what is c programming language

what is c programming language

C is a fast, general-purpose, platform independent, high-level programming language that evolved by “Dennis Ritchie” at Bell Laboratories from two previous programming languages, BCPL and B on DEC PDP-11 machine in 1972. Initially, C widely known as the development language of the UNIX operating system but today all new major operating systems are written in C and/or C++.

Evolved over the years
♦ 1972 – C invented
♦ 1978 – The C Programming Language published; first specification of language
♦ 1989 – C89 standard (known as ANSI C or Standard C)
♦ 1990 – ANSI C adopted by ISO, known as C90 and 1999 – C99 standard
♦ 2007 – work on new C standard C1X announced

WHY C
♦ C is a powerful and flexible language.
♦ C is the most widely used and popular System Programming Language.
♦ C has rich set of built-in functions and support variety of data types & operators.
♦ C is highly portable (Machine independent) and it is static (compiled), typed, structured and imperative.
♦ C has ability to extend itself and it is stable (the language doesn’t change much).
♦ C is quick running (code written in c is efficient & fast).
♦ C is the basis for many other languages (C++, C#, Java, Perl etc).
♦ C is small (only 32 keywords) and it is a Programmers Language.

APPLICATIONS OF C
♦ Systems Programming: e.g., compilers and interpreters
♦ Operating System: e.g., Linux ,Unix
♦ Microcontrollers: automobiles and airplanes
♦ Embedded Processors: phones, portable electronics etc.
♦ Database systems and DSP Processors: digital audio and TV systems.

Though Environment Setup is not the part of Programming Language, but it is the first step to be followed before setting on to write a program. Thus, we need to have the required software setup, i.e., installation on our PC which will be used to write computer programs, compile, and execute them. Once C compiler is installed in your machine, you can create, compile and execute C programs. You need the following two software tools available on your computer to set up your environment for starting C programming language,

(i) Text Editor / Code editor and
(ii) C Compiler.

You are able to write program in Notepad but, notepad and the other editors don't provide you with the
right tools to do software development. That’s why code editor or an IDE is better option instead of notepad. Code editor is a piece of software that you can use to write your code and it will behave like the tool you need to develop software, for example, coloring keywords, display the line numbers that's important for debugging, allow for multiple text manipulation and add a file explorer or project explorer to select the files you need to work on. Beside, a compiler is necessary to compile the program which converts your program (source code) into a language understandable by a computer. So before proceeding, make sure you have C compiler available at your computer. There are many compilers available on the internet and sold commercially in stores or online. Most compilers come with a builtin code editor that can be used to enter source code; however, some don't.

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