Strings in C

22

5.1

Length of a string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

5.2

Copying a string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

5.3

Concatenating/Appending strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

5.4

string.h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
6

Multidimensional Arrays

25

Structures

26

7.1

struct

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

7.2

Pointers to structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

7.3

Structures and functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

7.4

Creating simple data structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

7.5

typedef - not really a structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Memory Management

30

8.1

malloc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

8.2

free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

8.3

Revised linked list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Reading Input Data

32

10 Summary

33

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

Intro to C and Unix/Linux

Brian W. Kernighan

Dennis M. Ritchie

In 1972 Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs writes C and in 1978 the publication of The C Programming Language by Kernighan & Ritchie
caused a revolution in the computing world.

1.1

Why C?

Mainly because it produces code that runs nearly as fast as code written in assembly language, but is a high level programming language.
Some examples of the use of C:
Operating Systems
Language Compilers
Assemblers
Text Editors
Print Spoolers
Network Drivers
Language Interpreters
Utilities

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

1.2

C vs. Java

Java

procedure oriented

object oriented

compiled to machine code

- runs directly on the machine

compiled to bytecode

- runs within another piece of softeware: JVM (Java virtual machine)

manual memory management

automatic memory management with garbage collection

About C
Hardware independent
Programs portable to most computers (in source code format, not executable format)
Case-sensitive
Four stages of software development:
Editing: Writing the source code by using some IDE or editor
Preprocessing or libraries: Already available routines
Compiling: translates or converts source to object code for a specific platform source code - object code
Linking: resolves external references and produces the executable module

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

1.3

Software Development Process (Not Only in C)

1.4

Basic Unix Commands

In this class you will be working a lot in a command line or terminal environment.

When you log in to a computer system remotely, very often this is the only way of interacting with the computer.
Finding your way around Unix/Linux
Whenever you are logged into a Unix/Linux system, you have a unique, special directory called your current or present working
directory (PWD for short). The present working directory is where you are in the file system at the moment, i.e., the directory that
you feel like you are currently in. This is more intuitive when you are working with the command line, but it carries over to the
graphical user interface (GUI) as well.

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

Figure 1: Partial directory structure on a typical Linux/Unix system.

Many commands operate on the PWD if you do not give them an argument. We say that the PWD is their default argument. (Defaults
are fall-backs what happens when you dont do something.) For example, when you enter the ls command (list files) without an
argument, it displays the contents of your PWD. The dot . is the name of the PWD:
ls .
and
ls
both display the files in the PWD, first one because the name of the directory is provided, second one because it is the default behavior
for ls.
When you first login, your present working directory is set to your home directory. Your home directory is a directory created for you
by the system administrator. It is the top level of the part of the file system that belongs to you. You can create files and directories
within your home directory, but usually nowhere else. Usually your home directorys name is the same as your username.
In Unix/Linux, files are referred to by pathnames. A pathname is like a generalization of the files name. A pathname specifies the
location of the file in the file system by its position in the hierarchy. In Unix/Linux, a forward slash / separates successive directory
and file names in the pathname, as in:
joannakl/Data/NYU Teaching/website/csci201/daily.php
There are two kinds of pathnames: absolute pathnames, and relative pathnames. The absolute pathname is the unique name for the file
that starts at the root of the file system. It always starts with a forward slash:
/home/joannakl/Data/NYU Teaching/website/csci201/daily.php

A relative pathname is a pathname to a file relative to the PWD. It never starts with a slash: if the PWD is /home/joannakl/Data/NYU Teach
then the relative path to the file daily.php is website/csci201/daily.php.
Dot-dot or .. is a shorthand name for the parent directory. The parent directory is the one in which the directory is contained. It is the
one that is one level up in the file hierarchy. If my PWD is currently /home/joannakl/Data/NYU Teaching, then .. is the
directory /home/joannakl/Data and ../../ is the directory /home/joannakl.
Unix/Linux commands to get you started
man command display a manual page (or simply help) for the command (this is the easiest way to learn about options to the commands
that you know and about new commands)
pwd print the name of the present working directory
ls list content of the current working directory

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
ls dir name list content of the directory named dir name
cd dir name cd stands for change directory, changes the current working directory to dir name
cd .. move one directory up in the directory tree
cd change the current working directory to your home directory

cp file1 file2 copy file1 into file2, where file1 and file2 can be either relative or complete path names
mv file1 file2 move file1 into file2, where file1 and file2 can be either relative or complete path names
rm file remove a file (there is no undoing it, so be very careful!)
mkdir path make a directory at the specified path
rmdir path remove the directory specified by the path (there is no undoing it, so be very careful!)
file file name determine the type of a file
less file name view the file in the terminal
more file name view the file in the terminal
cat file name(s) concatenate files and print them to standard output

First C Program and Stages of Compilation

2.1

Writing and running hello world in C

The usual first program in any language is the Hello World program. Here it is in C:
1
2

#include <stdio.h>

3
4
5
6

int main()
{
printf("hello world\n");
}
How do we actually write, compile and run the program?
1. Write the code in your favorite text editor (make sure it is a text editor, not rich text or any other document format that allows text
formatting). For example: Emacs, gedit, geany, vi, sublime, .... Save and name your file. The C source code files usually have .c
extension. Their name can be anything (should be something that is related to what the program does).
2. Run the compiler to convert the program to executable code (or binary):
gcc -Wall -g -o programName programSource.c
gcc is the name of the compiler.
-Wall is an option of gcc that tells it to generate and print all warnings (its always good to know what they are).
-g option tells gcc to generate debugging information (we will need that fairly soon).
-o programName option tells gcc to save the executable code in the file named programName. If you do not provide this
option, gcc will save your executable code in the file named a.out - this file gets overwritten without warning when the
same program or a different program is compiled in the same directory.
programSource.c is the name of the text file that contains the source code.
3. If any errors occur during step 2, go back to step 1, fix the errors and recompile. If any warnings occur during step 2, read through
them and decide if they need fixing.

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
4. Run the program: this is done using the following syntax
./programName

(Given your environment setup, you may be able to run the program by typing only the name of the program without ./ )
5. If errors occur during running of your program, go back to step 1 and fix them.

2.2

Hello world line by line

Lets look at the hello world program line by line. Here it is again (in a slightly different version):
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

#include <stdio.h>
/* A simple C p r o g r a m */

int main( int argc, char ** argv )

{
printf("hello world\n");
return 0;
}
Line 1 #include inserts another file. \.h" files are called header files. They contain stuff needed to interface to libraries and code
in other \.c" files.
Line 2 this is a comment
Line 3 The main() function is always where your program starts running. The parameters are optional. They are a way for the
program to read the options/arguments provided on the command line.
Lines 4, 7 The body of any function (main() is a function) is enclosed in curly braces.
Line 5 printf() function prints the formatted text to the screen.
Line 6 This returns 0 from this function.

2.3

What really happens when we compile a program?

The compilation occurs in three steps: preprocessing, actual compilation (convert to assembly and then binary) and then linking.
During preprocessing, source code is expanded into a larger form that is simpler for the compiler to understand. Any line that starts
with # is a line that is interpreted by the preprocessor.
Include files are pasted in (#include).
Macros are expanded (#define)
Comments are stripped out ( /* */ , // )
Continued lines are joined ( )
We can run only this stage by proving the -E option to gcc. Assuming that our program above is saved as hello.c, running
gcc -E hello.c > hello.i
produces another text file called hello.i. This file contains over 800 lines. Thats because the entire file stdio.h is pasted at the
beginning. If we scroll all the way down, we find our own program at the bottom. It does not include the comments though.
During the compilation, the compiler reads the code and makes sure that it is syntactically correct. The compilation itself can be viewed
as two steps: 1) create the assembly code and then create the executable code. We can tell gcc to stop right after the first stage and look
at the assembly code by using the following options:

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

gcc -S hello.c
By default, the output is written to a file with .s extension. hello.s file is fairly short. It contains the assembly instructions. It may
look like this:
.file "hello.c"
.section .rodata
.LC0:
.string "hello world"
.text
.globl main
.type main, @function
main:
.LFB0:
.cfi_startproc
pushq %rbp
.cfi_def_cfa_offset 16
.cfi_offset 6, -16
movq %rsp, %rbp
.cfi_def_cfa_register 6
subq $16, %rsp
movl %edi, -4(%rbp)
movq %rsi, -16(%rbp)
movl $.LC0, %edi
call puts
movl $0, %eax
leave
.cfi_def_cfa 7, 8
ret
.cfi_endproc
.LFE0:
.size main, .-main
.ident "GCC: (GNU) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-3)"
.section .note.GNU-stack,"",@progbits
The second part of compilation converts the above assembly code into the executable code. To tell gcc to stop after that stage, we can
use -c option. Running
gcc -c hello.c
produces hello.o file (this is called an object file). It is no longer a text file, so trying to look at it will produce gibberish (and many
editors will refuse displaying it). It contains the executable version of our hello.c program.
The final step is linking. At this point the executable code for our hello.c program exists, but it needs to be linked together with the
code from C libraries (this is where printf lives, for example). Our original gcc command runs all of the steps above (including the
linking) and produces a runnable binary file.

Basics of C

If you know any other programming language you should be able to read simple C programs and understand what they do. In this section
we will quickly review the basics and look at a few code examples.

3.1

Data types (primitive types)

The following table lists the data types in C together with their minimum size (in bytes) on a 32-bit and 64-bi systems.

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
type

size (32bit)

size (64bit)

example

char

char c = a;

short

short s = 175;

int

int i = 2147483647;

long

long int l = 2147483647;

long long

long long int ll = 9223372036854775807;

float

float f = 1.0;

double

double d = 1.0;

pointer

int *x = NULL;

Notice that there is no type to represent Boolean data. Instead, C uses int or char to represent true/false. The value of zero is always
interpreted as false, any other value is interpreted as true. For example:
1
2
3
4
5

int i = 0;
if (i)
/* same as i !=0 */
printf("true");
else
printf("false");

3.2

Using printf to print different data types

The printf function provides way of printing values of variables of different data types. We need to know the format specifier that printf
expects for each given type. The very basic printf calls using all of the types mentioned in the previous section are listed below:
char c = a;
short s = 32767;
int i = 2147483647;
long int l = 2147483647;
long long int ll = 9223372036854775806;
float f = 1.0;
double d = 1.0;
int *iptr = NULL;
char* string = "test string";
printf("c: %c\n", c);
printf("s: %i\n", s);
printf("i: %i\n", i);
printf("l: %li\n", l);
printf("ll: %lli\n", ll);
printf("f: %f\n", f);
printf("d: %f\n", d);
printf("iptr: %p\n", iptr);
printf("string: %s\n", string);
See types.c.

10

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

3.3

Control flow

Selection statements
The syntax of the if, if ... else ... and switch statements should be familiar from other programming languages. In C the
expression in the switch statement has to have an integral value (int, char, or anything else that evaluates to an integer).
if (...) {
...
}
-----------------------if (...)
...
else if
...
else
...
-----------------------switch (c) {
case a :
x = A;
break;
case b :
x = B;
break;
...
default:
break;
}

Repetition/loops
C also has three different loops: for loop, while loop, and do ...
the control variable has to be declared before the loop.
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
print("i=%d\n",i);
}
-----------------------int i = 10;
while (i > 0) {
print("i=%d\n",i);
i--;
}
-----------------------int i = 10
do {
print("i=%d\n",i);
i--;
} while (i > 0)

11

while loop. One thing to remember about the for loop is that

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
Jump statements

C provides break and continue statements. Both of them can be used with loops. break can also be used in a switch statement.
break immediately jump to the next statement after the loop or after the switch statement
continue immediately jump to the next iteration of the loop
C also has another way of jumping in the code. It is the goto statment. One can specify labels in the code as in the example below and
the goto statement immediately moves to the line following the label.
for (...) {
for (...) {
...
if (disater)
goto LABEL_1;
}
}
LABEL_1:
...
Do not use goto statements in your code. They are considered to be bad programming style at this point and result in code that
is hard to debug and trace.

3.4

Functions

The file that contains main function can also contain other functions.
In C functions cannot be defined within other functions. A function has to be declared before it is used.
1 #include <stdio.h>
2 int modulo(int x, int
3
4 int
5{
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14 }

divisor);

// F u n c t i o n

declaration

main()
int x = 10;
int divisor = 2;
printf("%d mod %d = %d\n", x, divisor,
modulo(x,divisor));
divisor = 3;
printf("%d mod %d = %d\n", x, divisor,
modulo(x,divisor));
return 0;

15
16 / * c o m p u t e s t h e r e m a i n d e r f r o m d i v i d i n g x b y d i v i s o r * /
17 int modulo(int x, int divisor)
18 {
19
/* i t e r a t i v e v e r s i o n */
20
while (x >= divisor) {
21
22
23
24
25
26
27

x -= divisor;
}
return x;
/* r e c u r s i v e

v e r s i o n */

if (x < divisor)
return x;

12

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
else
return modulo(x - divisor, divisor);

28
29
30 }

We can also create functions in multiple files. If functionA uses functionB which is defined in another file, then one of the following
has to be true:
functionB is declared in a file that defines functionA (before functionB is used)
the file that contains functionA includes a header file that declares functionB (we will look at header files soon)

3.5

Variable scope

Variable Scope: global/external variables

Scope rules:
The scope of a variable/function name is the part of the program within which the name can be used
A global (external) variable or functions scope lasts from where it is declared to end of the file
A local (automatic) variables scope is within the function or block

int x;
void foo(int y) {
y++;
x++;
/* x is a c c e s s i b l e b e c a u s e it is in global scope */
}
void bar() {
y = 1; / * w r o n g - t h e r e i s n o y i n t h i s s c o p e * /
x = 1; / * x i s a c c e s s i b l e b e c a u s e i t i s i n g l o b a l s c o p e * /
}
Demo (scope.c): What if we change all ys to xs?
void foo(int y) {
if (y > 10) {
int i;
for (i = 0; i < y; i++) {
...
}
}
else {
y++;
// i is out of scope here

}
}

13

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
Global/Local Variable Initialization In the absence of explicit initialization
global and static variables are guaranteed to be initialized to zero
local variables have undefined initial value !!!
Definition vs. declaration of a global (external) variable
Declaration specifies the type of a variable.
Definition also set aside storage for the variable.

The following example uses an external/global variable and a function both defined in a file different than main function.
add.c
-------------------int counter = 0;
void add_one() {
counter++;
}

program.c
-------------------#include <stdio.h>
extern int counter;
void add_one();
int main() {
printf("counter is %d\n", counter);
add_one();
add_one();
printf("counter is %d\n", counter);
return 0;
}
The two file program can be compiled using
gcc add.c program.c

-o program

or using separate compilation (each file compiled individually)

gcc -c -Wall -g add.c
gcc -c -Wall -g program.c
gcc add.o program.o -o program

WARNING: Avoid global/external variables (constants are fine)! They are considered bad programming style. Use of globals results in
programs that are hard to debug and trace: just imagine how many different functions can possibly be modifying the value of a global
variable.

14

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

static keyword The keyword static limits a scope of a global variable to within the rest of the source file in which it is declared.
If we add the keyword static to the declaration of counter in add.c above, the counter variable will no longer be accessible
from program.c.
The other use of keyword static allows the variable (global or local) to preserve its value between function calls. If the variable is
declared with keyword static the initialization is performed only once.
add_2.c
-------------------#include <stdio.h>
void add_one() {
static int counter = 0;
counter++;
printf("counter is %d\n", counter);
}
program_2.c
-------------------void add_one();
int main() {
add_one();
add_one();
return 0;
}

3.6

Header files

Header files contain declarations of functions and globals that can be included in other source code files. The header files name usually
matches the name of the file that provides the source code (the definitions) and ends with .h extension.
We could rewrite the example from the previous section by adding a header file as follows:
add.c
-------------------int counter = 0;
void add_one() {
counter++;
}
add.h
-------------------extern int counter;
void add_one();

program.c
-------------------#include <stdio.h>
#include "add.h"
int main() {
printf("counter is %d\n", counter);
add_one();

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
add_one();
printf("counter is %d\n", counter);
return 0;
}

Notice that the file program.c no longer needs to repeat all the declarations, it simply includes the file add.h. The name of that file
is included in quotes - this tells gcc to look for that file in a local directory, rather than in the locations of standard header files on your
machine.

Pointers

The programs memory can be viewed as an array of bytes:

an array has indexes, memory has addresses
each variable takes up 1, 2, 4, or 8 bytes according to its size
We can use pointers to store memory addresses and access this memory array.

4.1

Pointer Basics

A pointer is a variable that stores a memory address and can be used to access that memory address (and more). Pointers in C have the
type information associated with them: a pointer storying an address of an integer is different than a pointer that stores an address of
float.
To declare a pointer variable we add a star to the name of the variable:
type1 *varName1;
type2 * varName2;
type3 *varName3, * varName4;
Note that the spacing around the star does not matter, but there has to be one star per name, if more than one pointer variable is declared
in the same statement.
The value of of a pointer variable has to be a memory address of another variable (could be a pointer) or null to indicate that the
pointer does not point to anything. To obtain a memory address of a variable we use the & operator: given a variable x, &x is the memory
address of x.
Example:
int x = 5;
int y = 17;

// r e g u l a r
// r e g u l a r

int *p, *q;

// two p o i n t e r s that can store

// of int v a r i a b l e s

p = \&x;
q = null;

// p now stores the a d d r e s s of x

// q does not store any a d d r e s s

variable
variable
memory

addresses

We can use a pointer variable to access the value stored at the address that the pointer itself stores (I know, this sounds complicated). To
do so we need to use a dereference/indirection operator, which is the * again.
Example continued:

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joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
*p = 7;

// c h a n g e s the value

stored in x to 7;

printf("x = %d", x);

printf("*p = %d", *p); / / b o t h p r i n t f s t a t e m e n t s p r i n t t h e v a l u e
// of x v a r i a b l e

*q = 3;

// ERROR ! , cannot

dereference a null

pointer !

Notice the two new operators that we just introduced:

& address of operator gives the address of a variable that follows it
* has two uses: 1) in pointer declarations, 2) as a dereference operator to access the value of the variable that the pointer points to

4.2

Pointers and functions

In C, function arguments are passed by value (like in Java) - what does that entail?
Problem: How would you write a simple swap() function that exchanges the values of its two arguments (in Java or in C)?
Attempt #1: This code seems like it should work, but it does not. Why?
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#include <stdio.h>
void swap(int x, int y);
int main()
{
int x = 1;
int y = 2;
printf("x=%d, y=%d\n", x, y);
swap(x,y);
printf("x=%d, y=%d\n", x, y);
return 0;
}
// swaps

values of x and y

void swap(int x, int y)

{
int tmp;
tmp = x;
x = y;
y = tmp;
}

Attempt #2: Use pointers as parameters to the function. This way main() and swap() deal with the same memory locations, even though
they have their own copies of the pointers.
1
2 #include <stdio.h>
3
4 void swap(int *x, int
5
6 int main()
7{

*y);

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
8
9
10
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12
13
14 }
15

int x = 1;
int y = 2;
printf("x=%d, y=%d\n", x, y);
swap(&x, &y);
printf("x=%d, y=%d\n", x, y);
return 0;

16 / / s w a p s v a l u e s o f x a n d y
17 void swap(int *x, int *y)
18 {
19
int tmp;
20
tmp = *x;
21
*x = *y;
22
23 }
24

*y = tmp;

This version of function swap() takes as parameters memory addresses of x and y that are defined in main(). This way it can
manipulate the x and y variables even from within the function: there is only one copy of x and one copy of y in the program. On line
10 of the program, when the function is called, we pass it the &x (address of x) and &y (address of y).
Something to Think About:
DNHI: Would this alternative version of the swap function work? Why? or Why not? Draw what happens in memory when this
swap function is used.
void swap(int *x, int *y)
{
int *tmp;
tmp = x;
x = y;
y = tmp;
}
Note: you can run the code to see its output, but you should also be able to figure this out without running the code, just by analyzing
what happens in memory.

4.3

Pointers and static arrays

A static array in C has a fixed size that cannot be changed after it is declared. The memory is allocated automatically and we do not need
to do anything. Writing
const int size = 10;
int a[size];

creates an array a of 10 integer elements. (We will talk about an alternative way of creating arrays later in the course.)
To populate the array with values, we can use a loop that assigns a value to each location:
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
a[i] = i;
}
We can then print array using its name and subscript notation as follows
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
printf("%d ", a[i]);

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
}

An alternative approach to accessing array locations is to set a pointer to point to the first element in the array
int * pa = &a[0];
and then use that pointer to print array using pointer to the array and subscript notation (!!! you can use a pointer with the subscript
operator)
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
printf("%d ", pa[i]);
}
The array name itself is really a constant pointer to the first element in the array (constant pointer means that its value, i.e. the memory
address it stores, cannot be changed). So we can set a pointer pa1 to be equal to a instead.
int * pa1 = a;
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
printf("%d ", pa1[i]);
}
Yet another way of traversing the array is to advance a pointer through the array by incrementing what it points to (!!! you can
add/subtract values to/from pointers)
int * pa2 = a;
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
printf("%d ", *pa2);
pa2 = pa2+1; / / t h i s a d d s e n o u g h b y t e s t o s t o r e a n i n t t o p a 2
}
And if we wish to traverse an array backwards, we set the pointer to the last location in the array and keep on moving it towards the front
int * pa3 = a + size-1;
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
printf("%d ", *pa3);
pa3 = pa3-1; / / t h i s a d d s e n o u g h b y t e s t o s t o r e a n i n t t o p a 2
}
See array.c for all of the examples mentioned above.
Something to Think About:
DNHI:
1) Write a loop that traverses the array backwards, but uses a pointer that is initialized to the first element in the array.
2) Write a loop that traverses the array and uses a pointer that is initialized to the first element in the array, but does not modify where
that pointer points to.
Summary of pointer arithmetic and arrays
Assume that we have an array of integers and a pointer to an array as follows:
int a[10]; / / i n i t i a l i z e d w i t h v a l u e s s o m e w h e r e
int *pa;
Array name is a constant pointer to the first element in the array. The following two statements are equivalent:
pa = & a[0];
pa = a;
An array name is a constant pointer so it cannot be modified. The following statements are all illegal:

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joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
a++;
a = a+5;
a = pa;

We can perform arithmetic on pointers. Adding a value K to a pointer advaces the memory location that is stored in the pointer by
K times the number of bytes used for storing variables of the pointers type. For example, if type int uses 4 bytes, then
pa=pa+3;
advances pa by 12 bytes.
Subtracting a value from a pointer works in the same way.
The following expressions are all equivalent (assuming pa was assigned value of a and i is an integer between 0 and a declared
size of array a) and point to (contain the address of) the ith element of array a:
& a[i]
a + i
& pa[i]
pa + i
The following expressions are all equivalent (assuming pa was assigned value of a and i is an integer between 0 and a declared
size of array a) and are values of the ith element of array a:
a[i]
*(a+i)
pa[i]
*(pa+i)

Casting pointers
Pointer (as other types) can be cast to another type.
Try to figure out what the following program does, then run it and see if your prediction was correct. Make sure you understand why the
print statement produces what it does.
casting.c:
------------------------#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int x[] = {65, 66, 67, 68, 69};
char *p = (char * ) x;
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 5; i ++ ) {
printf ( "%c ", *(p+i) );
}
printf("\n");
return 0;
}
Replace the printf() on line 11 with
printf ( "%d

", *( (int*) (p) +i));

Can you figure out what the code will print right now?

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joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

4.4

Pointers, functions and arrays

When passing an array to a function, we are really passing the pointer to the first element of the array. The following two function
declarations are equivalent (well, almost):
int sumElements( int a[], int size );
int sumElements( int *a, int size );
The function can be used to compute the sum of all of the elements of the array, or any subsequence of the elements within the array.
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#include <stdio.h>
int sumElements (int *a, int size );
int main () {
const int size = 10;
int a[size];
int i;
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
a[i] = i;
}
printf( "sum of all elements in a is %d\n",
sumElements ( a, size ) );
printf( "sum of first 5 elements in a is %d\n",
sumElements ( a, 5 ) );
printf( "sum of last 5 elements in a is %d\n",
sumElements ( a+5, 5 ) );
return 0;
}
// adds size many

e l e m e n t s of array a

int sumElements ( int *a, int size ){

int sum = 0;
int i;
for (i = 0; i < size; i++ ) {
sum = sum + a[i];
}
return sum;
}
See sum.c and sum 2.c for this code and its version that passes int a[] as a parameter to the function.
Something to Think About:
DNHI: Modify the code above to check your answers to the following questions:
1) What happens if sumElements() function modifies the content of array a? Do changes affect the array declared in main().
2) What happens if the size paramter passed to the sumElements() function exceeds the size of the declared array a? Try it by
exceeding the size by small numbers (1, 2, 5, 10) and large numbers (1000).
Make sure you understand what you observed.
Generic swap
We looked at a swap() function that exchanged the values of two integer variables.
How about swapping values of variables of any type - one function that can swap values of type int, long, char, double, float, etc. Some
of you may think of generics, but C does not have generics (or even templates). But we still can write a generic swap() function.

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

The following function uses casts the pointers passed to it to (void *). void * is a pointer to anything. It then swaps item1 and
item2 one byte at a time completely ignoring what those bytes represent.
swap_generic.c (partial):
-------------------------/* *
* swaps values of item1 and item2
* item1 - p o i n t e r to a v a r i a b l e / data s t r u c t u r e
* item2 - p o i n t e r to a v a r i a b l e / a n o t h e r data s t r u c t u r e
of the same type as item1
*
* size - number of bytes used for s t o r y i n g item1 / item2
*
* preconditions : the item1 and item2 use the same number
* of bytes , o t h e r w i s e the r e s u l t s are u n s p e c i f i e d
*/

void swap(void *item1, void *item2, int size) {

// cast to char * which is 1 byte in size

char *x = (char *)item1;

char *y = (char *)item2;
char tmp; / / 1 b y t e o f s t o r a g e
int i;
for (i = 0; i < size; i++) {
// for every byte : swap the byte

tmp = x[i];
x[i] = y[i];
y[i] = tmp;
}
}
See swap generic.c for an example of use of this function.

Strings in C
Two strings walk into a bar and sit down. The bartender says, So whatll it be?
The first string says, I think Ill have a beer quag fulk boorg jdkCjfdLk jk3s d#f67howeowmc63Dz x.xvcu
Please excuse my friend, the second string says, He isnt null-terminated.

A string in C is an array of characters terminated by a null character (\0 ). Every function that performs operations on strings uses
that null character. A missing null character in a string is also the source of most errors (and jokes) related to strings in C.
Whenever we have a double quoted string in a program it is stored as a string constant terminated by a null character. For example:
printf("Hello World!\n");
Writing
char h[] = "hello";
creates and array of 6 characters (yes, 5 letters + a null character). It is equivalent to writing
char h[6]= "hello";
Note that the following lines will compile as well and sometimes even run without obvious problems (at first)

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
char h[5] = "hello";

char h[2] = "hello"; / / t h i s w i l l g e n e r a t e a w a r n i n g , b u t n o t a n e r r o r

In both cases we are writing past the end of the array!

Strings in C are governed by all the same rules as arrays discussed in the previous section.
On the other hand, writing
char *h = "hello";
does not create a new array that h points to. The string constant hello is stored in the same area in memory where globals are stored
and h is just a pointer to that string constant. Attempting to modify such string constant produces undefined results. (Undefined result
implies that the result is unpredictable and depends on the compiler and system used.) For example,
char *s = "hello";
s[0] = H;

does not produce a compiler error, but results in a segmentation fault error during runtime.
The following code has two different string: h1 is an array of characters, h2 is a constant string. It also has a global, y, and local, x,
variables of type int. The memory locations of all four of them are printed out.
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#include <stdio.h>
const int y = 5;
int main () {
int x = 17;
char h1[] = "hello";
char *h2 = "hello";
printf("h1 is
printf("h2 is
printf("\n");
printf(" x is
printf(" y is

at %p\n", h1);
at %p\n", h2);
at %p\n", &x);
at %p\n", &y);

return 0;
}
One possible output is:
h1 is at 0x7fffeb307260
h2 is at 0x4006ac
x is at 0x7fffeb30725c
y is at 0x4006a8

This clearly shows that h2 and y are in a different area of memory than h1 and x.

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

5.1

Length of a string

As mentioned before, most (if not all) functions written for strings make use of the null character. They assume that there is null character
that terminates the string - this is the only way of knowing where the string ends.
The following function can be used to compute the length of the string:
int length(char *str)
{
int length = 0;
while ((*(str + length)) != \0) {
length++;
}
return length;
// array

v e r s i o n : change *( str + length ) to str [ length ]

}
This function looks at every character in string str until it encounters null character.

5.2

Copying a string

How about making a duplicate of a string? Would something like this work?
char *h = "hello";
char *w = h;
Well, we can access the string hello using both *h and *w. But there is only one string in memory. In order to create a true copy/duplicate, we need to do some more work.
void copy(char *src, char *dst) {
while ((*src) != \0) {
*dst = *src;
dst++;
src++;
}
*dst = \0;
}
This code assumes that the string passed as destination, dst, has enough memory associated with it to store all the characters stored in
src. To use this copy function we have to create an array in memory for the second string:
char *h = "hello";
char w[100];
copy(h, w);
Note that this would not work!!!!
char *h = "hello";
char *w;
copy(h, w);

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

5.3

Concatenating/Appending strings

Something to Think About:

DNHI: Write the following functions that operate on null terminated strings (your functions do not need to perform correctly if they
are given strings that are not null terminated).
1) a function that appends src string to the (possibly empty) dst string
void append (char * src, char * dst ) ;
2) a function that appends at most n characters or until null is encountered from the src string to dst string
void appendN (char * src, char * dst, int n ) ;

5.4 string.h
The string.h header file contains declarations of many useful functions for working with null terminated string (all of the ones
mentioned above, among others). You can learn about their names by using the man pages:
man string.h
and then read about specific functions by using man pages for those specific functions, for example:
man strlen

Multidimensional Arrays

In C multidimensional arrays are stored in consecutive memory locations.

We can create a 2D array using the following syntax:
#define ROWS 3
#define COLS 2
int matrix[ROWS][COLS] = { { 1,2}, {3,4}, {5,6} };
We can now traverse this matrix using a traditional for loop. The following code adds all the entries in the above 2D matrix:
for (i = 0; i < ROWS; i ++) {
for (j = 0; j < COLS; j++) {
sum += matrix[i][j];
}
}
But we can also use a pointer to int and treat this matrix as a one dimensional array that is traversed using a single for loop
or a doubly nested for loop
for (i = 0; i < ROWS; i ++) {
for (j = 0; j < COLS; j++) {
sum += p[j*ROWS+i];
}
}
Something to Think About:
DNHI: Follow the above idea to create a 3D array of integers and use a pointer to the first element to traverse the array using a single
loop, a doubly nested loop and a triply nested loop.

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joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
Pointers to pointers as matrices

Creating a variable that stores a memory address of another variable that stores a memory address does not seem significant in itself.
But in view of the relationship between pointers, arrays and strings the pointers to pointers are important. They are a way of creating a
different type of multidimensional arrays.
The following array consists of three pointers to strings and is populated by three strings:
char* names[3] = { "alice", "bob", "clark" };
Each element of this one dimensional array of pointers contains a separate string. The following definition may seem to be equivalent to
the one above, but it is not!
char** names = { "alice", "bob", "clark" }; / / I N C O R R E C T
Use of [] operator guarantees that the memory is allocated properly. The above definition does not allocate memory for all the strings.
But we can use a double pointer to char to access the elements of the array of characters:
char ** p_names = names;
for (i = 0; i < 3; i++ ) {
printf ("%s \t %s \n", names[i], p_names[i] );
}

An example of another multidimensional array is the argv array that can be passed to main() function:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
// alternatiely , char ** argv

{
int i;
// prints the number of c o m m a n d

line

arguments

printf("argc = %d\n", argc);

// prints the values of all the c o m m a n d

line

arguments

for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {

printf("%s ", argv[i]);
}
printf("\n");
}

Structures

7.1 struct
Java and C++ have classes and objects. C has structures - we can think of structures as classes without methods, just a collection of
data items grouped into a single thing. (Warning: the structures in C++ are not exactly the same as structures in C.)
Example of a structure definition (notice the keyword struct):
struct point {
float x;
float y;
}

This gives us a definition for a new type called point with two members x and y. In order to declare a variable of type point we write:
struct point p1;

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
The keyword struct is needed in the declaration of the variable. It should not be omitted.
To access individual coordinates of the point p1 we use the dot operator:
p1.x = 3.5;
p1.y = 8.9;
printf("p1 = (%f,%f)", p1.x, p1.y);
Alternatively, we can write
p1 = {3.5, 8.9};

This is allowed as long as the structure is simple and there is no ambiguity in which value is supposed to be assigned to which structure
member.
Structure definitions can contain any number of members (variables) of any type. This includes pointers. For example:
struct student {
char* id;
char* name;
float gpa;
int num_of_credits;
}
And, of course, there can be a structure whose members are other types of structures. For example a rectangle defined by its two
diagonally opposite corners:
struct rectangle {
struct point c1;
struct point c2;
}

7.2

Pointers to structures

We can create a variable of the type that is a structure and that variable has its own memory address, hence we can use pointers to such
variables as well.
Assuming the point structure from the previous section
struct point p2 = {1.5, -3.1};
struct point *ppoint;
ppoint = & p2;
Using the standard pointer dereference operator we can access the values of the members of p2 using ppoint
(*ppoint).x
(*ppoint).y
The parenthesis are needed since the . operator has higher precedence than the * operator.
But since pointers to structures are very frequently used, there is a shorthand notation for the above (well, you be the judge how shorthand
it is):
ppoint->x
ppoint->y
The arrow operator ->, is a dash followed by the greater than sign.
For example: assume the rectangle structure defined in the previous section. To access the coordinates of the two points using a pointer
to a rectangle, we may write:

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joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
struct rectangle r = { {0,0}, {3,4} };
struct rectangle *pr = &r
printf( t w o corners are (%f,%f) and (%f,%f)
,
(pr->c1).x, (pr->c1).y, (pr->c2).x, (pr->c2).y );

We first use the pointer pr to access a specific point/corner and then use that to access its x and y coordinates.
When you use multiple operators, make sure that it is clear what happens in what order. C has its precedence rules and has no trouble
parsing things like
*p->str++
but most humans reading this will have a hard time deciding what is happening. (p is a pointer to a structure, so -> accesses its member.
str is a member of p and is a pointer itself and * dereferences that pointer. Finally, ++ is applied to the value after dereferencing str.)
It would have been much clearer if the above was written as
(*(p->str))++

7.3

Structures and functions

Structures can be passed to functions either by value or by pointer (just like any other variable). The following function attempts to add
two points by adding the corresponding coordinates (this is vector addition) and returning sum.
struct point addpoints( struct point p1, struct point p2 ) {
p1.x += p2.x;
p1.y += p2.y;
return p1;
}
Something to Think About:
DNHI: Did the coordinates of the point that was passed to it as p1 change? Why or why not? Write a program that demonstrates what
happens.
Another version of this function uses pointers
struct point addpoints( struct point *p1, struct point *p2 ) {
struct point p = { p1->x + p2->x, p1->y + p2->y };
return p;
}
and a slightly modified function adds the two points and stores the result in p1 instead of returning it:
void addpoints( struct point *p1, struct point *p2 ) {
p1->x += p2->x;
p1->y += p2->y;
}

7.4

Creating simple data structures

With structures we can start creating things like linked lists, trees, graphs, etc. The C struct describes the building block (or node)
of such data structure, and separate functions provide their functionalities. Unlike in an object oriented language, the functions and
structures are not combined together into a single thing.
Here is a definition of a node for a linked list
struct node {
char *word;
struct node *next;
}

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CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language

The node can store a word/string and a pointer to the next node in the list. We want to make sure that the next pointer is initialized to
null, unless it is set to a specific node.
A function that adds a node to an existing list needs to take as a parameter a pointer to the node and a pointer to the head of the list.
void addFront(struct node * n, struct node ** head) {
n->next = (*head);
(*head) = n;
}
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#include <stdio.h>
struct node {
char * word;
struct node * next;
};
void addFront(struct node * n, struct node ** head);
int main() {
struct node * head = 0; / / h e a d p o i n t e r f o r t h e l i s t
struct node n1 = { "hello", 0};
struct node n2 = { "cso201", 0};
struct node n3 = { "students", 0} ;

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addFront ( &n1, &head);

addFront ( &n2, &head);
addFront ( &n3, &head);

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struct node * current = head;

while (current != 0 ) {
printf ("%s
", current->word );
current = current->next;
}
printf("\n");
return 0;
}
// ... tbe above

d e f i n i t i o n of a d d F r o n t

Something to Think About:

DNHI: Use the ideas of this section to create a binary tree structure: define a node that can be used for a binary tree, write a function
that adds nodes to the tree and one that performs an inorder traversal of the tree. Write a sample program that tests your sturcture and
methods.

7.5 typedef - not really a structure

Typedefs are a way of creating more convenient or shorter names for existing types . For example,
typedef int * int_pointer;
creates a new type called int_pointer that is equivalent to int * (useful for those who cannot or do not like to keep track of the
stars).
The typedef tends to be often used with the structures.
Rewriting the node structure definition as follows:

29

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
typedef struct {
char * word;
struct node * next;
} node;
allows us to use node as the type name, rather than struct node:
node n;
rather than
struct node n;
Something to Think About:
DNHI: Rewrite the list.c file using the definition of the node with typedef as above.

Memory Management

So far we have been using static memory. This limits the programs that we can write. For example, we needed to decide up front (at
the time of writing the program) how many nodes there are going to be in our linked list. We can write much more interesting programs
once we learn how to manage the memory: request it when we need it and release it when we no longer need it
(the second part is a crucial one in a language like C).

8.1 malloc
The memory allocated dynamically (while the program is running) is in the area of memory reffered to as heap. In Java/C++ we use
the operator new to allocate memory dynamically. In C we use a function called malloc (and its other flavors). The function takes as
a parameter an integer that indicates how many bytes of memory we want and returns a pointer to a newly allocated block of memory of
that size. Occasionally (for one reason or another) malloc is not able to give us what we want. In that case, the call to malloc returns
0 or NULL.
Here are some examples of using malloc:
// a l l o c a t e

memory big enough for an int

int * num = (int *) malloc (sizeof(int) );

// a l l o c a t e

memory big enough for an array of 1000

characters

char * words = (char *) malloc (1000*sizeof(char));

// a l l o c a t e

memory big enough for a node

structure

node * n = (node *) malloc (sizeof(node) );

Before using any of the above allocated memory, we should always check if the memory was actually allocated:
if (num == 0){ / / o r ( n u m = = N U L L )
// ERROR : the memory was not a l l o c a t e d

8.2 free
C does not provide garbage collection. This means that if we allocat a chunk of memory dynamically (i.e., using malloc), we need to
release it when it is no longer needed. If releasing of memory is not done diligently, the programs have memory leaks which decreases
their own performance and, eventually, decreases the performance of the entire machine on which the program runs.
Here are some examples of using free:

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Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
free(num);
free(words);
free(n);

In all of the above cases, the pointer passed to free must point to a memory block that was previously allocated with malloc. If that
is not the case, or if that memory block has been previously freed, the behavior of free is undefined. You may get a segmentation fault,
but this is not guaranteed.

8.3

Revised linked list

The program for a linked list that we wrote previously can be rewritten to use dynamic memory allocation as below. This time the
addFront() function takes care of the creation of the node and we added a function for removing the first node.
Notice: another include statement in this program - this is where malloc and free are declared
1 list2.c:
2 ----------------------------3 #include <stdio.h>
4 #include <stdlib.h>
5
6 struct node {
7
char * word;
8
struct node * next;
9 };
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11 void addFront(char * word, struct node **
12 char* removeFront(struct node ** head);
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15 int
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main() {
struct node * head = 0; / / h e a d p o i n t e r f o r t h e l i s t
char * w1 = "hello";
char * w2 = "cso201";
char * w3 = "students";
addFront ( w1, &head);
addFront ( w2, &head);
addFront ( w3, &head);

struct node * current = head;

while (current != 0 ) {
printf ("%s
", current->word );
current = current->next;
}
printf("\n");

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return 0;
36 }
37
38 void addFront(char
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head);

// a l l o c a t e

* word, struct node ** head) {

memory for storying the node

31

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
struct node *n = (struct node *)malloc(sizeof(struct node));

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// make sure that the memory was allocated ,

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47

/ / i f not , j u s t q u i t

if (n == NULL)
return;
n->word = word;
n->next = (*head);
(*head) = n;

48 }
49
50 char* removeFront(struct node **
51
// check if the list is empty
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if (head == NULL )
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return NULL;
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55
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head) {

// get the p o i n t e r to the first

element

struct node *n = *head;

char *w = n->word;
// a d v a n c e

head

(*head) = n->next;
// free memory

60
61
62 }

allocated for n

free(n);
return w;

Something to Think About:

DNHI: Use the ideas of this section to revise your binary tree structure: define a node that can be used for a binary tree, write a
function that adds nodes to the tree, one that performs an inorder traversal of the tree and one that removes nodes from the tree. Write
a sample program that tests your sturcture and methods.

Reading Input Data

A C program can use the function getchar() to read unformatted input. It returns a single character.
int c;
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF) {
printf("%c", c);
}
The above code will read the input one character at a time and print it back to standard output. The loop ends when the end of file (EOF)
is encountered. One can trigger the end of file character by pressing Ctrl+D in the terminal.
When the input is formatted, scanf() function is much more useful because it can perform a lot of parsing and converting to appropriate
types.
double sum,v;
while (scanf("%lf",&v) == 1)
printf("%.2f\n", sum += v);

The above loop keeps reading in floating point numbers. It accumulates their sum and displays it to standard output.
int day, year;
char month[100];

32

Joanna Klukowska
joannakl@cs.nyu.edu

CSCI-UA 201
Lecture 2: Introduction to C Programming Language
scanf("%s %d, %d", month, &day,

&year);

The above code reads in a data from the user/input file.

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Summary

This concludes our discussion about C specifically as a programming language. We will use it for the rest of the semester and you will
learn other features of the language. The Unix/Linux manual pages are a great resource for documentation. Running, for example, man
malloc provides the documentation for the malloc f unction that is the most specific to the system on which the program is developed.

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