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Introduction to C

What is C ?

C is a general-purpose programming language that is extremely popular, simple, and flexible to use.

    Featuers of C Progarmming :

  • C is a Middle level language.
  • It is case sensitive.
  • It is easy to extend.
  • Highly portable.
  • It is fast and efficient.
  • It is more widely used language in operating systems and embedded system.
Why C is a middle level language?

To understand this let us first understand what higher and lower level languages are with example.

A higher level language would be the language that we humans speaks like simple English and lower level language is that a computer can understand like binary (1s and 0s) called machine language, while C is a middle level language that is between higher and lower level and is also called assembly language. It uses simple words from English like for, if, while, include and also symbols like +, ++, <, %, & to carry out tasks and to interact with our computer.

Some Facts about C Language !

 

C Language is used in Following Areas:-

  • We can create an Operating System with the help of the C language. Mostly all operating systems are developed in C language like Unix, Windows operating system.
  • We can develop assemblers in C language.
  • We can develop compilers in C language.
  • Network Drivers are also created using C language.
  • Text Editors are developed using the C language like Notepad++,gedit e.t.c.
  • Database Management System are developed using the C language like oracle database.

 

Limitations of C language:-

  • No solution for handling the exception.
  • In C language, no run time type checking is done.
  • C language doesn’t support Object Oriented programming (OOPs).
Father of C Progaramming ?

History of C Language

To overcome the problems of languages such as B and BCPL, Dennis Ritchie from The United States of America developed C language in 1972.

C was developed by Dennis Ritchie, he was born on 9th September, 1941. Ritchie invented two great inventions, C programming language and Unix operating system. He also co-authored a book “The C Programming Language��?.

C is used for creating system application.
Implementation of system software was designed by C language.
It is a case sensitive programming language.

Dennis Ritchie further was referred as “The Father of Modern Programming Languages��?.

Complete History of C Progaramming ?
  • In 1960, ALGOL was developed by the  international group.
  • In 1966, Martin Richards developed BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language before developing C.
  • Later, Ken Thomson further developed BCPL by developing the first letter of BCPL i.e. he developed the B language.
  • Ken Thomson developed BASIC type of UNIX Operating System, while the B language was in motion.
  • After all this, by further developing the B language, Dennis Ritchie developed the C language in the Bell laboratory.  
  • After developing the C language, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson together developed the UNIX Operating System.
  • In 1960, ALGOL was developed by the  international group.
  • In 1966, Martin Richards developed BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language before developing C.
  • Later, Ken Thomson further developed BCPL by developing the first letter of BCPL i.e. he developed the B language.
  • Ken Thomson developed BASIC type of UNIX Operating System, while the B language was in motion.
  • After all this, by further developing the B language, Dennis Ritchie developed the C language in the Bell laboratory.  
  • After developing the C language, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson together developed the UNIX Operating System.
Freatures of C Programming :

Small:-

  • C provide 32 reserved keywords, these keywords provide control to programmer on language. By understanding  the use of keywords we can do programming in C language.
  • C language can easily learn in less time because, C language is small and simple language.
  • This language provide structure approach.
  • In C language there are  various data types and library function provided to solve the problems.

Speed:-

  • The main feature of the C language is Speed because after assembly language C language is considered to be the fastest.
  • The compilation and execution time of the C language is very fast.
  • This language is very close to the hardware. 

Modularity:-

  • C is a Modular programming language. In this feature small modules are made to solve any problem and these small module are known as function. By dividing any program in modules, it becomes easy to manage or debug the program.

Case Sensitive:-

  • C is a case sensitive language.
  • In case sensitive programming all letters are different weather they are small and capital variables, which makes it easy for the programmer to create variables in a program.

Middle level language:-

  • This is the main feature in features of C.C language is a middle level language because C language can make high level and low level software.
  • C language is also used in programming of low level language, in which  system applications are created.it also supports the features of high level language, that’s why C language is called a middle level language.

Structured:-

  • C is  a structure programming language. 
  • In this feature small modules are made to solve any problem and these small module are known as function. By dividing any program in modules, it becomes easy to manage or debug the program.

Memory Management:-

  • Memory Management is a good feature in features of C.
  • C language supports the feature of dynamic memory allocation.
  • We can allocate time memory with the help of free() function.

Rich Library:-

  • This is the most important feature in features of C.
  • C language provides various in-built functions, with the help of which we can speed up any program.

Pointer and Recursion:-

  • C language provides Pointer and Recursion feature.we can  directly handle the memory with the help of Pointer.we use pointer for Array,Function,Structures.
  • In C programming, we can call function inside the function.C language provides code re-usability to us.By which we can use the code of any function again.

Extensible:-

  • In the C programming language, you can add your own user defined library and use it. Because the C language is an extensible programming language and we can add new features easily.

Fast:-

  • After assembly language C language is considered to be the fastest.
  • This is also sometimes called low level language.
  • C language is close to the hardware.
  • Processing of applications created in the C language is fast.
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