Advanced C Programming

C is a small, powerful, general-purpose, high-level programming language that has been the industry standard for the development of efficient and portable software for many years. C is used to write both application and operating system software.

This course presents some of the more advanced features of C and discusses how to use them to develop sophisticated programming techniques.

The course begins with a rapid review of the fundamental features of C before going on to explore some of the more advanced features of C. The skills associated with the application of these features are developed through a range of extensive hands-on exercises. Good programming practice is promoted with an emphasis on the production of reliable C applications.


Objectives

Understand and apply some of the more advanced features of C.
Who Should Attend?
The course is aimed at programmers who already have a working understanding of the fundamental features of C and wish to develop their C programming skills.


Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with the fundamental features of C and be actively involved in programming. A suitable level of C experience would be 'C Programming' ('PK-106') or equivalent, plus some practical software development in C.
Follow On Courses
A natural progression from C could be to C++. Java is another possibility in that it shares much of the C syntax.


Course Content
A Review of C Fundamentals
- A review of the basic features of C

Structured data types
- Review arrays and structs
- Discuss unions
- Implement tables using arrays of structs
- Implement indexed tables

Bit Manipulation
- Bit operators
- Bit flags and bit masks
- Using bit fields

Pointers & Memory Management
- Review of pointers
- Pointers, arrays and strings
- Dynamic memory allocation
- Pointers to pointers
- Working with command line arguments
- Pointers to functions

The C Pre-Processor
- A review of the pre-processor
- Macros
- Conditional compilation
- Using header and implementation files

Abstract Data Types
- Introduction to abstract data types
- Implementing Stacks and Queues

Programming Techniques
- Investigate how C supports
- programming techniques
- Data driven applications and finite state machines
- Using pointers to functions
- Recursion

File Handling
- Review of file handling basics
- Structured file handling

Dynamic Data Structures
- Linked lists
- Trees

Concurrent Programming
- Introduction to concurrent programming
- Processes and threads
- Synchronization