1.1 Example: Recursive Fibonacci

To introduce the most basic features of C, let’s look at code for a simple mathematical function that does calculations on integers. This function calculates the nth number in the Fibonacci series, in which each number is the sum of the previous two: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, ….

int
fib (int n)
{
  if (n <= 2)  /* This avoids infinite recursion.  */
    return 1;
  else
    return fib (n - 1) + fib (n - 2);
}

This very simple program illustrates several features of C:

• A function definition, whose first two lines constitute the function header. See Function Definitions.
• A function parameter n, referred to as the variable n inside the function body. See Function Parameter Variables. A function definition uses parameters to refer to the argument values provided in a call to that function.
• Arithmetic. C programs add with ‘+’ and subtract with ‘-’. See Arithmetic.
• Numeric comparisons. The operator ‘<=’ tests for “less than or equal.” See Numeric Comparisons.
• Integer constants written in base 10. See Integer Constants.
• A function call. The function call fib (n - 1) calls the function fib, passing as its argument the value n - 1. See Function Calls.
• A comment, which starts with ‘/*’ and ends with ‘*/’. The comment has no effect on the execution of the program. Its purpose is to provide explanations to people reading the source code. Including comments in the code is tremendously important—they provide background information so others can understand the code more quickly. See Comments.

  In this manual, we present comment text in the variable-width typeface used for the text of the chapters, not in the fixed-width typeface used for the rest of the code. That is to make comments easier to read. This distinction of typeface does not exist in a real file of C source code.

• Two kinds of statements, the return statement and the if…else statement. See Statements.
• Recursion. The function fib calls itself; that is called a recursive call. These are valid in C, and quite common.

  The fib function would not be useful if it didn’t return. Thus, recursive definitions, to be of any use, must avoid infinite recursion.

  This function definition prevents infinite recursion by specially handling the case where n is two or less. Thus the maximum depth of recursive calls is less than n.