C Brain Teasers

Exercise Your Mind

by Dan Gookin

You thought you knew C, but can you solve 25 puzzles in this popular programming language? Noted C programmer and author Dan Gookin provides a series of pointed questions, puzzles, and problems to keep your C programming skills sharp. Each one will provide insight into various aspects of handling strings, numeric operations, and other activities, giving you techniques to take the best advantage of all C has to offer. Challenge yourself, and get to know some powerful tricks and details for writing better, faster, more accurate C code.

Most C programming books present the information sequentially, teaching you the right way to code and only rarely describing what could go wrong. In this book, the goal is to find out what did go wrong—or what potentially goes right. Explore interesting and unusual programming concepts and approaches with small, to-the-point, programs and exercises. Hone your C programming skills and expand your knowledge.

By working through the brain teasers in this book, you’ll fill in gaps in your knowledge and work with advanced concepts such as pointers and recursion. All of the teaser topics were selected to give you food for thought, explaining the technical details behind each puzzle. Look at a code sample and try to guess what output it will give. Code it yourself and see the result. Is it what you expected? Then read the author’s lighthearted explanation of exactly why the language does what it does and how you can take advantage of it. You’ll come away with a much better understanding of how the language works, and how to use it for efficient and effective programming.

• Errata, typos, suggestions

• Source Code (zip file)

Releases:

• P1.0 2024/04/01
• B3.0 2024/02/29
• B2.0 2024/01/15
• B1.0 2023/09/26

Preface

• C Brain Teasers
  • Count the Digits
  • A Fraction of an Int
  • String or Not?
  • Hello, stdin
  • Loop Up and Down
  • String Construction
  • More Simple
  • Whoa! Hold on There
  • Say It Again — Or Not
  • Deciphering scanf()
  • What is Nothing?
  • On the Case
  • Bits and Pieces
  • Teeny Tiny Math
  • It Just Can’t Be Done
  • Misallocation
  • Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mod
  • Superhero’s Secret Identity
  • Cursing Recursion
  • Time to Pull Out Your Hair
  • You See It Everywhere
  • 3.14159 Etc.
  • Forget the sqrt() Function
  • This Should Ring a Bell
  • More Math, But Fun This Time