Modern C, Third Edition

19 Variations in control flow

This chapter covers

• Understanding normal sequencing of statements in C
• Making short and long jumps through code
• Function control flow
• Handling signals

The control flow (see figure 2.1) of program execution describes how the individual statements of the program code are sequenced—that is, which statement is executed after another. Up to now, we have mostly looked at code that lets us deduce this control flow from syntax and a controlling expression. That way, each function can be described using a hierarchical composition of basic blocks. A basic block is a maximum sequence of statements such that once execution starts at the first of these statements, it continues unconditionally until the last, such that ...