# C PROGRAMS
Pointers Examples
➤ Pointer Basic Examples
➤ Dynamic Memory Allocation
➤ Read Write Array with Pointer
➤ Sum Avg of Array with Pointer
➤ Sort Array with Pointer
➤ Search in Array using Pointer
➤ Sum of N Numbers
➤ Largest Number by DMA
Others
➤ C Program Without Main()
➤ Hello World Without ;
➤ Process & Parent Process ID
➤ C Program Without Header File
➤ void main(), main() vs int main()
➤ fork() function in C
➤ Why gets function is dangerous
➤ Undefined reference to sqrt
Generally, in every C program, we include at least one header file stdio.h. The functions like printf and scanf, which we are regularly using in our program, are defined inside stdio.h header file. So the purpose of including stdio.h is to add the definition of these functions into our program. Now, can we write any program for example, hello world program without using a header file? It is a quite interesting question and asked many times by interviewers, to confuse at the same time to test the understanding of the candidate about his/her knowledge in C.
When we compile any program then firstly, C preprocessor expands all header files into a single file, then later compiler compiles the expanded file. Using the advantage of C preprocessor we can extract the declaration of printf function from the header file and use it directly in our program.
We can write any program without using the header file, but we have to manually put the stuff in our source files.
Hello world Program in C without using the header file
int printf(const char *format, …);
int main()
{
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}Output:-
Hello, World!
This program doesn’t give any warning and error. This is also a solution to our question. Declaration of the printf function is directly used in the program.
We can also declare printf function inside the extern keyword. Here the extern keyword tells the compiler that the declaration of the printf function is somewhere in C. So, the compiler will find the printf declaration file and include it into our program.
extern "C"
{
int printf(const char *format, …);
}
int main()
{
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}Output:-
Hello, World!
Compile this program with the C++ compiler and execute it.
Apart from the above ways, there is also a small trick. The trick is:- Write a program without using any header file and save it using the .c extension. Now, compile and run the program.
int main()
{
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}Output:-
Hello, World!
This program will give warnings but run successfully. When we add .c extension to the file then by default compiler include all necessary file to the program and finally, our program runs successfully. Remember that it is a trick, not a concept. So it better to use the header file in the C program for solving the big problems.
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