C Programming Syllabus (CSC 115) – TU BSc CSIT 1st Semester

Tribhuvan University
Institute of Science and Technology
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Information Technology

Course Description: This course covers the concepts of structured programming using C programming language.

Course Objective: This course is designed to familiarize students to the techniques of programming in C.

Course Contents

Unit 1. Problem Solving with Computer (2 Hrs.)

Problem analysis, Algorithms and Flowchart, Coding, Compilation and Execution, History of C, Structure of C program, Debugging, Testing and Documentation

Unit 2. Elements of C (4 Hrs.)

C Standards (ANSI C and C99), C Character Set, C Tokens, Escape sequence, Delimiters, Variables, Data types (Basic, Derived, and User Defined), Structure of a C program, Executing a C program, Constants/Literals, Expressions, Statements and Comments.

Unit 3. Input and Output (2 Hrs.)

Conversion specification, Reading a character, Writing a character, I/O operations, Formatted I/O

Unit 4. Operators and Expression (4 Hrs.)

Arithmetic operator, Relational operator, Logical or Boolean operator, Assignment Operator, Ternary operator, Bitwise operator, Increment or Decrement operator, Conditional operator, Special Operators (sizeof and comma), Evaluation of Expression, Operator Precedence and Associativity.

Unit 5. Control Statement (4 Hrs.)

Conditional Statements, Decision Making and Branching, Decision Making and Looping, Exit function, Break and Continue.

Unit 6. Arrays (6 Hrs.)

Introduction to Array, Types of Array (Single Dimensional and Multidimensional), Declaration and Memory Representation of Array, Initialization of array, Character Array and Strings, Reading and Writing Strings, Null Character, String Library Functions (string length, string copy, string concatenation, string compare)

Unit 7. Functions (5 Hrs.)

Library Functions, User defined functions, Function prototype, Function call, and Function Definition, Nested and Recursive Function, Function Arguments and Return Types, Passing Arrays to Function, Passing Strings to Function, Passing Arguments by Value, Passing Arguments by Address, Scope visibility and lifetime of a variable, Local and Global Variable.

Unit 8. Structure and Union (5 Hrs.)

Introduction, Array of structure, Passing structure to function, Passing array of structure to function, Structure within structure (Nested Structure), Union, Pointer to structure

Unit 9. Pointers (6 Hrs.)

Introduction, The & and * operator, Declaration of pointer, Chain of Pointers, Pointer Arithmetic, Pointers and Arrays, Pointers and Character Strings, Array of Pointers, Pointers as Function Arguments, Function Returning pointers, Pointers and Structures, Dynamic Memory Allocation

Unit 10. File Handling in C (4 Hrs.)

Concept of File, Opening and closing of File, Input Output Operations in File, Random access in File, Error Handling in Files

Unit 11. Introduction to Graphics (3 Hrs.)

Concepts of Graphics, Graphics Initialization and Modes, Graphics Function

Laboratory Works

This is the first programming course in B.Sc. CSIT. It builds the foundation on how to write a program using any high level language. Hence, this course requires a lot of programming practice so that students will be able to develop good logic building and program developing capability which is essential throughout the B.Sc. CSIT course and thereafter. 20% of the total marks is assigned from the practical. Some important contents that should be included in lab exercises are as follows:

Unit 1: (2 Hrs)
Create, compile, debug, run and test simple C programs

Unit 2, 3, 4: (5 Hrs)
Using different data types available in C, perform arithmetic operations in C, perform formatted input/output operations, perform character input/output operations. Using relational operator, logical operator, assignment operator, ternary operator, and other operators. Evaluation of Expression to check operator precedence and associativity.

Unit 5: (6 Hrs)
Create decision making programs using control statements like if, if..else, if..else ladder, nested if, and switch cases. Create programs using loops (for, while, do while, nested loops) and realize the differences between entry controlled and exit controlled loops.

Unit 6: (6 Hrs)
Create, manipulate arrays and matrices (single and multi-dimensional), work with pointers, dynamically allocate/de-allocate storage space during runtime, manipulate strings (character arrays) using various string handling functions.

Unit 7: (6 Hrs)
Create user-defined functions with/without parameters or return type, create recursive functions, use function call by value and call by address, work with automatic, global and static variables.

Unit 8: (5 Hrs)
Create and use simple structures, array of structures, nested structure. Passing structure and array of structure to function, concept of pointer to structure.

Unit 9: (6 Hrs)
Create programs that address pointer arithmetic, pointers and arrays, pointer and character strings, pointers and functions, pointer and structure, and dynamic memory allocation.

Unit 10: (5 Hrs)
Create files that address random access and input/output operations in file, create files to keep records and manipulation of records etc.

Unit 11: (4 Hrs)
Create graphics programs that address some basic functions of graphics.h header file, e.g. line(), arc(), circle(), ellipse(), floodfill(), getmaxx(), getmaxy() etc.

Note: Motivate students to create small project work integrating all of the above concepts.

Text Books

1. Byron Gottfried: "Programming with C," Second Edition, McGraw Hill Education.
2. Herbert Schildt, C The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition, Osborne/McGraw-Hill Publication.

Reference Books

1. Paul Deitel, Harvey Deitel, C: How to Program, Eighth Edition, Pearson Publication.
2. Al Kelley, Ira Pohl: "A Book on C", Fourth Edition, Pearson Education.
3. Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie, The C programming Language, Second Edition, PHI Publication.
4. Ajay Mittal, Programming in C: A Practical Approach, Pearson Publication.
5. Stephen G. Kochan, Programming in C, CBS publishers & distributors.
6. E. Balagurusamy, Programming in ANSI C, Third Edition, TMH publishing.