C Learning Library

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A hands-on C programming library built for absolute beginners.

Learn C from hello world to structs — runnable examples, auto-generated preview images, zero config.

macOS · Linux · Windows (WSL/MSYS2)

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⚡ Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/chamaththiwanka/c-learning-library.git
cd c-learning-library
chmod +x setup.sh && ./setup.sh   # checks gcc, make & optional tools
make run-all                      # runs every example in order

Run a single example:

make run TOPIC=01_hello_world/hello_world

Command	What it does
make all	Build everything into bin/
make run TOPIC=...	Build & run one example
make run-all	Tour all examples in order
make preview	Generate preview_*.png (code + output)
make clean	Delete bin/

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🖥️ Prerequisites

OS	Install
macOS	xcode-select --install
Debian / Ubuntu	sudo apt install build-essential
Fedora	sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"
Windows	WSL or MSYS2

Optional: silicon for syntax-highlighted code images. make preview auto-creates scripts/.venv/ with Pillow if needed.

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📚 Chapters

#	Topic	What you'll learn
01	Hello World & Variables	printf, data types, your first program
02	Operators	Arithmetic, relational, logical
03	Control Flow	if/else, switch, nested conditions
04	Loops	for, while, do/while, break/continue, goto
05	Functions	Declaration, parameters, return values, recursion
06	Arrays & Strings	1-D / 2-D arrays, string functions
07	Pointers	Addresses, dereferencing, pointer arithmetic
08	Structs	Defining structs, arrays of structs

🎯 What's next? This repo stops at structs. Good next steps: file I/O (fopen), dynamic memory (malloc/free), linked lists.

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🖼️ Previews

make preview generates one image per example — source code + program output — under topics/<chapter>/previews/.

01 — hello_world	04 — for_loop	07 — pointer_basics

Every .c file gets a matching preview_*.png.

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✏️ Add Your Own

1. Copy the comment header from any existing .c file.
2. Save as topics/<chapter>/your_name.c.
3. make all && make run TOPIC=<chapter>/your_name
4. (Optional) make preview to generate its image.

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📁 Layout

topics/01_hello_world/ … 08_structs/   ← .c files + previews/
scripts/                              ← run_all, preview helpers
bin/                                  ← compiled binaries (git-ignored)
setup.sh · Makefile · README.md

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👤 Author

Chamath Thiwanka BICT (Hons), University of Sri Jayewardenepura

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⭐ If this helped you start your C journey, consider giving it a star!