Computer Science 240 3 College Credits NCCRS Credit Recommended

Programming
in C

One of the most powerful and enduring languages ever written. Learn C and you understand computing at a level most programmers never reach.

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NCCRS Recommended 3 Credit Hours Self-Paced
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Self-Paced · Final Exam · NCCRS Recommended

What You'll Learn

A full semester of C programming — completed at your own pace, with no deadlines or fixed class times.

Learning Outcomes

What You'll Be Able to Do

  • Design, implement, and maintain software systems using key programming concepts and proficient program development skills
  • Write, test, and debug C programs with reliability and efficiency, applying ANSI standards and coding environments
  • Utilize numeric data types, variables, relational operators, selection structures, and loop structures for logical program control flow
  • Apply recursion and iteration for advanced problem-solving, and master pointer usage for efficient memory management
  • Implement and manage essential data structures — including arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, and dynamically linked lists — for efficient data management
Topics Covered

Major Course Topics

Introduction to programming basics
ANSI C standards & coding environments
Numeric data types & variables
Arithmetic & math functions in C
Selection structures (if/else, switch)
Loop structures (while, for, do-while)
Functions, scope & storage
Recursion & iteration
Arrays, characters & strings
Pointers & memory management
Data files & streams
Structures, unions & linked lists
Stacks, queues & dynamic memory
Dynamically linked lists
Program debugging & testing
Practical C programming applications

Grading: 25% Attendance · 25% Quizzes · 25% Assignments · 25% Final Exam

From the syllabus · Computer Science 240

Course chapters and lessons

Programming in C has 11 chapters across 47.5 instructional hours, as listed in the course syllabus. Expand any chapter to see the lessons inside it.

Chapters
11
Lessons
78
Instructional hours
47.5 hrs
Semester hours
3
11 chapters  ·  78 lessons  ·  3 semester hours
Chapter 1

Programming Fundamentals, Pseudocode, and Program Development

7 lessons · 3.5 hrs
  1. 1.1 Understanding Programming Fundamentals: How Human Intent Translates into Machine-Executable Code
  2. 1.2 Core Program Structure Explained: How Inputs, Processing Logic, and Outputs Work Together
  3. 1.3 Programming Logic and Syntax: How Syntactic Grammar and Boolean Operations Govern Code Execution
  4. 1.4 Writing Pseudocode for Program Design: Expressing Program Behavior Using Informal Step-by-Step Notation
  5. 1.5 Algorithm Design Principles: Sequencing, Branching, Looping, and Measuring Computational Performance
  6. 1.6 Program Development Workflow: Compiling Source Files, Executing Test Scenarios, and Isolating Defects Systematically
  7. 1.7 Why ANSI Compliance Exists: How Industry Standards Ensure Cross-Platform Code Portability
Chapter 2

C Language Setup, Data Types, Variables, and Console I/O

5 lessons · 2.5 hrs
  1. 2.1 From Bell Labs to Modern Compilers: Tracing C's Journey Through Kernighan, Ritchie, and Successive Standard Revisions
  2. 2.2 Setting Up the C Development Environment: GCC Installation, IDE Selection, PATH Configuration, and Compilation Verification
  3. 2.3 C Program Formatting Standards: Brace Placement Conventions, Whitespace Discipline, Indentation Rules, and Comment Techniques
  4. 2.4 Numeric Data Representation in C: Integer and Floating-Point Bit Widths, Range Limits, and Precision Tradeoffs
  5. 2.5 Computing with Operators: Addition Through Modulus, Precedence Hierarchies, and Associativity Rules That Decide Evaluation Order
Chapter 3

Data Types, Variables, Math Library, and Console I/O

6 lessons · 3 hrs
  1. 3.1 Complete Data Type Reference in C: char, int, float, double, void, and How Implicit Type Conversions Reshape Data
  2. 3.2 Variable Declaration in C: Syntax Rules, Identifier Naming Conventions, and How the Compiler Reserves Memory
  3. 3.3 Variable Assignment in C: Assignment Operators, Compound Assignment Shortcuts, and Typecasting Pitfalls to Recognize
  4. 3.4 Using the math.h Library: Exponentiation, Square Roots, Absolute Values, Rounding Functions, and Trigonometric Operations
  5. 3.5 Console Input and Output in C: Format Specifiers in printf(), Capturing Input with scanf(), and Buffer Management Behavior
  6. 3.6 Building Your First C Program: Understanding main(), #include Directives, Return Statements, and Compilation Output
Chapter 4

Conditional Logic, Decision Structures, and Practical Applications

7 lessons · 4 hrs
  1. 4.1 Workshop: Declaring Variables of Different Data Types, Assigning Values, and Producing Formatted Console Output
  2. 4.2 Testing Relationships Between Values: Less-Than, Greater-Than, Equality, and Inequality Operators with Truth Table Outcomes
  3. 4.3 Combining Conditions with Logical Operators: AND, OR, NOT Operations and Short-Circuit Evaluation Behavior
  4. 4.4 Simple and Two-Way Decisions: if Statements for Single-Branch Checks and if-else for Two-Way Selection
  5. 4.5 Multi-Tier Decision Chains: Cascading else-if Logic, Deeply Nested Conditions, and Strategies for Keeping Complex Branches Readable
  6. 4.6 Replacing Long else-if Chains: How switch-case Blocks Route Execution Through Labeled Jump Targets
  7. 4.7 Workshop: Designing Menu-Driven Programs and Grade Calculators Using Conditional and Switch-Based Routing
Chapter 5

Loop Constructs, Control Statements, and Error Diagnosis

7 lessons · 2.5 hrs
  1. 5.1 Loop Fundamentals in C: Understanding the Initializer, Condition, Body, and Update Components of Repetition Structures
  2. 5.2 The while Loop in C: Pre-Condition Testing, Zero-Iteration Scenarios, and Termination Based on External State Changes
  3. 5.3 The for Loop in C: Combining Initialization, Condition Testing, and Increment Expressions in a Single Header Statement
  4. 5.4 The do-while Construct: Body-First Execution Guaranteeing At Least One Pass Before the Exit Condition Is Evaluated
  5. 5.5 Interrupting Normal Flow: How break Terminates, continue Skips, and goto Redirects Execution Inside Loop Bodies
  6. 5.6 Nested Loop Construction and Common Loop Errors: Building Complex Patterns While Avoiding Off-by-One and Infinite Cycle Defects
  7. 5.7 Workshop: Solving Summation, Factorial, and Input Validation Challenges Using while and do-while Constructs
Chapter 6

Functions, Scope, Storage Classes, and Recursion

7 lessons · 4.5 hrs
  1. 6.1 Function Definition in C: Prototype Declarations, Parameter Lists, Return Types, and Call Stack Mechanics
  2. 6.2 C Standard Library Overview: Navigating stdio.h, stdlib.h, string.h, and math.h for Pre-Built Functions
  3. 6.3 Variable Scope in C: How Block Boundaries, File-Level Declarations, and Nesting Depth Control Identifier Accessibility
  4. 6.4 Variable Storage Classes in C: auto Stack Lifetime, static Persistence Across Calls, register Optimization Hints, and extern Linkage
  5. 6.5 Pass by Value vs. Pass by Reference in C: Why Passing a Duplicate Protects the Original and When Pointer Parameters Allow Direct Modification
  6. 6.6 Functions That Call Themselves: Identifying Base Cases, Tracing Recursive Stack Growth, and Weighing Recursion Against Iteration
  7. 6.7 Workshop: Building Multi-Function Programs and Implementing Recursive Solutions with Trace-Level Debugging
Chapter 7

Arrays, Strings, Input Validation, and Formatted Output

8 lessons · 3.5 hrs
  1. 7.1 One-Dimensional Array Declaration in C: Fixed-Size Allocation, Index Boundaries, and Zero-Based Counting Conventions
  2. 7.2 Array Initialization in C: Initializer Lists, Partial Fills, Loop-Driven Population, and Risks of Uninitialized Elements
  3. 7.3 Passing Arrays to Functions in C: How the Compiler Converts Array Arguments to Base-Address Pointers Automatically
  4. 7.4 Multi-Dimensional Arrays in C: Row-Major Storage of 2D Grids, Triple-Nested Traversal for 3D Arrays, and Practical Matrix Computations
  5. 7.5 String Representation in C: Null-Terminated Character Arrays, Manual Construction, Literal Assignment, and the '\0' Sentinel Byte
  6. 7.6 Standard String Library Functions: strlen() for Length, strcpy() for Copying, strcmp() for Comparison, strcat() for Concatenation, and Character Classification
  7. 7.7 Clean Data In, Clean Data Out: Input Validation Techniques and Formatted Output Control in C
  8. 7.8 Workshop: Implementing Search, Sort, and Aggregation Algorithms on Integer and Float Arrays
Chapter 8

Pointers, Pointer Arithmetic, and String Manipulation via Pointers

6 lessons · 3 hrs
  1. 8.1 Workshop: Building a Text Processing Utility That Reverses, Tokenizes, and Reformats User-Supplied Strings
  2. 8.2 Pointer Fundamentals in C: Using the Address-Of (&) Operator, the Dereference (*) Operator, and Understanding Memory Address Access
  3. 8.3 Pointer Arithmetic in C: Incrementing by Type Size, Subtracting Addresses, Comparing Memory Locations, and Traversal Patterns
  4. 8.4 Why Array Names Already Are Pointers: Automatic Decay Rules, Subscript-to-Offset Translation, and Bracket vs. Asterisk Notation
  5. 8.5 Arrays of Pointers in C: Declaring Pointer Arrays, Managing Multiple String Literals, and Building Function Dispatch Structures
  6. 8.6 Passing Array Addresses to Functions: Pointer Parameters, Explicit Length Arguments, and sizeof Boundary Considerations
Chapter 9

String Manipulation via Pointers, File Streams, and File Handling

10 lessons · 5.5 hrs
  1. 9.1 Pointer-Based String Processing and Manual Concatenation: Character-by-Character Traversal, In-Place Swaps, and Advancing Destination Pointers
  2. 9.2 Workshop: Replacing Array Subscripts with Pointer Offsets to Navigate, Filter, and Reshape Data Collections
  3. 9.3 Workshop: Engineering Functions That Accept Address Parameters and Return Modified Data Through Pointer-Based Interfaces
  4. 9.4 Stream-Based I/O Model in C: Understanding stdin, stdout, stderr Standard Channels, and FILE for Custom File Streams
  5. 9.5 File Stream Management in C: Selecting fopen() Modes, Detecting Open Failures, Flushing Buffers, and Releasing Resources with fclose()
  6. 9.6 Line-Based Text File I/O: Reading Safely with fgets(), Writing with fputs(), and Detecting End-of-File Conditions
  7. 9.7 Structured Text File I/O: Formatting Output with fprintf(), Parsing Fields with fscanf(), and Handling Mixed-Type Records
  8. 9.8 Random Access File Operations in C: Repositioning with fseek(), Querying Position with ftell(), Rewinding to Start, and Renaming Files Programmatically
  9. 9.9 Storing Data Without Text Encoding: fread() and fwrite() for Struct-Sized Blocks, Endianness Awareness, and Performance Gains Over Text Mode
  10. 9.10 Workshop: Engineering a File Processing Pipeline That Creates, Reads, Appends, and Updates Records in Text Format
Chapter 10

Structures, Unions, and Compound Data Modeling

7 lessons · 4 hrs
  1. 10.1 Workshop: Serializing In-Memory Structures to Binary Files and Restoring Them Accurately on Subsequent Program Launches
  2. 10.2 Defining Structures in C: struct Keyword Syntax, Member Declarations, and Accessing Fields with the Dot Operator
  3. 10.3 Arrays of Structures in C: Declaring Structure Arrays, Iterating Through Record Collections, and Indexed Member Access
  4. 10.4 Pointers to Structures in C: Heap Allocation, Arrow Operator Syntax, and Accessing Members Through Pointer-to-Structure References
  5. 10.5 Passing and Returning Structures in Functions: Value-Copy Overhead vs. Pointer-Based Efficiency and Returning Populated Records
  6. 10.6 Union Data Type in C: How Overlapping Members Conserve Storage Space and When to Choose a Union Over a Structure
  7. 10.7 Workshop: Modeling Real-World Entities as Structures and Unions with Field Validation and Display Routines
Chapter 11

Dynamic Memory, Linked Lists, Stacks, and Queues

8 lessons · 4.5 hrs
  1. 11.1 Singly Linked List Fundamentals: Node Structure Design, Head Pointer Tracking, Tail Insertion, and Sequential Traversal
  2. 11.2 Allocating Heap Memory in C: malloc() for Raw Blocks, calloc() for Zeroed Arrays, and realloc() for Resizing Existing Allocations
  3. 11.3 Releasing Memory and Avoiding Leaks: Proper Use of free(), Recognizing Dangling Pointers, and Defensive Deallocation Patterns
  4. 11.4 Stack Data Structure Implementation: Push and Pop Mechanics, Overflow/Underflow Protection, and Array vs. Linked List Backend Options
  5. 11.5 Queue Data Structure Implementation: Enqueue and Dequeue Mechanics, Front/Rear Pointer Tracking, and Circular Buffer Wraparound Logic
  6. 11.6 Dynamic Linked List Operations: Insertion at Any Position, Targeted Node Deletion, and Key-Based Search at Runtime
  7. 11.7 Workshop: Implementing a Fully Functional Stack and Queue System with Interactive Push, Pop, Enqueue, and Dequeue Commands
  8. 11.8 Workshop: Developing a Linked List Manager with Menu-Driven Insert, Delete, Search, and Print-All Capabilities

These chapters come straight from the official course syllabus, which also sets out the graded assignment and the proctored final exam.

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Programming in C is a hands-on college-level programming course. It is Computer Science 240 — worth 3 credit hours, carrying an NCCRS recommendation from NCCRS.
Do I need prior programming experience?
No prior experience is required. The course is designed to take you from fundamentals to practical competency, with structured lessons and exercises that build your skills step by step.
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Yes. The course is fully self-paced with no deadlines or fixed class times. Most students complete it in 28–30 days, but you can move faster or slower depending on your schedule.
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This course carries an NCCRS recommendation for 3 semester credit hours. UPI Study courses follow the same evaluation standard used across thousands of colleges and universities.
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Why learn C instead of a newer language?
C teaches how software actually works — memory, pointers, and low-level control — and underpins operating systems, embedded systems, and other languages.
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CS and engineering students, and anyone heading toward embedded systems, systems programming, or performance-critical work.
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