C Tutorial

Last update on August 19 2022 21:51:12 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

A brief history of C Language

In the early 1970s, the C programming language was designed and implemented by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Laboratories on a DEC PDP-11 that used the UNIX operating system. During development of the language, it was influenced by an older language called BPCL, which was developed by Martin Richards. The language BPCL influenced a language called B (written by Ken Thompson) which led to the development of C in the 1970s.

For many years C was practiced with the UNIX operating system. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) formed a committee in the summer of 1983 to create a standard specification of C. The committee took six years and approved a version of C in 1989 which is known as ANSI C. This version of the language is referred as ANSI C or sometimes C89. The ANSI C standard was finally approved by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in 1990 (also called C90).

Features of C Language

C is a small but extremely powerful and versatile language and becoming one of the most popular languages of all time to create all most all types of software development project. C is used to write programs for operating systems, database management systems , word processors, graphics, spreadsheets and compilers (including C compilers).

C is a general-purpose programming language with features of expression, data structures, flow control, a rich set of operators, a small number of keywords, pointers, and built-in functions. C is a not a high-level language rather it is middle-level language which gives us the power and potential portability of high-level languages along with the flexibility to low-level languages, such as assembly language.

Several features make C a very attractive programming language for large and small development. These includes performance features, such as efficiency and speed of the executable program.

C was originally designed for and implemented on the UNIX operating system, but later production compilers become available for other machines, including the IBM System/370, the Honeywell 6000, and the Interdata 8/32. C is not attached to any particular operating system or hardware which means a program written in C will run on another system or machine that supports C.

Another significant feature of C language is its ability to extend itself. A C program is a collection of one or more functions supported by C library. We can create and add our own functions to the C library and can be reused for other applications.

Features of the w3resource C Tutorial

In this series of tutorials, we have covered C Programming in detail. While creating this, we have taken care that learners can master the fundamentals of C Language.

Here is a list of features we have included in all of the chapters :

1. We have started with a brief history and simple description.

2. We have given a Syntax / Usage so that you can remember how to write it.

3. Example(s) to show how the associated concept is implemented.

4. We have shown the Output of the usage.

5. Pictorial presentation to help you to understand the concept better.

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