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Friday, November 17, 2023

User defined data types used in C language

 

User-defined data types in C allow programmers to create their own data types based on the existing basic and derived data types. These types help in organizing and structuring data in a way that is meaningful for the problem being solved. The primary user-defined data types in C are structures, unions, enumerations, and typedefs.

  1. 1. Structures:

    • Structures allow users to define a composite data type that groups variables of different data types under a single name.
    • Each variable inside the structure is called a member.
    • Structs provide a way to represent complex entities with multiple attributes.
    struct Person {
    char name[50];
    int age;
    float height;
    };
    struct Person john; // Creating an instance of the structure
  2. 2. Unions:

    • Unions are similar to structures but share the same memory location for all their members.
    • Only one member of a union can be accessed at a time.
    • Useful when different data types need to share the same memory space.
    union Data {
    int i;
    float f;
    char str[20];
    };
    union Data myData; // Creating an instance of the union
  3. 3. Enumerations (Enums):

    • Enums provide a way to create named integer constants.
    • They offer a readable and symbolic representation for a set of related values.
    • Enums make the code more self-documenting.
    enum Color { RED, GREEN, BLUE };
    enum Color selectedColor = GREEN;
  4. 4. Typedef:

    • typedef is used to create an alias for an existing data type.
    • It allows programmers to define custom names for existing data types, making the code more readable and portable.
    typedef unsigned int uint; // uint is now an alias for unsigned
    int
    uint x = 42;

These user-defined data types help improve code organization, readability, and maintainability. They allow programmers to model real-world entities more effectively and create abstractions that make code easier to understand and reason about.

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