1 This International Standard specifies the form and establishes the interpretation of
programs written in the C programming language.1) It specifies
— the representation of C programs;
— the syntax and constraints of the C language;
— the semantic rules for interpreting C programs;
— the representation of input data to be processed by C programs;
— the representation of output data produced by C programs;
— the restrictions and limits imposed by a conforming implementation of C.
2 This International Standard does not specify
— the mechanism by which C programs are transformed for use by a data-processing
system;
— the mechanism by which C programs are invoked for use by a data-processing
system;
— the mechanism by which input data are transformed for use by a C program;
— the mechanism by which output data are transformed after being produced by a C
program;
1) This International Standard is designed to promote the portability of C programs among a variety of
data-processing systems. It is intended for use by implementors and programmers.— the size or complexity of a program and its data that will exceed the capacity of any
specific data-processing system or the capacity of a particular processor;
— all minimal requirements of a data-processing system that is capable of supporting a
conforming implementation.
2. Normative references
1 The following normative documents contain provisions which, through reference in this
text, constitute provisions of this International Standard. For dated references,
subsequent amendments to, or revisions of, any of these publications do not apply.
However, parties to agreements based on this International Standard are encouraged to
investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions of the normative
documents indicated below. For undated references, the latest edition of the normative
document referred to applies. Members of ISO and IEC maintain registers of currently
valid International Standards.
2 ISO 31−11:1992, Quantities and units — Part 11: Mathematical signs and symbols for
use in the physical sciences and technology.
3 ISO/IEC 646, Information technology — ISO 7-bit coded character set for information
interchange.
4 ISO/IEC 2382−1:1993, Information technology — Vocabulary — Part 1: Fundamental
terms.
5 ISO 4217, Codes for the representation of currencies and funds.
6 ISO 8601, Data elements and interchange formats — Information interchange —
Representation of dates and times.
7 ISO/IEC 10646 (all parts), Information technology — Universal Multiple-Octet Coded
Character Set (UCS).
8 IEC 60559:1989, Binary floating-point arithmetic for microprocessor systems (previously
designated IEC 559:1989).