ANSI INCITS/ISO/IEC 9899

Abstract

This International Standard specifies the form and establishes the interpretation of programs written in the C programming language.¹⁾ It specifies <br>&#8212; the representation of C programs; <br>&#8212; the syntax and constraints of the C language; <br>&#8212; the semantic rules for interpreting C programs; <br>&#8212; the representation of input data to be processed by C programs; <br>&#8212; the representation of output data produced by C programs; <br>&#8212; the restrictions and limits imposed by a conforming implementation of C. <br>This International Standard does not specify <br>&#8212; the mechanism by which C programs are transformed for use by a data-processing system; <br>&#8212; the mechanism by which C programs are invoked for use by a data-processing system; <br>&#8212; the mechanism by which input data are transformed for use by a C program; <br>&#8212; the mechanism by which output data are transformed after being produced by a C program; <br>&#8212; 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; <br>&#8212; all minimal requirements of a data-processing system that is capable of supporting a conforming implementation. <br>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.