2. C Variable Types and Declarations:
Key Terms
➢ assembler — The program that is called by a compiler to translate assembly code into
object code.
➢ assembly language — A low-level language that provides maximum access to all the
computer’s devices, both internal and external. Writing an assembly language program
requires a great deal of coding and time.
➢ automatic variable — A variable declared inside a function and local to the function in
which it is declared.
➢ C — A programming language developed in part to overcome the disadvantages of
assembly language programming, which requires a great deal of coding and time. The
result is a high-level set of easy-to-understand instructions. UNIX was originally written
in assembly language but further developed and refined in C, largely due to the efforts
the screen output library function printf().
➢ daemon — A specialized system process that runs in the background. A daemon
accesses UNIX/Linux system code like any other part of the operating system.
➢ decrement operator (—) — A C/C++ arithmetic operator that decreases the value of a
variable by a specified amount.