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.
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;
- 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.
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.