Differences between Java and C

CS-2303, System Programming Concepts

(Slides include materials from The C Programming Language, 2nd edition, by Kernighan and Ritchie and
from C: How to Program, 5th and 6th editions, by Deitel and Deitel)

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Java and C
Java is derived from C
Many of its syntactic characteristics are
similar to C
However, there are some huge differences

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Expressions
Arithmetic operators are the same:
+, , *, /, %, ++,

Numerical type conversion is mostly the

same
Java spells out divide by zero, NaN (not a
number, etc.)
C & C++ are machine dependent

Check the textbooks for details

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Relational Operators
Relational operators work the same way but return
different results:
>, >=, <, <=, ==, !=

In Java, they return values FALSE and TRUE

In C/C++, they return values 0 and 1
In C/C++,
a value of zero means false
any value that is not zero means true
E.g., 1, 5, -1000000, 3.14159, 6.626068 10-34
CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Conditional and Bitwise Operators

Conditional execution operators are same in Java
and C/C++:
||, &&, ? followed by :

Bitwise operators are same in Java and C/C++:

|, &, ^ for bit-by-bit operations with a word

Shift operators differ a little bit

<< (left shift) is the same
>> (right shift) is machine dependent in C/C++
I.e., whether to fill from left with zeros or sign bits
CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Assignment and Unary Operators

Assignment operators work the same:
=, +=, -=, *=, /=, &=, |=, ^=

The following unary operators are available

C/C++ but not in Java
~
invert the bits of a word
*
pointer dereference
&
pointer creation
(type)
cast (i.e., forceable type conversion)
sizeof
# of bytes in operand or data type
->
pointer dereference with field selection
CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Summary about Expressions and Operators

Pretty much the same in C/C++ and Java
Be sure to check details in textbook

Be sure to check operator precedence

Table 2-1 in K&R
Distributed throughout text in D&D

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Statements
Statements in C/C++:

Labeled statement
Expression statement
Compound statement
Selection statement
Iteration statement
Jump statement

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Statements
Statements in C/C++:

Labeled statement
Expression statement
Compound statement
Selection statement
Iteration statement
Jump statement

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

E.g., cases of a switch

statement
Similar to Java

Statements
Statements in C/C++:

Labeled statement
Expression statement
Compound statement
Selection statement
Iteration statement
Jump statement

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Any expression
followed by ';'
Much like to Java

10

Statements
Statements in C/C++:

Labeled statement
Expression statement
Compound statement
Selection statement
Iteration statement
Jump statement

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Sequence of statements
enclosed in "{}"
Called a block in Java

11

Statements
Statements in C/C++:

Labeled statement
Expression statement
Compound statement
Selection statement
Iteration statement
Jump statement

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

switch (expr)
if (expr)statement
if (expr) statement
else statement
Same as in Java

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Statements
Statements in C/C++:

Labeled statement
Expression statement
Compound statement
Selection statement
while (expr) statement
do statement while (expr
Iteration statement
for (exp1; exp2, exp3)
Jump statement
statement
Very similar to Java

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

13

Statements
Statements in C/C++:

Labeled statement
Expression statement
Compound statement
Selection statement
Iteration statement
goto
break;
Jump statement
Not present in Java
continue;
Not expr
allowed in this
return
course
Very similar
to Java

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

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Summary about Statements

Pretty much the same in C/C++ and Java
Be sure to check details in textbooks

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

15

Formatted Input & Output

Very different between C and Java
Very different between C and C++
Handled by library functions in C
printf()
scanf()
getc()
putc()

Many others!
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Differences between Java

and C

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printf() Print formatted data

printf("string containing '%' specifiers",
expr1, expr2, expr3, );

Copy the string, character-by-character, to

the output.
When the ith '%' is encountered, treat it as a
conversion specifier for converting the value
of expri
Copy the converted value to the output per
instructions encoded in the conversion specifier

Return number of characters printed

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

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printf() conversion specifiers

See K&R, p 154 & 244 or D&D Chapter 9
%d or %i
Treat expression as a decimal number (with sign)

%u
Treat expression as unsigned decimal number

%f
Treat expression as double precision floating point number; print
without exponent

%e or %E
Treat expression as double precision floating point number; print with
exponent (base 10) scientific notation

%c
Treat value of expression as the code for a single character

%s
Treat expression as a pointer to a string

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

Later in this
course

18

printf() conversion specifiers (continued)

Conversion specifiers may optionally

contain
Right or left alignment in the field
Minimum field width (padded on right or left)
Precision i.e.,
Maximum length of string
Number of decimal places of floating point value

Examples
%6d print signed decimal number in 6-char field
%8.4f print floating point number with four places
after decimal point, field width of 8 characters
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Differences between Java

and C

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scanf() Scan formatted data

scanf("string containing '%' specifiers",
&var1, &var2, &var3, );

Scan the input, matching the string character by

character.
When the ith '%' is encountered, treat as a
conversion specifier for converting next sequence
of characters and storing result in vari

Copy the converted value to the output per instructions encoded

in the conversion specifier

Stop if input does not match string or conversion

not successful
Return number of successful conversions.
CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

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scanf() Typical Usage

int j;
double x;
scanf("%d%f", &j, &x);

Scan the input, skipping blanks and tabs

Try to match a signed integer; if successful, store
result in j
Continue scanning, skipping blanks and tabs
Try to match a floating point number. If successful,
store in x
Return number of items stored.
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Differences between Java

and C

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scanf() Details
K&R Table B-2 (p. 246), D&D Chapter 9

printf() and scanf() are both needed for

Lab #1
Programming Assignment #1

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

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Summary
Differences and similarities between Java
and C
Expressions
Statements

There are lots of other differences

Will be covered during the course

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

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Questions?

CS-2303, C-Term 2010

Differences between Java

and C

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