Introduction To C

The programming language c was developed in the early 1970s by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Laboratories.It was name C because many of its features were derived from an earlier language called B. Although c was designed for implementing System
software, It was later on widely used for developing portable application software. C is one of the most popular programming languages. It is being used on several different software platforms.It is a good idea to learn C because it has been around for a long time which means there is a lot of information available on it. Quite a few other programming languages such as C++ and Java are also based on C which means you will able to learn them more easily in the future. Before C, several other programming language were developed. For example, in 1967 Martin Richards developed a language called BPCL (Basic combined programming Language). BPCL was basically a type-less language which facilitated the user direct access of memory. This made it useful for system programmers. Then it 1970, ken Thompson developed a language called B. B was used to develop the first version of UNIX. C was developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 that took concepts from ALGOL, BCPL, and B. C also supports the concept of data types. UNIX operating system was also developed at Bell Laboratories along with C language, C and UNIX are strongly associated with each other. C is a robust language whose rich set of built-in functions and operators can be used to write complex programs. The C compiler combines the features of assembly language and high level language which makes it best suited for writing system software as well as business packages. 

Characteristics of C

Some basic characteristics of c language that defines the language and have lead to its popularity as programming listed below.

• A high level programming language enables the programmer to concentrate on the problem at hand and not worry about the machine code on which the program would be run.

• Small in size C has only 32 keywords. This makes it relatively easy to learn as compared to other languages.

• C is well suited for structured programming.This feature facilitates easiness in program debugging,testing, and maintenance.

• C supports pointer to refer computer memory, array, structures, and functions.

• C is a portable language i.e a C program written for one computer can be run on another computer with little or no modification.

• C is an extensible language as it enables the user to add his own functions to the C library.

 

Uses of C

c language is primarily used for system programming.the portability,efficiency, the ability to access.
C has been so widely accepted by professionals that compilers, libraries,and interpreters of other programming.
 
C is widely used to implement end-user application.