Table Of ContentProfessor & Head
Department of Information Technology
MIT Campus, Anna University, Chennai
Tamil Nadu
Reader
Department of Mathematics
Thiruvalluvar College, Vickramasingapuram
Tamil Nadu
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RALCRRAFRCQZC
Preface to the Second Edition v
Preface to the First Edition vii
1. Elements of C Language 1
2. C Operators and Expressions 12
3. Simple Input/Output Facilities 24
4. Control Flow Constructions 37
5. Storage Classes of Variables 58
6. Arrays 68
7. Functions 81
8. Pointers 100
9. Strings 135
10. Structure and Union 154
11. Files and Preprocessors 173
12. Additional C Programming Examples 194
13. Model Test Papers 265
14. Crack the Tough Nuts 277
Appendix A The ASCII Character Set 293
Appendix B Precedence and Associativity of Operators 295
Appendix C Timings of Basic C Operations in Our Host Machine 297
Appendix D ANSI C Library Functions 299
The revised edition of Test your Skills in C based on the ANSI C standards, is a complete self-taught book
with focus on the 'C' language. This book refreshes C programming knowledge of readers in short span,
thereby equipping them to thoroughly prepare for various screening tests and campus interviews. The new
edition retains its appeal as a handy text to students as well as a guide for aspiring IT professionals.
C is a structured programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Laboratories in
New Jersey. It has excellent support for high-level as well as low-level functionality, which makes it suit-
able for many applications. Since knowledge of C is essential, it has been introduced as a core subject in
various engineering disciplines and as an elective subject in other disciplines. This book is well suited for
undergraduate (final year) students of CSE, IT, ECE, EEE, Electronics & Instrumentation, BCA, MCA,
DOEACC courses, and B.Sc/M.Sc (Computer Science/lT).
Due to the growing influence of IT in several fields, C programming skills are highly sought after.
Invariably, all aptitude tests in the recruitment process include testing C Skills. This book will be an excellent
guide for aspiring IT professionals and a valuable resource bank, for IT companies, to frame entrance
tests and technical interviews.
New to the Edition
The book has been revised and restructured based on the feedback received from readers. A separate
chapter 'Strings' has been included along with coverage of string function implementation details. Additional
programming examples covering important data structures have been included—these programming
skills will be helpful in solving puzzles asked in technical interviews.
Salient features of the book
The book has been organised to cover C concepts using a structured format—each chapter has an
introduction giving an overview followed by short answer type questions and objective questions.
Additionally, 'Fill in the blanks' and 'Match the following' enable better comprehension of key
concepts.
programming exercises. Programming tips and solutions are provided for these exercises.
included in a separate chapter will help the readers in enhancing their programming skills.
operations and ANSI C functions.
Pedagogy refreshed and increased.
- Definitions - 59
- Short-answer question (with answers) - 410
- Fill in the blanks - 131
- True or false - 138
- Match the following - 55
- Objective type questions - 766
Acknowledgement
We sincerely thank our students, M Raghavan, Divya Venkataraman, R Parthiban and R Sharadha
for verification of the programming examples. We thank our daughters, M Poorani and M Brindha for
their love and understanding during the revision of the book. We extend our appreciation to Tata
McGraw-Hill Education editorial and production team for their enthusiastic support and guidance. In
particular, Vibha Mahajan encouraged us to revise the project and set the publication process in motion,
Nilanjan Chakravarty gave useful suggestions and Surbhi Suman helped us in updating the book to enrich
its content.
A note of acknowledgement is due to the following reviewers for their valuable suggestions.
Kalpana Sharma
Sikkim Manipal Institue of Technology, Sikkim
N Lalitha
DJ Academy of Managerial Excellence, Coimbatore.
We would be grateful if readers send their valuable suggestions for further improvement of the book
at the following email id—[email protected] (kindly mention the title and author name in
the subject line).
S Thamarai Selvi
r murugeSan
C is a popular structured programming language. It is a general purpose programming language with
many powerful features such as pointers. Because of its portability, it is used for developing software in many
applications. It is especially suitable for system programming.
This book is meant to help the readers test their skills in C. Basic understanding of C programming
is a prerequisite to use this book. The book will help the reader in further analyzing and understanding
the concepts of C. This book is organized to contain questions with short answers, fill in the blanks, true or
false and objective type questions. Every care has been taken to ensure that the short answer type questions
cover all the concepts of C language, including the frequently asked questions (FAQs). The objective type ques-
tions are given in such a way that the reader can analyze the different possibilities carefully and then select the
correct answer among the given choices. Solving these questions will help the readers judge their strengths
and weaknesses in C.
Most of the questions are based on programming practice, which will help the readers debug C programs and
write correct and efficient codes. The questions are selected in such a way that the reader is prepared to face
any technical written test in C confidently.
To enable the reader acquire knowledge step by step, this book is organized in ten chapters systematically.
For each chapter, the questions are given separately and the entire C language is covered.
As a practice for written tests, two model tests have been included in Chapter 11. By attempting
these tests, the readers can improve their speed in solving the problems. Chapter 12 Crack the Tough Nuts
will enable the readers to develop logical thinking in solving challenging problems and puzzles.
ASCII table and operator precedence table are provided in Appendices A and B respectively to help the
reader in solving problems. Appendix C provides the timing of basic C operations. Most of the ANSI C library
functions are given in Appendix D for the reader's ready reference. We hope that the readers, be it students,
teachers or even professionals, will find this book extremely useful.
The reader may refer to our book titled C for All to learn C programming.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the people involved, directly or indirectly, in bringing out
this book.
S Thamarai Selvi
r murugeSan
