The course "Introduction to C Programming" at the School of Economics and Management, Beihang University, taught by Professor Jichang Zhao, focuses on the fundamentals of C programming language. One of the important topics covered in the course is handling data files.
The objectives of this part of the course include learning how to declare, open, and close file streams in C, as well as reading from and writing to text files. Students are also taught about random file access and how to pass and return filenames in their programs.
Supplementing the textbook material, students are introduced to the concept of file systems. A file system is a method and data structure used by operating systems to organize files on storage devices. It is responsible for organizing and allocating space on storage devices, storing and protecting files, and retrieving files as needed. File systems also handle tasks such as creating, storing, reading, modifying, backing up, and controlling access to files, as well as deleting files when they are no longer needed.
Some common file systems mentioned in the course include FAT32, commonly used for USB flash drives; NTFS, used by Windows operating systems; Ext, used by Linux systems; and HFS, used by Mac OS. Understanding different file systems is crucial for students to develop programs that can work effectively across various operating systems.
In summary, the data files topic in the "Introduction to C Programming" course covers essential concepts and techniques for handling file operations in C programs. By mastering this topic, students will be able to create efficient and reliable programs that can read from and write to files, access files randomly, and interact seamlessly with different file systems across various operating environments.