A structure is a collection of variables for an entity. The variables are known as members of the structure and are located at consecutive memory locations. The size of the structure is the sum of sizes of the members plus any padding that might be placed by the system.… Read more
A pointer variable holds the address of another variable. It is said to be "pointing" to that variable. For example,
int *ip;
defines a variable
A C program comprises of global data and functions. A program must have a main function and the execution starts at the first statement in the main function. A function has local data and statements. The control flow deals with the order in which statements are executed by a program.… Read more
Data is an important part of a program. In fact, programs are written so that data can be captured, processed, stored and presented to the user. The success of a program depends on how well data has been organized and used.… Read more
C is a procedural programming language invented by Dennis Ritchie in 1972. C is, possibly, the most widely used programming language in the last fifty years. There are some unique features of C. It is a small language; so it can be easily learnt.… Read more
I/O multiplexing is the the ability to perform I/O operations on multiple file descriptors. Input operations like read, accept and calls for receiving messages block when there is no incoming data. So, if an input call is made and it blocks, we may miss data from other file descriptors.… Read more
Signals are notifications delivered asynchronously to a process by the kernel. Signals are grouped in two categories. First, there are standard signals, which have been there since the early days of Unix. Second, there are POSIX real-time signals which are specified in POSIX.1b, or, IEEE Std 1003.1b-1993, for Real-time Extensions for POSIX compliant Operating Systems.… Read more
Quite often, we need temporary files in our programs. Some intermediate data needs to be stored and the file can be discarded when the process terminates. There are functions and command to create temporary files in Linux. The mkstemp function creates a temporary file and returns a file descriptor.… Read more
A socket is a communication endpoint at a host computer. The socket API provides calls for communication between processes. The socket system call is,
int socket (int domain, int type, int protocol);
The first parameter to the socket system call is the domain.… Read more
All programs need to interact with the external world which makes I/O important. Programs store data in files which provide large persistent storage. In this post we will look at the system calls and functions for file I/O and the issues that govern the program and I/O device interaction.… Read more
