Constants and Variables

Chapter - 3

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 3.1 Constants
The quantity which does not change
during the execution of a program is
known as constant

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 C Constants

C Constants

Numeric Non-numeric
Constants Constants

Integer Floating-point Character String

Constants Constants Constants Constants

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 Integer Constant
An integer constant is a whole number
It is a sequence of digits without decimal
point
It is prefixed with a plus or minus sign
The general form of an integer constant is,

Sign digits
Where,
Sign  an optional plus sign for positive
numbers or minus for negative numbers
Digits  a sequence of digits
Ex: 123, -321, 0, 654321, +78
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 Floating constant
A floating constant is a number with a
decimal point
It is defined as a sequence of digits
followed by a decimal point
They may be prefixed by plus or minus
sign
Ex: -243.09, +27.23, 72.3

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 The general form is
Sign integer decimal fractional
part part part

Where,
sign an optional plus or minus
Integer part a sequence of digits before a decima
point
Decimal point  period symbol
Fractional part a sequence of digits after a
decimal point
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 Character constant
A character constant is a single character
enclosed within a pair of apostrophes
Ex: ‘a’, ‘#’, ‘5’

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 String constant
A string constant is a sequence of
characters enclosed within a pair of
double quotes
Ex: “hai”, “500”, “a+b”

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 3.2 Variables
A variable is a value that can change any
time.
It is a memory location used to store a
data value.
Examples of variable names are
Sun, number, Salary, Emp_name,
average1

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 Rules for naming variables :
They must always begin with a letter,
although some systems permit underscore
as the first character.
Keywords, special characters and White
spaces are not allowed
Variable names are case sensitive
Always choose an appropriate variable
name that makes proper sense to the user

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 Valid variables Invalid variables
marks 8ab
arr[20] area_ _of_ _ circle
Area_of_circle() gross-sal

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 Declaration of variables
All the variables must be declared before
they are used in the program
The declaration does two things.
◦ Tells the compiler the variables name.
◦ Specifies what type of data the variable will
hold.

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 The general format of any declaration is

datatype v1, v2, v3, ……….. vn;

where v1, v2, v3 are variable names.

Variables are separated by commas.
A declaration statement must end with a
semicolon.

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 3.3 Assigning values to variables
Each variable is associated with one or
more values
The process of giving values to variables
is called assignment of values

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 The general form is
variable_name = value ;

where
variable_name  represents the memory
location where the value is stored
=  assignment operator
value  constant or variable
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 3.4 Data types
Data types indicate the type of data that a
variable can hold
The data may be numeric or non-numeric
in nature

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 Datatypes are categorized as

C Datatypes

Built-in Derived User-defined

datatypes datatypes datatypes

Int,Float Array Enum

Char functions Struct
Double union
void
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 Built-in / Basic / Primary /
Fundamental datatypes

The basic data types are

int
float char
double void

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 TYPE KEYWORD SIZE(in bytes)
Integer int 2

Real(floating-point) float 4

Double percision double 8

Character char 1

Non-specific void --

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 Type int
Thisis a keyword used to indicate an integer
number
int num;
Any integer number is a sequence of digits
without a decimal point
The range depends on the word length of the
computer
Word length means the number of bits that can
be accessed at a time by processor
16 bits (2 bytes) of memory
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 Valid Examples Invalid Examples
-248 3,333
14042 -34.0
27246 +3,468.3
0 99999999
+1996

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 Type float
This is a keyword used to indicate an
floating-point numbers(real numbers)

float num;
Precision of upto 6 digits
32 bits (4 bytes) of memory
Examples: 23.05, 56.5, 32

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 Valid Examples Invalid Examples

-248.45 3,333
1.4042 E + 02 -34.0
27246 +3,468.3
0 99999999

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 Type char
This is a keyword used to indicate the
character type data
char gender;
gender='M';
8 bits (1 byte) of memory
A character constant is enclosed within a
pair of apostrophes
Examples: ‘a’, ‘m’, ‘$’ ‘%’ , ‘1’, ‘5’

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 A string constant is sequence of
characters enclosed within a pair of
quotes. It is terminated by a null
character.
Examples: “Program” , “2k8”

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 Type double
This is a keyword used to indicate a double
precision floating-point number

double num;
64 bits (8 bytes) of memory
The precision is associated with accuracy of
data
Float stores maximum of 6 digits after decimal
point but double stores 16 digits after decimal
point
Ex: 123.00000000000000000
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 Type void
Stores nothing
Indicates the compiler that there is
nothing to expect

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 Data Types and their range
Type Approximate Minimal Range
Size in Bits
char 8 -128 to 127
unsigned 8 0 to 255
signed char 8 -128 to 127
int 16 -32,768 to 32,767

unsigned int 16 0 to 65,535

signed int 16 Same as int
short int 16 Same as int
2 unsigned short int 8 0 to 65, 535
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 Type Approx Minimal Range
Size in
Bits

signed short int 8 Same as short int

signed short int 8 Same as short int
long int 32 -2,147,483,647 to 2,147,483,647
signed long int 32 0 to 4,294,967,295
unsigned long int 32 0 to 4,294,967,295
float 32 Six digits of precision
double 64 Ten digits of precision
long double 128 Ten digits of precision
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 3.5 Backslash constants /
Escape sequences
Backslash character constants are special
characters used in output functions.
Although they contain two characters
where first character is always the
backslash(\), they represent only one
character.

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 Backslash Meaning
constants
'\a’ Audible Alert (Bell)
'\b' Backspace
'\f’ Form feed
'\n’ New Line
'\r' Carriage Return
'\t' Horizontal tab
'\v’ Vertical Tab
'\'' Single Quote
'\?‘ Double Quote
'\?‘ Question Mark
'\\' Back Slash
3 '\0' Null
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 3.6 Data type modifiers
The basic data types except void can be
modified using a series of type modifiers
To have an accuracy for a real number, we are
using double data type
Similarly, for integer data, the accuracy can be
obtained by some data modifiers
These modifiers are also called qualifiers
They are
◦ Signed
◦ Unsigned
◦ Short
3 ◦ Long
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 signed
◦ This is applied to int.
◦ The default declaration assumes a signed
number. If it is unsigned it can hold integers 0
to 255.
◦ If it is signed it hold the numbers in the range
-128 to 127
unsigned
◦ This can be used for both int and char
◦ It can also be used in combination with long
or short
◦ It can be used to create an unsigned integer
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 long
◦ This is used with int and double datatype
◦ It doubles the length in terms bits
◦ If an int is of 16-bits, then long int is of 32-
bits
short
◦ This makes the size of an int half
◦ Size of the short int is that of the int

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 3.7 Declaring variables as constant
The values of some variable may be
required to remain constant through-out
the program.
This is done by using the qualifier const
at the time of initialization.
Example:
const int class_size = 69;

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 Declaring variables as volatile
A volatile variable is the one whose
values may be changed at any time by
some external sources.
Example:
volatile int num;

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 3.8 Symbolic constants
A symbolic constant value can be defined as a
preprocessor statement and used in the
program as any other constant value.

The general form of symbolic constant is

#define symbolic_name value_of_constant

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 Advantages
Modifiability
If we want to change the value of
“pi” from 3.14 to 3.14159 to improve
accuracy or the number 50 to 100 to
increase the number of persons, it is easy
to do
Understandability
When the same value means
different things in different places, it is
made clear using symbolic constants
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 Examples of Symbolic Constants

Valid Invalid
#define X 25 #define X=25
#define PASS_MARK # define X 25
50 #define X 25;
#define PI 3.14159 #define X 25,Y 35
#define NAME “NTTF” #Define X 25
#define $ 25

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 3.9 Delimiters
They limit the boundary between the
basic elements of a program
They are also called as separators
They separate constants, variables and
statements
Comma, semicolon, blankspace,
apostrophes, double quotes are commonly
used delimiters

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 3.10 Multiple Assignment statement
The process of giving initial values to
variables is known as initialization
More than one variable can be initialized
in a single statement
Ex:
int x = y = z = 10;

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 3.11 Statement
It is an instruction to the computer to
perform specific operation
It may be a declaration, an input-output
action, arithmetic and logical operation,
assignments or control statements

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