Programming for Problem Solving

Unit I

Introduction: Components of a computer system — memory, processor, I/O devices, storage, operating system, Concepts of assembler, compiler, interpreter, loader and linker. Idea of Algorithm: Representation of algorithm, Flowchart, Pseudo code with examples, From algorithms to programs, Source code. Programming Basics: Structure of C program, Writing and executing the first C program, Syntax and logical errors, Object and executable code, Components of C language, Standard I/O in C, Fundamental data types, Variables and memory locations, Storage classes.

Unit II

Expressions & Conditional Branching: Arithmetic expressions and precedence — operators and expressions using numeric and relational operators, mixed operands, type conversion, logical operators, bit operations, assignment operators, operator precedence and associativity. Conditional Branching: if and switch statements, nesting if-else and switch.

Unit III

Loops & Arrays: Iteration with while, do-while and for loops, Multiple loop variables, break, goto and continue. Arrays: notation and representation, Manipulating array elements, Multi-dimensional arrays, Character arrays and strings, Structure, Union, Enumerated data types, Array of structures, Passing arrays to functions.

Unit IV

Functions & Basic Algorithms: Types of functions, Functions with arrays, Parameter passing — call by value, call by reference, Recursive functions. Searching & Sorting: Linear search, Binary search, Bubble sort, Insertion and Selection sort.

Unit V

Pointers & File Handling: Pointer introduction, declaration, applications, Dynamic memory allocation (malloc, calloc, realloc, free), Strings and string functions, Pointers in self-referential structures, Notion of linked list. File Handling: File I/O functions, Standard C preprocessors, Defining and calling macros, Command-line arguments.