Basic C Programs

A collection of small, well-documented C programs that demonstrate basic to intermediate C programming concepts. This repository is intended for beginners who want working examples of common tasks, and for anyone who wants quick reference programs to study, compile, and run.

Table of Contents

• What you'll find here
• Prerequisites
• How to compile & run
• Typical repository structure
• Contributing
• Code style and guidelines
• License
• Contact

What you'll find here

This repo contains small, single-purpose C programs that cover topics such as:

• Hello world and basic I/O
• Variables and data types
• Control flow (if/else, switch, loops)
• Functions and recursion
• Arrays and strings
• Pointers and memory basics
• Simple data structures (linked lists, stacks, queues)
• Sorting and searching algorithms
• File I/O examples
• Basic math and utility programs

Each program is intended to be easy to read and compile. Most files include comments explaining the logic and usage.

Prerequisites

• A C compiler such as gcc or clang
• (Optional) Make if there are Makefiles included

On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt update && sudo apt install build-essential

On macOS: Install Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select --install

On Windows: Use MinGW-w64 or WSL for a POSIX-like environment.

How to compile & run

Compile a single file: gcc -o program program.c ./program

Compile with warnings enabled (recommended while learning): gcc -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -std=c11 -o program program.c

If the repository includes a Makefile, simply run: make Then run the produced binary (often ./program or as described in the specific folder's README).

Examples:

• Compile and run hello.c: gcc -o hello hello.c ./hello

• Compile multiple sources: gcc -o myapp main.c utils.c

Typical repository structure

(Actual layout may vary)

• basics/
  • hello.c
  • variables.c
• control-flow/
  • if_else.c
  • loops.c
• functions/
  • recursion.c
• arrays-strings/
  • array_sort.c
  • string_reverse.c
• pointers/
  • pointer_intro.c
• data-structures/
  • linked_list.c
• algorithms/
  • bubble_sort.c
  • binary_search.c
• file-io/
  • read_file.c
• utils/
  • common_helpers.h

Each folder may contain its own README describing examples and how to run them.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Suggestions:

1. Fork the repo.
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/brief-description
3. Add your program(s) and include comments describing purpose and usage.
4. Make sure code compiles cleanly and run basic tests.
5. Submit a pull request describing your changes.

When adding exercises, prefer:

• Clear file names (e.g., bubble_sort.c)
• Short focused examples (one concept per file)
• Comments that explain non-obvious parts
• A short usage comment at top with compile/run instructions

If you find a bug or have an improvement idea, open an issue.

Code style and guidelines

• Aim for clarity over cleverness.
• Compile with -Wall -Wextra and treat warnings seriously.
• Use meaningful variable and function names.
• Document assumptions and sample input/output in comments.
• Prefer standard C (C99/C11) for portability.

License

If this repository does not already include a LICENSE file, consider adding one. A permissive option is the MIT License. If you want a different license, add a LICENSE file and update this section.

Contact

Repository: https://github.com/Sbiswas001/Basic-c-programs Author / Maintainer: Sbiswas001

If you'd like, I can:

• Create this README.md in the repository,
• Add a sample CONTRIBUTING.md,
• Or generate per-folder READMEs listing contained programs (I can scan the repo first).

Which would you like me to do next?