Programming in C
UNIX System Calls and Subroutines using C.

$\copyright$ A. D. Marshall 1994-2005

Substantially Updated March 1999

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• Contents
• The Common Desktop Environment
  • The front panel
  • The file manager
  • The application manager
  • The session manager
  • Other CDE desktop tools
  • Application development tools
  • Application integration
  • Windows and the Window Manager
  • The Root Menu
  • Exercises
• C/C++ Program Compilation
  • Creating, Compiling and Running Your Program
    • Creating the program
    • Compilation
    • Running the program
  • The C Compilation Model
    • The Preprocessor
    • C Compiler
    • Assembler
    • Link Editor
    • Some Useful Compiler Options
    • Using Libraries
    • UNIX Library Functions
    • Finding Information about Library Functions
  • Lint -- A C program verifier
  • Exercises
• C Basics
  • History of C
  • Characteristics of C
  • C Program Structure
  • Variables
    • Defining Global Variables
    • Printing Out and Inputting Variables
  • Constants
  • Arithmetic Operations
  • Comparison Operators
  • Logical Operators
  • Order of Precedence
  • Exercises
• Conditionals
  • The if statement
  • The ? operator
  • The switch statement
  • Exercises
• Looping and Iteration
  • The for statement
  • The while statement
  • The do-while statement
  • break and continue
  • Exercises
• Arrays and Strings
  • Single and Multi-dimensional Arrays
  • Strings
  • Exercises
• Functions
  • void functions
  • Functions and Arrays
  • Function Prototyping
  • Exercises
• Further Data Types
  • Structures
    • Defining New Data Types
  • Unions
  • Coercion or Type-Casting
  • Enumerated Types
  • Static Variables
  • Exercises
• Pointers
  • What is a Pointer?
  • Pointer and Functions
  • Pointers and Arrays
  • Arrays of Pointers
  • Multidimensional arrays and pointers
  • Static Initialisation of Pointer Arrays
  • Pointers and Structures
  • Common Pointer Pitfalls
    • Not assigning a pointer to memory address before using it
    • Illegal indirection
  • Exercise
• Dynamic Memory Allocation and Dynamic Structures
  • Malloc, Sizeof, and Free
  • Calloc and Realloc
  • Linked Lists
  • Full Program: queue.c
  • Exercises
• Advanced Pointer Topics
  • Pointers to Pointers
  • Command line input
  • Pointers to a Function
  • Exercises
• Low Level Operators and Bit Fields
  • Bitwise Operators
  • Bit Fields
    • Bit Fields: Practical Example
    • A note of caution: Portability
  • Exercises
• The C Preprocessor
  • #define
  • #undef
  • #include
  • #if -- Conditional inclusion
  • Preprocessor Compiler Control
  • Other Preprocessor Commands
  • Exercises
• C, UNIX and Standard Libraries
  • Advantages of using UNIX with C
  • Using UNIX System Calls and Library Functions
• Integer Functions, Random Number, String Conversion, Searching and Sorting: <stdlib.h>
  • Arithmetic Functions
  • Random Numbers
  • String Conversion
  • Searching and Sorting
  • Exercises
• Mathematics: <math.h>
  • Math Functions
  • Math Constants
• Input and Output (I/O):stdio.h
  • Reporting Errors
    • perror()
    • errno
    • exit()
  • Streams
    • Predefined Streams
      • Redirection
  • Basic I/O
  • Formatted I/O
    • Printf
  • scanf
  • Files
    • Reading and writing files
  • sprintf and sscanf
    • Stream Status Enquiries
  • Low Level I/O
  • Exercises
• String Handling: <string.h>
  • Basic String Handling Functions
    • String Searching
  • Character conversions and testing: ctype.h
  • Memory Operations: <memory.h>
  • Exercises
• File Access and Directory System Calls
  • Directory handling functions: <unistd.h>
    • Scanning and Sorting Directories: <sys/types.h>,<sys/dir.h>
  • File Manipulation Routines: unistd.h, sys/types.h, sys/stat.h
    • File Access
      • errno
    • File Status
    • File Manipulation:stdio.h, unistd.h
    • Creating Temporary FIles:<stdio.h>
  • Exercises
• Time Functions
  • Basic time functions
  • Example time applications
    • Example 1: Time (in seconds) to perform some computation
    • Example 2: Set a random number seed
  • Exercises
• Process Control: <stdlib.h>,<unistd.h>
  • Running UNIX Commands from C
  • execl()
  • fork()
  • wait()
  • exit()
  • Exerises
• Interprocess Communication (IPC), Pipes
  • Piping in a C program: <stdio.h>
  • popen() -- Formatted Piping
  • pipe() -- Low level Piping
  • Exercises
• IPC:Interrupts and Signals: <signal.h>
  • Sending Signals -- kill(), raise()
  • Signal Handling -- signal()
  • sig_talk.c -- complete example program
  • Other signal functions
• IPC:Message Queues:<sys/msg.h>
  • Initialising the Message Queue
  • IPC Functions, Key Arguments, and Creation Flags: <sys/ipc.h>
  • Controlling message queues
  • Sending and Receiving Messages
  • POSIX Messages: <mqueue.h>
  • Example: Sending messages between two processes
    • message_send.c -- creating and sending to a simple message queue
    • message_rec.c -- receiving the above message
  • Some further example message queue programs
    • msgget.c: Simple Program to illustrate msget()
    • msgctl.cSample Program to Illustrate msgctl()
    • msgop.c: Sample Program to Illustrate msgsnd() and msgrcv()
  • Exercises
• IPC:Semaphores
  • Initializing a Semaphore Set
  • Controlling Semaphores
  • Semaphore Operations
  • POSIX Semaphores: <semaphore.h>
  • semaphore.c: Illustration of simple semaphore passing
  • Some further example semaphore programs
    • semget.c: Illustrate the semget() function
    • semctl.c: Illustrate the semctl() function
    • semop() Sample Program to Illustrate semop()
  • Exercises
• IPC:Shared Memory
  • Accessing a Shared Memory Segment
    • Controlling a Shared Memory Segment
  • Attaching and Detaching a Shared Memory Segment
  • Example two processes comunicating via shared memory: shm_server.c, shm_client.c
    • shm_server.c
    • shm_client.c
  • POSIX Shared Memory
  • Mapped memory
    • Address Spaces and Mapping
    • Coherence
    • Creating and Using Mappings
    • Other Memory Control Functions
  • Some further example shared memory programs
    • shmget.c:Sample Program to Illustrate shmget()
    • shmctl.c: Sample Program to Illustrate shmctl()
    • shmop.c: Sample Program to Illustrate shmat() and shmdt()
  • Exercises
• IPC:Sockets
  • Socket Creation and Naming
  • Connecting Stream Sockets
  • Stream Data Transfer and Closing
  • Datagram sockets
  • Socket Options
  • Example Socket Programs:socket_server.c,socket_client
    • socket_server.c
    • socket_client.c
  • Exercises
• Threads: Basic Theory and Libraries
  • Processes and Threads
    • Benefits of Threads vs Processes
    • Multithreading vs. Single threading
    • Some Example applications of threads
  • Thread Levels
    • User-Level Threads (ULT)
    • Kernel-Level Threads (KLT)
    • Combined ULT/KLT Approaches
  • Threads libraries
  • The POSIX Threads Library:libpthread, <pthread.h>
    • Creating a (Default) Thread
    • Wait for Thread Termination
    • A Simple Threads Example
    • Detaching a Thread
    • Create a Key for Thread-Specific Data
    • Delete the Thread-Specific Data Key
    • Set the Thread-Specific Data Key
    • Get the Thread-Specific Data Key
    • Global and Private Thread-Specific Data Example
    • Getting the Thread Identifiers
    • Comparing Thread IDs
    • Initializing Threads
    • Yield Thread Execution
    • Set the Thread Priority
    • Get the Thread Priority
    • Send a Signal to a Thread
    • Access the Signal Mask of the Calling Thread
    • Terminate a Thread
  • Solaris Threads: <thread.h>
    • Unique Solaris Threads Functions
      • Suspend Thread Execution
      • Continue a Suspended Thread
      • Set Thread Concurrency Level
      • Readers/Writer Locks
      • Readers/Writer Lock Example
    • Similar Solaris Threads Functions
      • Create a Thread
      • Get the Thread Identifier
      • Yield Thread Execution
      • Signals and Solaris Threads
      • Terminating a Thread
      • Creating a Thread-Specific Data Key
      • Example Use of Thread Specific Data:Rethinking Global Variables
  • Compiling a Multithreaded Application
    • Preparing for Compilation
    • Debugging a Multithreaded Program
• Further Threads Programming:Thread Attributes (POSIX)
  • Attributes
  • Initializing Thread Attributes
  • Destroying Thread Attributes
  • Thread's Detach State
  • Thread's Set Scope
  • Thread Scheduling Policy
    • Thread Inherited Scheduling Policy
    • Set Scheduling Parameters
  • Thread Stack Size
    • Building Your Own Thread Stack
• Further Threads Programming:Synchronization
  • Mutual Exclusion Locks
    • Initializing a Mutex Attribute Object
    • Destroying a Mutex Attribute Object
    • The Scope of a Mutex
    • Initializing a Mutex
    • Locking a Mutex
      • Lock with a Nonblocking Mutex
    • Destroying a Mutex
    • Mutex Lock Code Examples
      • Mutex Lock Example
      • Using Locking Hierarchies: Avoiding Deadlock
    • Nested Locking with a Singly Linked List
    • Solaris Mutex Locks
  • Condition Variable Attributes
    • Initializing a Condition Variable Attribute
    • Destoying a Condition Variable Attribute
    • The Scope of a Condition Variable
    • Initializing a Condition Variable
    • Block on a Condition Variable
    • Destroying a Condition Variable State
    • Solaris Condition Variables
  • Threads and Semaphores
    • POSIX Semaphores
    • Basic Solaris Semaphore Functions
• Thread programming examples
  • Using thr_create() and thr_join()
  • Arrays
  • Deadlock
  • Signal Handler
  • Interprocess Synchronization
  • The Producer / Consumer Problem
  • A Socket Server
  • Using Many Threads
  • Real-time Thread Example
  • POSIX Cancellation
  • Software Race Condition
  • Tgrep: Threadeds version of UNIX grep
  • Multithreaded Quicksort
• Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)
  • What Is RPC
  • How RPC Works
  • RPC Application Development
    • Defining the Protocol
    • Defining Client and Server Application Code
    • Compliling and running the application
  • Overview of Interface Routines
    • Simplified Level Routine Function
    • Top Level Routines
  • Intermediate Level Routines
    • Expert Level Routines
    • Bottom Level Routines
  • The Programmer's Interface to RPC
    • Simplified Interface
    • Passing Arbitrary Data Types
    • Developing High Level RPC Applications
      • Defining the protocol
    • Sharing the data
      • The Server Side
      • The Client Side
  • Exercise
• Protocol Compiling and Lower Level RPC Programming
  • What is rpcgen
  • An rpcgen Tutorial
    • Converting Local Procedures to Remote Procedures
  • Passing Complex Data Structures
  • Preprocessing Directives
    • cpp Directives
    • Compile-Time Flags
    • Client and Server Templates
    • Example rpcgen compile options/templates
  • Recommended Reading
  • Exercises
• Writing Larger Programs
  • Header files
  • External variables and functions
    • Scope of externals
  • Advantages of Using Several Files
  • How to Divide a Program between Several Files
  • Organisation of Data in each File
  • The Make Utility
  • Make Programming
  • Creating a makefile
  • Make macros
  • Running Make
• Program Listings
  • hello.c
  • printf.c
  • swap.c
  • args.c
  • arg.c
  • average.c
  • cio.c
  • factorial
  • power.c
  • ptr_arr.c
  • Modular Example
    • main.c
    • WriteMyString.c
    • header.h
    • Makefile
  • static.c
  • malloc.c
  • queue.c
  • bitcount.c
  • lowio.c
  • print.c
  • cdir.c
  • list.c
  • list_c.c
  • fork_eg.c
  • fork.c
  • signal.c
  • sig_talk.c
  • Piping
    • plot.c
    • plotter.c
    • externals.h
  • random.c
  • time.c
  • timer.c

Useful Links

• C tutorial for reference for beginners

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