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The form of a C program
What goes into a C program? What does one look like?
The basic building block of a C program is the function. Every C
program is a collection of one or more functions. Functions are made of
variable declarations and statements, or complex commands, and are
surrounded by curly brackets ({ and }).
One and only one of the functions in a program must have the name
main. This function is always the starting point of a C program,
so the simplest C program is a single function definition:
main ()
{
}
The parentheses () that follow the name of the function must be
included. This is how C distinguishes functions from ordinary variables.
The function main does not need to be at the top of a program, so
a C program does not necessarily start at line 1, but wherever the
function called main is located. The function main cannot
be called, or started, by any other function in the program. Only
the operating system can call main; this is how a C program is
started.
The next most simple C program is perhaps a program that starts, calls a
function that does nothing, and then ends.
/******************************************************/
/* */
/* Program : do nothing */
/* */
/******************************************************/
main() /* Main program */
{
do_nothing();
}
/******************************************************/
do_nothing() /* Function called */
{
}
(Any text sandwiched between /* and */ in C code is a
comment for other humans to read. See the section on comments below for
more information.)
There are several things to notice about this program.
First, this program consists of two functions, one of which calls the other.
Second, the function do_nothing is called by simply typing the
main part of its name followed by () parentheses and a
semicolon.
Third, the semicolon is vital; every simple statement in C ends with one. This is a signal to the compiler that the end of a statement has been reached and that anything that follows is part of another statement. This signal helps the compiler diagnose errors.
Fourth, the curly bracket characters { and } outline a
block of statements. When this program meets the closing }
of the second function's block, it transfers control back to
main, where it meets another }, and the program ends.