C: In a Nutshell

C: In a Nutshell

Part I: Language

Chapter 1. Language Basics
Section 1.1. Characteristics of C
Section 1.2. The Structure of C Programs
Section 1.3. Source Files
Section 1.4. Comments
Section 1.5. Character Sets
Section 1.6. Identifiers
Section 1.7. How the C Compiler Works

Chapter 2. Types
Section 2.1. Typology
Section 2.2. Integer Types
Section 2.3. Floating-Point Types
Section 2.4. Complex Floating-Point Types (C99)
Section 2.5. Enumerated Types
Section 2.6. The Type void

Chapter 3. Literals
Section 3.1. Integer Constants
Section 3.2. Floating-Point Constants
Section 3.3. Character Constants
Section 3.4. String Literals

Chapter 4. Type Conversions
Section 4.1. Conversion of Arithmetic Types
Section 4.2. Conversion of Nonarithmetic Types

Chapter 5. Expressions and Operators
Section 5.1. How Expressions Are Evaluated
Section 5.2. Operators in Detail
Section 5.3. Constant Expressions

Chapter 6. Statements
Section 6.1. Expression Statements
Section 6.2. Block Statements
Section 6.3. Loops
Section 6.4. Selection Statements
Section 6.5. Unconditional Jumps

Chapter 7. Functions
Section 7.1. Function Definitions
Section 7.2. Function Declarations
Section 7.3. How Functions Are Executed
Section 7.4. Pointers as Arguments and Return Values
Section 7.5. Inline Functions
Section 7.6. Recursive Functions
Section 7.7. Variable Numbers of Arguments

Chapter 8. Arrays
Section 8.1. Defining Arrays
Section 8.2. Accessing Array Elements
Section 8.3. Initializing Arrays
Section 8.4. Strings
Section 8.5. Multidimensional Arrays
Section 8.6. Arrays as Arguments of Functions

Chapter 9. Pointers
Section 9.1. Declaring Pointers
Section 9.2. Operations with Pointers
Section 9.3. Pointers and Type Qualifiers
Section 9.4. Pointers to Arrays and Arrays of Pointers
Section 9.5. Pointers to Functions

Chapter 10. Structures and Unions and Bit-Fields
Section 10.1. Structures
Section 10.2. Unions
Section 10.3. Bit-Fields

Chapter 11. Declarations
Section 11.1. General Syntax
Section 11.2. Type Names
Section 11.3. typedef Declarations
Section 11.4. Linkage of Identifiers
Section 11.5. Storage Duration of Objects
Section 11.6. Initialization

Chapter 12. Dynamic Memory Management
Section 12.1. Allocating Memory Dynamically
Section 12.2. Characteristics of Allocated Memory
Section 12.3. Resizing and Releasing Memory
Section 12.4. An All-Purpose Binary Tree
Section 12.5. Characteristics
Section 12.6. Implementation

Chapter 13. Input and Output
Section 13.1. Streams
Section 13.2. Files
Section 13.3. Opening and Closing Files
Section 13.4. Reading and Writing
Section 13.5. Random File Access

Chapter 14. Preprocessing Directives
Section 14.1. Inserting the Contents of Header Files
Section 14.2. Defining and Using Macros
Section 14.3. Conditional Compiling
Section 14.4. Defining Line Numbers
Section 14.5. Generating Error Messages
Section 14.6. The #pragma Directive
Section 14.7. The _Pragma Operator
Section 14.8. Predefined Macros

Part II: Standard Library

Chapter 15. The Standard Headers
Section 15.1. Using the Standard Headers
Section 15.2. Contents of the Standard Headers

Chapter 16. Functions at a Glance
Section 16.1. Input and Output
Section 16.2. Mathematical Functions
Section 16.3. Character Classification and Conversion
Section 16.4. String Processing
Section 16.5. Multibyte Characters
Section 16.6. Converting Between Numbers and Strings
Section 16.7. Searching and Sorting
Section 16.8. Memory Block Handling
Section 16.9. Dynamic Memory Management
Section 16.10. Date and Time
Section 16.11. Process Control
Section 16.12. Internationalization
Section 16.13. Nonlocal Jumps
Section 16.14. Debugging
Section 16.15. Error Messages

Chapter 17. Standard Library Functions

Part III: Basic Tools

Chapter 18. Compiling with GCC
Section 18.1. The GNU Compiler Collection
Section 18.2. Obtaining and Installing GCC
Section 18.3. Compiling C Programs with GCC
Section 18.4. C Dialects
Section 18.5. Compiler Warnings
Section 18.6. Optimization
Section 18.7. Debugging
Section 18.8. Profiling
Section 18.9. Option and Environment Variable Summary

Chapter 19. Using make to Build C Programs
Section 19.1. Targets, Prerequisites, and Commands
Section 19.2. The Makefile
Section 19.3. Rules
Section 19.4. Comments
Section 19.5. Variables
Section 19.6. Phony Targets
Section 19.7. Other Target Attributes
Section 19.8. Macros
Section 19.9. Functions
Section 19.10. Directives
Section 19.11. Running make

Chapter 20. Debugging C Programs with GDB
Section 20.1. Installing GDB
Section 20.2. A Sample Debugging Session
Section 20.3. Starting GDB
Section 20.4. Using GDB Commands

The book is divided into three distinct parts. The first part is a fast-paced description, reminiscent of the classic Kernighan & Ritchie text on which many C programmers cut their teeth. It focuses specifically on the C language and preprocessor directives, including extensions introduced to the ANSI standard in 1999. These topics and others are covered:

• Numeric constants
• Implicit and explicit type conversions
• Expressions and operators
• Functions
• Fixed-length and variable-length arrays
• Pointers
• Dynamic memory management
• Input and output

The second part of the book is a comprehensive reference to the C runtime library; it includes an overview of the contents of the standard headers and a description of each standard library function.

Part III provides the necessary knowledge of the C programmer's basic tools: the compiler, the make utility, and the debugger. The tools described here are those in the GNU software collection.