The Dictionary of Standard C

it is suitable for all levels of C programmers and includes a broad range of subject matter including advanced topics. Because it does not deal with extensions, it is not aimed at any particular kind of application or set of it is generic and is applicable to anyone working with C using any mainstream implementation of C.

Preface

There are many C books on the market, covering a broad range of applications and platforms, and each comes with some form of cross-reference index. However, the art of indexing a book is quite specialized and, as such, is often done by someone who is not intimately familiar with the book's subject matter. Also, the index of any given book is obviously limited to the subject matter covered in that book. A book on data structures in C, for example, is unlikely to have an index entry for the standard date and time functions.

Many C programmers accumulate more than a few C books during their careers. Of course, none of these books can be all things to all people. Therefore, to research a number of specific terms, the reader may have to scan through the indexes of five or six books to find the relevant information. And in the case of more advanced topics (such as lvalues and sequence points), index entries may be missing altogether. This is where this dictionary becomes useful. Organized in alphabetical order, it allows terms to be found quickly and easily. The format provides for a relatively concise definition, in some cases with a small amount of tutorial material. And, of course, there is extensive cross-referencing to other entries. Intended Audience

This book is suitable for C programmers at all levels. Because it does not deal with extensions, it is not aimed at any particular kind of application or set of platforms. It is generic and is applicable to anyone working with C using any mainstream implementation of C. Limits of this Dictionary

This book is intended as an alphabetized quick reference guide to C. It is not an encyclopedia nor is it intended to replace the C standard or your implementation's documentation. (For information on obtaining a paper or electronic copy of the C standard refer to iso.ch or ansi.) Acknowledgments

Some thanks are in order: To Dennis Ritchie for creating the C language; to Brian Kernighan for so eloquently writing about C, thereby helping to bootstrap a generation of C programmers; to Jim Brodie, Tom Plum, and P.J. Plauger for so ably steering the original C standards committee, X3J11; to Larry Rosler, David Prosser, Frank Farance, and Larry Jones for their excellent work on editing the C standard; to Randy Hudson and Bill Seymour for editing the Rationale manual; and to all my colleagues on the committees X3J11, NCEG, X3J11.1, J11, and WG14 who have assisted in my numerous C ventures.

Many thanks also go to the reviewers of various drafts of this book: Nelson Beebe, Jim Brodie, Tom MacDonald, Randy Meyers, Tom Plum, Fred Tydeman, and Douglas Walls whose suggestions contributed greatly to the quality of this book. Finally, thanks to Donald Knuth for his typesetting system TJ&X, and to Leslie Lamport for his Latex macro package with which this book was prepared.