MBEYA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL SCIENCES AND
TECHNOLOGY

ORDINARY DIPLOMA IN BIOMEDICAL ENG.

NTA 6
CSET 06101: Basic Computer Programming

Course Instructor: MISS. C. MWABEZA

 Outline
1. What is C function?
2.Types of C functions
3. Uses of C functions
4. Advantage of C functions
5. C function declaration, function call and definition
6. Simple Example Program for C Function
7. How to call C functions in a program?
8. Overview
 What is C Function?
 In short: A function is a group of statements that together perform a
task.
 C functions are basic building blocks in a program.
 Long Answer: A large C program is divided into basic building blocks
called C function. C function contains set of instructions enclosed by
“{ }” which performs specific operation in a C program. Actually,
Collection of these functions creates a C program
 A large program in c can be divided to many subprogram
 The subprogram posses a self contain components and have well
define purpose.
 The subprogram is called as a function
 Basically a job of function is to do something
 C program contain at least one function which is main().
Types of C functions

-printf()
-scanf()
-sqrt()
-getchar()
 Standard Library Functions:
• Library functions in C language are inbuilt functions which are
grouped together and placed in a common place called library.
Each library function in C performs specific operation.
• The standard library functions are built-in functions in C
programming to handle tasks such as mathematical
computations, I/O processing, string handling etc.
These functions are defined in the header file. When you include the
header file, these functions are available for use. For example:
➤ The printf() is a standard library function to send formatted output
to the screen (display output on the screen). This function is
defined in "stdio.h" header file.
➤ There are other numerous library functions defined under "stdio.h",
such as scanf(), printf(), getchar() etc. Once you include "stdio.h"
in your program, all these functions are available for use.
 User-defined Functions:
• As mentioned earlier, C allow programmers to define
functions. Such functions created by the user are called
user-defined functions.
• Depending upon the complexity and requirement of the
program, you can create as many user-defined functions as
you want.
 Uses of C functions:
 C functions are used to avoid rewriting same logic/code again and again in a
program.
 There is no limit in calling C functions to make use of same functionality
wherever required.
 We can call functions any number of times in a program and from any place in
a program.
 A large C program can easily be tracked when it is divided into functions.
 The core concept of C functions are, re-usability, dividing a big task into small
pieces to achieve the functionality and to improve understandability of very
large C programs.
Advantages of Function
 It is much easier to write a structured program where a large
program can be divided into a smaller, simpler task.
 Allowing the code to be called many times
 Easier to read and update
 It is easier to debug a structured program where there error is easy
to find and fix
 C function declaration, function call and function
definition:
There are 3 aspects in each C function. They are:
 Function declaration or prototype – this informs compiler about
the function name, function parameters and return value’s data
type.
 Function call - this calls the actual function
 Function definition – this contains all the statements to be
executed.
#include<stdio.h> Example 1
// function prototype, also called function declaration
float square ( float x ); Output:
// main function, program starts from here Enter some number for finding square 2
int main( ) Square of the given number 2.000000 is
{ 4.000000
float m, n ;
printf ( "\n Enter the number to find it’s square \n“ ); Enter some number for finding square 4
scanf ( "%f", &m ) ; Square of the given number 2.000000 is
// function call 16.000000
n = square ( m ) ;
printf ( "\n Square of the given number %f is %f", m, n );
}
float square ( float x ) // function definition
{
float p ;
p=x*x;
return p ;
}
 Example 2
#include <stdio.h> 10 }
/* function declaration */ /* function returning the max between
int max(int num1, int num2); two numbers */
int main () { int max(int num1, int num2) {
/* local variable definition */ /* local variable declaration */
int a = 200; int result;
int b = 800; if (num1 > num2)
int ret; result = num1;
/* calling a function to get max value else
*/ result = num2;
ret = max(a, b); return result;
printf( "Max value is : %d\n", ret ); }
return 0;
 Overview
C functions are basic building blocks in every C program.
There are 2 types of functions in C. They are Library functions and User
defined functions
Key points to remember while writing functions in C language:
 All C programs contain main() function which is mandatory.
 main() function is the function from where every C program is started to
execute.
 Name of the function is unique in a C program.
 C Functions can be invoked from anywhere within a C program.
 There can any number of functions be created in a program. There is no
limit on this.
 There is no limit in calling C functions in a program.
 All functions are called in sequence manner specified in main() function.
 One function can be called within another function.
 C functions can be called with or without arguments/parameters. These
arguments are nothing but inputs to the functions.
 C functions may or may not return values to calling functions. These
values are nothing but output of the functions.
 When a function completes its task, program control is returned to the
function from where it is called.
 There can be functions within functions.
 Before calling and defining a function, we have to declare function
prototype in order to inform the compiler about the function name,
function parameters and return value type.
 C function can return only one value to the calling function.
 When return data type of a function is “void”, then, it won’t return any
values
 When return data type of a function is other than void such as “int, float,
double”, it returns value to the calling function.
 main() program comes to an end when there is no functions or
commands to execute.
Thank You