CLE – C Certified Entry-Level Programmer Certification

---

CLE – C Certified Entry-Level Programmer certification is an interim step to the CLA – C Certified Associate Programmer certification and the starting point to launch a career in software development, low-level and middle-level programming, C programming, and related technologies. Becoming CLE certified will help you stand out from other candidates and get your foot in the door.

CLE – C Certified Entry-Level Programmer certification shows that the individual is familiar with universal computer programming concepts like compilation, variables, data types, typecasting, operators, conditional execution, loops, arrays, pointers, memory management, functions, and the runtime environment.

Exam Information

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

CLE – C Certified Entry-Level Programmer Certification: Exam Syllabus

---

Exam block #1: Basic Concepts (13.25%)

Objectives covered by the block (4 exam items)

• fundamental concepts: compilation and the compiler, IDE, language elements, lexis, syntax and semantics, C keywords, instructions, machine/natural/artificial languages, portability
• literals: char; integer, floating-point, and double type numbers; scientific notations, strings
• comments
• the printf() and puts() functions
• the return keyword
• the main() function
• numeral systems (binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal)
• basic operators: * / % / + – =
• variables

Exam block #2: Data Types, Evaluations, and Basic I/O Operations (13.25%)

Objectives covered by the block (4 exam items)

• primary and derived data types, modifiers
• type casting and conversions
• declaring variables, assigning values to variables
• defining constants,
• accuracy of floating-point numbers
• basic input and output operations using the scanf(), puts(), printf() functions
• formatting output, format specifiers
• type casting
• header files
• basic calculations

Exam block #3: Arithmetic, logical, and bitwise operators (13.25%)

Objectives covered by the block (4 exam items)

• operators: unary and binary, priorities and binding
• basic calculations
• incrementation and decrementation operators
• shortcut operators
• rounding the numbers
• bitwise shifts (>> and <<)
• logical operations: and, or, not
• the truth table

Exam block #4: Flow control: decision-making statements (13.25%)

Objectives covered by the block (4 exam items)

• conditional statements: if, if-else, if-else if, if-else if-else
• multiple conditional statements
• nested conditions
• switch and case
• the default keyword
• control instructions

Exam block #5: Flow control: loops (16.50%)

Objectives covered by the block (5 exam items)

• building loops: while, for, do...while
• iterating through sequences
• infinite loops
• loop elements, and loop execution
• nesting loops
• controlling loop execution: break, continue

Exam block #6: Arrays, pointers, and memory management (16.50%)

Objectives covered by the block (5 exam items)

• creating and initializing arrays
• indexing and manipulating arrays
• sorting data in arrays
• initiators
• pointers, the NULL pointer, pointer arithmetic
• addresses, references, dereferences, the sizeof operator
• pointers vs. arrays
• multidimensional arrays
• arrays of pointers
• the void type
• memory allocation and deallocation: the malloc() and free() functions

Exam block #7: String manipulation (7%)

Objectives covered by the block (2 exam items)

• character arrays, the ASCII code,
• string initialization
• string functions: strcpy, strlen, strcat
• processing strings
• string header files

Exam block #8: The Basics of Functions (7%)

Objectives covered by the block (2 exam items)

• functions, parameters, definitions, declarations, invocations
• creating user-defined functions
• using selected C library functions

First published: December 9, 2019

Last updated: December 13, 2023

Aligned with Exam CLE-10-01