The C Programming Language

B.1.3 Formatted Input..................................................................................................202

B.1.4 Character Input and Output Functions................................................................203

B.1.5 Direct Input and Output Functions......................................................................204

B.1.6 File Positioning Functions...................................................................................204

B.1.7 Error Functions..................................................................................................205

B.2 Character Class Tests: <ctype.h>...............................................................................205

B.3 String Functions: <string.h>......................................................................................205

B.4 Mathematical Functions: <math.h>............................................................................206

B.5 Utility Functions: <stdlib.h>......................................................................................207

B.6 Diagnostics: <assert.h>..............................................................................................209

B.7 Variable Argument Lists: <stdarg.h>.........................................................................209

B.8 Non-local Jumps: <setjmp.h>....................................................................................210

B.9 Signals: <signal.h>....................................................................................................210

B.10 Date and Time Functions: <time.h>.........................................................................210

B.11 Implementation-defined Limits: <limits.h> and <float.h>.........................................212

Appendix C - Summary of Changes.....................................................................................214

6

Preface

The computing world has undergone a revolution since the publication of The C Programming

Language in 1978. Big computers are much bigger, and personal computers have capabilities

that rival mainframes of a decade ago. During this time, C has changed too, although only

modestly, and it has spread far beyond its origins as the language of the UNIX operating

system.

The growing popularity of C, the changes in the language over the years, and the creation of

compilers by groups not involved in its design, combined to demonstrate a need for a more

precise and more contemporary definition of the language than the first edition of this book

provided. In 1983, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) established a committee

whose goal was to produce ''an unambiguous and machine-independent definition of the

language C'', while still retaining its spirit. The result is the ANSI standard for C.

The standard formalizes constructions that were hinted but not described in the first edition,