CLA (C language) study plan

Compile and run a first C program with gcc using -std=c11 -Wall -Wextra, and read every warning until the build is clean.

Write programs that declare and initialize int, char, float, double and _Bool variables, and print them with the correct printf conversion specifiers.

Trace integer division, truncation, and implicit conversions by hand, then verify each prediction by running the program.

Use if/else, switch, and the three loop forms to solve five small exercises such as FizzBuzz, a multiplication table, and a digit-sum loop.

Implement a number-guessing game that loops until correct, counts attempts, and validates input with scanf return values.

Write a program that reads a line with fgets, strips the trailing newline, and reports character counts, vowels, and reversed output.

Explain and demonstrate the difference between while, do-while, and for with three minimal examples you write yourself.

Debug three deliberately broken programs (infinite loop, off-by-one, scanf type mismatch) using gdb or printf tracing and document the root cause of each.

Write ten of your own functions with prototypes, mixing void, value-returning, and multiple-parameter forms, and place prototypes above main.

Demonstrate pass-by-value versus simulated pass-by-reference using pointers, and show with a program why swapping without pointers fails.

Implement a recursive factorial and Fibonacci, then compare iteration versus recursion for count of calls and stack depth.

Use static local variables and explain their lifetime with a program that counts function calls across invocations.

Declare, initialize, and traverse one-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays, including computing the size with sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0]).

Write functions that accept arrays as parameters and correctly handle the fact that array length is not passed automatically.

Implement linear search and binary search over an int array and verify both on sorted and unsorted input.

Implement bubble sort and selection sort, and print the array state after each outer pass to visualize the algorithm.

Draw memory diagrams for pointers, arrays, and pointer arithmetic, then write code that matches each diagram exactly.

Use pointers to pass arrays to functions and to return results through output parameters.

Implement string operations (strlen, strcpy, strcmp equivalents) manually with pointers and compare against the library versions.

Explain and demonstrate the difference between char s[] = "abc" and char *s = "abc", including what happens when you attempt to modify each.

Allocate, use, resize with realloc, and free dynamic arrays with malloc/calloc/free, checking every allocation for NULL.

Build a dynamically growing integer array with push, get, and free functions and test it with 100,000 insertions.

Identify and fix a double free, a use-after-free, and a memory leak in three provided-to-yourself buggy programs.

Run at least one program under valgrind or AddressSanitizer (-fsanitize=address) and get a clean report.

Define struct types, initialize them, pass them by value and by pointer, and explain when each is preferable.

Use typedef, nested structs, and arrays of structs to model a small student record system with add, find, and print operations.

Write a program that writes struct records to a binary file with fwrite and reads them back with fread, verifying round-trip equality.

Handle file open failures, use feof and ferror correctly, and close every stream on all paths.

Use #define, function-like macros with parentheses, and #include guards, and show a macro pitfall such as double evaluation with ++.

Apply conditional compilation with #ifdef/#ifndef to build one source file in two configurations.

Use the predefined macros FILE and LINE inside a small debug logging macro.

Complete two timed mixed-domain practice sets covering all four domains and review every wrong answer.