Lesson 26 c programming ( union, storage classes)

a ppt presentation of c programming on the topic union, storage classes

1. Lecture-24 Unions, Storage Classes

2. Unions Union is a collection of variables of different data types, in case of union information can only be stored In one field at any one time. A union is a special data type available in C that enables you to store different data types in the same memory location. You can define a union with many members, but only one member can contain a value at any given time. Unions provide an efficient way of using the same memory location for multi-purpose .

3. Defining a Union To define a union, you must use the  union  statement in the same way as you did while defining a structure. The union statement defines a new data type with more than one member for your program. The format of the union statement is as follows union [union tag] { member definition; member definition; ... member definition; } [one or more union variables];

4. The  union tag  is optional and each member definition is a normal variable definition, such as int i; or float f; or any other valid variable definition. At the end of the union's definition, before the final semicolon, you can specify one or more union variables but it is optional. Example: union Data { int i; float f; char str [20]; } data; The memory occupied by a union will be large enough to hold the largest member of the union. For example, in the above example, Data type will occupy 20 bytes of memory space because this is the maximum space which can be occupied by a character string.

5. Accessing Union Members To access any member of a union, we use the  member access operator (.) . The member access operator is coded as a period between the union variable name and the union member that we wish to access. The keyword  union is used to define variables of union type.

6. The following example shows how to use unions in a program #include < stdio.h > #include < string.h > union Data { int i; float f; char str [20]; }; int main( ) { union Data data ; data.i = 10; data.f = 220.5; strcpy ( data.str , "C Programming"); printf ( " data.i : %d\n", data.i ); printf ( " data.f : %f\n", data.f ); printf ( " data.str : %s\n", data.str ); return 0; } Output data.i : 1917853763 data.f : 4122360580327794860452759994368.000000 data.str : C Programming Here, we can see that the values of  i  and  f  members of union got corrupted because the final value assigned to the variable has occupied the memory location and this is the reason that the value of  str  member is getting printed very well.

7. example for using one variable at a time #include < stdio.h > #include < string.h > union Data { int i; float f; char str [20]; }; int main( ) { union Data data ; data.i = 10; printf ( " data.i : %d\n", data.i ); data.f = 220.5; printf ( " data.f : %f\n", data.f ); strcpy ( data.str , "C Programming"); printf ( " data.str : %s\n", data.str ); return 0; } Here, all the members are getting printed very well because one member is being used at a time. Output data.i : 10 data.f : 220.500000 data.str : C Programming

8. Differences between Structure and Union Key Structure Union Definition Structure is the container defined in C to store data variables of different type and also supports for the user defined variables storage On other hand Union is also similar kind of container in C which can also holds the different type of variables along with the user defined variables. Internal implementation Structure in C is internally implemented as that there is separate memory location is allotted to each input member While in case Union memory is allocated only to one member having largest size among all other input variables and the same location is being get shared among all of these. Syntax Syntax of declare a Structure in C is as follow : struct struct_name { type element1 ; type element2 ; . . } variable1 , variable2 , ...; On other syntax of declare a Union in C is as follow: union u_name { type element1 ; type element2 ; . . } variable1 , variable2 ,…..;

9. Differences between Structure and Union Key Structure Union Size As mentioned in definition Structure do not have shared location for its members so size of Structure is equal or greater than the sum of size of all the data members. On other hand Union does not have separate location for each of its member so its size or equal to the size of largest member among all data members. Value storage As mentioned above in case of Structure there is specific memory location for each input data member and hence it can store multiple values of the different members. While in case of Union there is only one shared memory allocation for all input data members so it stores a single value at a time for all members Initialization In Structure multiple members can be can be initializing at same time. On other hand in case of Union only the first member can get initialize at a time.

10. Storage Classes A storage class defines the scope (visibility) and life-time of variables and/or functions within a C Program. They precede the type that they modify. We have four different storage classes in a C program − auto Static register extern Example: storage_class datatype variable_name ;

11. Auto Storage Class The  auto  storage class is the default storage class for all local variables. Syntax to declare automatic variable is: auto datatype variablename ; Example: auto int i; Features of Automatic Storage Class are as follows Storage: Memory Default Initial Value: Garbage Value Scope: Local to the block in which the variable is defined Life: Till the control remains within the block in which the variable is defined

12. The following program illustrates the work of automatic variables. void test(); void main() { test(); test(); test(); } void test() { auto int k=10; printf(“%d\n”,k); k++; } Output 10 10 10

13. Static Storage Class The  static  storage class instructs the compiler to keep a local variable in existence during the life-time of the program instead of creating and destroying it each time it comes into and goes out of scope. Therefore, making local variables static allows them to maintain their values between function calls. The static modifier may also be applied to global variables. When this is done, it causes that variable's scope to be restricted to the file in which it is declared. Syntax to declare static variable is: static datatype variablename ; Example: static int i;

14. Features of Static Storage Class are as follows Storage: Memory Default Initial Value: Zero Scope: Local to the block in which the variable is defined Life: Value of the variable continues to exist between different function calls

15. The previous program with k is declared as static instead of automatic. void test(); void main() { test(); test(); test(); } void test() { static int k=10; printf (“%d\ n”,k ); k++; } Output 10 11 12

16. The register Storage Class The  register  storage class is used to define local variables that should be stored in a register instead of RAM. This means that the variable has a maximum size equal to the register size (usually one word) and can't have the unary '&' operator applied to it (as it does not have a memory location). Syntax to declare register variable is: register datatype variablename ; Example: register int miles;

17. Features of Register Storage Class are as follows: Storage: CPU Registers Default Initial Value: Garbage Value Scope: Local to the block in which the variable is defined Life: Till the control remains within the block in which the variable is defined

18. The extern Storage Class The  extern  storage class is used to give a reference of a global variable that is visible to ALL the program files. When you use 'extern', the variable cannot be initialized however, it points the variable name at a storage location that has been previously defined. When you have multiple files and you define a global variable or function, which will also be used in other files, then  extern  will be used in another file to provide the reference of defined variable or function. Just for understanding,  extern  is used to declare a global variable or function in another file. The extern modifier is most commonly used when there are two or more files sharing the same global variables or functions

19. Syntax to declare static variable is: extern datatype variablename ; Example: extern int i; Features of External Storage Class are as follows Storage: Memory Default Initial Value: Zero Scope: Global Life: Till the program’s execution doesn’t come to an end

20. Example of external storage class First File: main.c #include < stdio.h > int count ; extern void write_extern (); main() { count = 5; write_extern (); } Second File: support.c #include < stdio.h > extern int count; void write_extern (void) { printf ("count is %d\n", count); } When this program is executed the output is -count is 5

21. Properties of different storage classes Storage Class Storage Default Initial Value Scope Life Automatic Memory Garbage Value Local to the block in which the variable is defined Till the control remains within the block in which the variable is defined Register CPU Registers Garbage Value Local to the block in which the variable is defined Till the control remains within the block in which the variable is defined Static Memory Zero Value of the variable continues to exist between different function calls Value of the variable continues to exist between different function calls External Memory Zero Global Till the program’s execution doesn’t come to an end