IT101 IT Fundamentals

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Questions and Answers

Who created the programming language C?

Guido van Rossum

Dennis Ritchie (correct)

James Gosling

Bjarne Stroustrup

What makes C a popular choice for learning other programming languages?

It has additional features like automatic memory management.

It requires advanced programming knowledge to understand.

It is an object-oriented language.

Its syntax is similar to many other languages. (correct)

Which of the following best states a primary difference between C and C++?

C supports classes and objects.

C++ is a structured, low-level language.

C is specifically for Windows programming.

C++ supports classes and objects, while C does not. (correct)

Which of the following is considered a feature of C?

It is a general-purpose programming language. Signup and view all the answers

What does ANSI stand for in relation to the C programming language?

American National Standards Institute Signup and view all the answers

Which IDE is recommended for beginners learning C programming?

Code::Blocks Signup and view all the answers

Why might C be considered a low-level language?

It directly interacts with hardware. Signup and view all the answers

Which file is recommended to install for setting up the Code::Blocks IDE with a compiler?

mingw-setup.exe Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the initializer in a for loop?

It is evaluated once before the loop starts. Signup and view all the answers

What happens if the termination condition in a for loop evaluates to false?

The loop will terminate. Signup and view all the answers

What is a common way to express an infinite loop in a for loop?

for (; ;) { … } Signup and view all the answers

How can arithmetic expressions be utilized in a for loop?

In both the initialization and increment sections. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following for loops is equivalent to a while loop?

for (expr1; expr2; expr3) { statement1; } Signup and view all the answers

Which part of a simple program is responsible for storing values?

Variable declaration Signup and view all the answers

Why must variables be declared before being assigned values?

To allocate memory Signup and view all the answers

What is the correct assignment statement for a float variable named 'x'?

x = 5.0; Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following variable names follows proper naming conventions in C?

_myVar Signup and view all the answers

How many characters should a variable name ideally have to ensure portability?

31 Signup and view all the answers

In C, what is the purpose of the main body of a program?

To perform calculations Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following statements correctly describes a constant in programming?

Its value remains the same throughout the program. Signup and view all the answers

What characters are allowed in a C variable name?

Letters, digits, and underscores Signup and view all the answers

Which operator is used for variable assignment in C?

= Signup and view all the answers

What type of variable can hold a single character in C?

Char Signup and view all the answers

What does the atoi function do with a String argument?

Converts it to an integer Signup and view all the answers

What does the printf statement output in the example with atoi when 'test2 333' is executed?

334 Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of the getchar function?

To read a single character from input Signup and view all the answers

In a while loop, what happens if the expression evaluates to false?

The loop skips to the end Signup and view all the answers

What will the following loop do: 'while (1) { putchar(c); c = getchar(); }'?

Print characters until EOF is reached Signup and view all the answers

What error message is displayed if argc is less than 2 in the if statement example?

error; must enter at least one argument! Signup and view all the answers

Which control statement is considered less favorable and typically avoided?

goto statements Signup and view all the answers

What is a primary difference between for loops and while loops?

For loops use a specific structure that can be more concise Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the break statement within loops?

To exit the loop immediately Signup and view all the answers

In a do-while loop, what distinguishes it from a standard while loop?

It executes the block before checking the condition Signup and view all the answers

What is the correct way to calculate the ratio of female to male students?

Ratio = female_students / male_students Signup and view all the answers

What is the first step in the structure of a C program?

Variable declarations Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a valid variable declaration in C?

double 3dValue; Signup and view all the answers

What must always follow variable declarations in a C program?

Executable statements Signup and view all the answers

Which statement is true about C program statements?

Statements must end with a semicolon. Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of the printf function in C?

To send output to the standard output device Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following statements about formatting and whitespace in C is correct?

Blank lines are ignored by the compiler. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following represents an assignment expression in C?

x = 5 + y; Signup and view all the answers

What does the statement 'int g = 1, h, k = 3;' signify?

Variables g and k are initialized with specified values. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a feature of executable statements in C?

They must begin with a variable declaration. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Course instructors: Dr. Islam Taj-Eddin, Dr. Ali Hussein Ahmed, Dr. Tarik Mohamed Abdel-Kader Ibrahim, Dr. Ebram Kamal William Aziz
Department: IT Department, Faculty of Computers and Information
University: Assiut University
Academic year: 2024-2025

Course Enrollment

Learning management system (LMS): Thinqi LMS
Course code: IT101-1
Group: 1 - 2024/2025
Course name: IT Fundamentals
Enroll using the provided QR code at the given URL: https://aun.edu.eg/thinqi

Lecture 7&8

Topic: Programming
Number of the lecture: 7 & 8

What is C?

Programming language created by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Laboratories in 1972
A versatile, popular language, despite its age
Closely associated with the UNIX operating system, as it was designed for its development

Why Learn C?

One of the most popular programming languages globally
Learning C lays a strong foundation for other languages (Java, Python, C++, C#) due to similar syntax
Compiled language, making it significantly faster compared to interpreted languages (like Java and Python)

Difference between C and C++

C++ is an extension of C
Both languages share a similar syntax
C++ supports classes and objects; C does not

C Programming Language

Structured, relatively low-level, and portable programming language
It influences many other programming languages
Forces understanding of fundamental programming concepts.
Characterized by its conciseness

C, Continued

Not an object-oriented language (C++ is)
Can be useful as a non-object-oriented language
Learning curve is manageable.
ANSI standard defines C for portability

C Install IDE

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is used to edit and compile code
Popular IDEs include Code::Blocks, Eclipse, and Visual Studio. These are all freely available
Web-based IDEs are also available but may have limitations in functionality
Code::Blocks is used in tutorials as a strong and effective choice
Download the mingw-setup.exe file from http://www.codeblocks.org/
Online compilers are available at https://www.programiz.com/c-programming/online-compiler/

C Data Types

Topic: C data types

What do program instructions look like?

Simple programs generally contain at least:
Variable declaration
Variable initialization
Main body

Variables in Programming

Representing storage units in a program
Used for storing and retrieving data throughout program execution
Variable type dictates the data it can hold
Variables are declared before assignment.
Variables can change values; constants remain constant

Naming Variables

Variables are assigned names when declared
Good programming practices: choose names that reflect the variables' roles in the program (e.g., customer_name, ss_number) Avoid vague or confusing abbreviations
Avoid overly long names unless readability improves.
Naming restrictions: variable names must begin with a letter and can contain letters, digits, and underscores. C is case-sensitive; use 31 or fewer characters for portability

Variable Declaration

All variables must be declared in a C program before the first executable statement
Examples of declarations for integer and float types can be found in the slides

C Variable Names

Variables in C consist of letters, digits and underscores, and cannot start with a digit
Variable names are case-sensitive
ANSI standards limit variable names to 31 characters or less

Variable assignment

After declaring a variable, it should be given a value through assignment using the equals operator (=)

Basic C variable types

There are four basic types in C:
char: A single byte holding a character from the local character set.
int: Represents an integer of a size that varies based on the machine architecture.
float: Single-precision floating-point number
double: Double-precision floating-point number

char variable type

Represents a single byte (8 bits) of storage
Can be signed or unsigned
Internals are numerical values associated with characters (ASCII) via a character set

int variable type

Represents a signed integer, typically using 4 bytes (32 bits)

Char vs. Int

Both can perfectly represent the same number (e.g., 4)
Ints store more memory but can also hold numbers larger than 255 -Chars typically represent a single byte and have a limited range

Char, Continued

Avoid using char for larger numbers to prevent data loss situations

Float and Double Variable Types

These represent real numbers, typically using 32 and 64 bits respectively

Additional variable types

Other variable types can be created using modifiers (e.g., short, long, signed, unsigned)
Exact sizes depend on the machine, and are not essential for basic programming for this course.

Declaring Variables

All variables should be declared before executable instructions
A declaration includes the variable's type followed by its name (e.g., int age;, float annual_salary;)

Assigning Values to Variables

Variable assignments can be done directly in the declaration or after declarations
Use the = assignment operator (e.g., output = input + 1;)

Assignment, Continued

Be mindful of variable types when assigning values.
Ensure that assignment won't cause an overflow

Type conversions in expressions

Implicit type conversion occurs when mixing data types in an expression
The lower type is promoted to the higher type.
C allows mixing of data types in an expression, converting smaller types into larger type before the expression evaluates, for instance converting short to int before computing an expression with int values.

Order of Data Types

Data types are ordered in terms of their size or range.
Larger types generally precede smaller types in the ordering

Printf() examples

printf("string"); Prints a string to the console.
printf("%d", variable); Prints the integer value of the variable to the console.

Reading keyboard input

Scanf function reads input from user input from the keyboard.
It is like printf but it is for reading user input

Scanf function

Syntax: scanf(format, &variable)
Format specifiers are similar to printf.

Another technique for passing data from the keyboard

Passing data to a C program using argc and argv

Passing data, cont

Tokens are stored as separate elements of the argv array
argc stores the count of tokens, useful for looping

Argv/argv example

Example illustrating argc and argv usage

Argv/argv cont

Processing command-line arguments (tokens) is necessary to handle command-line arguments for advanced scenarios

Converting String to integer

atoi function converts a string to an integer

Reading single characters

getchar/putchar reads/writes characters to/from the console.
getchar waits until input is available from stdin—keyboard—or returns immediately if it is EOF.

While loops

Repeating statements based on a condition.
Syntax: while (condition) { ... } condition tested at the beginning of the loop
Looping continues as long as the expression is true. Example:

While example

Example demonstrating a while loop, inputting from user
Includes declarations.

If example

Includes control flow using if statement
Includes checks for arguments before entering the loop for validity. Also handles the case where a program only receives its name as an argument.

Getchar/putchar example

This includes a do-while loop, reading characters one by one

More control statements

Additional control flow concepts, beyond if, while, and loops

For loops

Syntax for for loops, equivalent to while loops
Initialization, condition, and increment parts are separated by semicolons
Looping structure

For loops, cont

Specific components of the for loop syntax, including initialization and increment clauses, and the termination condition
Notes about for loop increments

Switch statements

A multi-way branching structure switch( expression ) { case value1: // statements break; case value2: // statements break; default: // statements }
Using break is crucial to prevent fall-through from one case to another

Switch, cont

Case values must be constants
break statements in switch are important
Cleaner alternative for if-else

Switch flow-chart

Flow chart representation of switch statements

do/while Repetition Structure

Condition tested at the end of the loop, ensuring the loop runs at least once.
Structure: do{ ... } while(condition);

Do-while example

Sample usage of do-while loop

Summary of Control Statements

Additional control flow statements in C (for, switch, do-while)
How they increase the versatility and efficiency of programming code

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Description

This quiz focuses on Lectures 7 and 8 of the IT101 IT Fundamentals course, covering the C programming language. Delve into the history, significance, and reasons to learn C, a vital foundation for many modern programming languages. Perfect for students aiming to solidify their programming skills.

IT101 IT Fundamentals - Lectures 7 & 8

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