C Language
The C programming language is a
general purpose, high level language that was originally developed by Dennis
M. Ritchie to develop the UNIX operating system at Bell labs. C was
originally first implemented on the DEC PDP-11 computer in 1972. C
language was derived from an earlier programming language called B. The B
was developed by Ken Thompson in 1969-70. It provided the basis for
the development of C.
In 1978 Brain Kernighan and Dennis
Ritchie produced the first publicly available description of C, now known as
the K&R standard. The UNIX operating system, the C compiler, and
essentially all UNIX application programs have been written in C.
The earlier version of C was known as
K&R (Kernighan and Ritchie) C. The American National Standard
Institute (ANSI) developed a standard version of the language. The standard
version is known as ANSI C. this is new version provided many features
that were not available in the older version.
The C has now become a widely used
professional language for various reasons.
i.
Easy
to learn
ii.
Structured
language
iii.
If
produces efficient program
iv.
It
can handle low level activities
v.
It
can be compiled on a variety of computer platforms
Facts
about C
C was invented to write an operating
system called UNIX. C is a successor of B language, which was introduced around
1970. The language was formalized in 1988 by the ANSI. ANSI
stands for American National Standard Institute. The UNIX OS was totally
written in C by 1973. Today, C is the most widely used and popular System
Programming Language. Most of the state-of-the-art software has been
implemented using C. today’s most popular Linux OS and RDBMS MySQL have been
written in C.
Why to use C
C was initially used for system
development work, in particular the programs that make up the operating system.
C was adopted as a system development language because it produces code that
runs nearly as fast as code written in assembly language. Some example of the
use of C might be:
·
Operating
Systems
·
Language
Compilers
·
Assemblers
·
Text
Editors
·
Print
Spoolers
·
Network
Drivers
·
Modern
programs
·
Language
interpreters
·
Utilities
Advantage
of C Language
Some important advantages of C
language are as follow
i.
Convenient Language
C is very convenient language. It
provides many facilities in easier way that are difficult to use in low level
languages. Programmers can write complex programs more easily as compared to
low level language.
ii.
Well-Structured Language
C is a well-structured language. Its
syntax is very easy to understand. The programs written in c language are easy
to maintain and modify.
iii.
Machine Independence
C language provides machine
independence. It means the programs written in C language can be executed on
different types of computers. For example, a program written in C can be
executed on Intel processors and Motorola Processors. That is why it is
preferable to write program in C rather than machine language.
iv.
Modularity
C language provides the facility of
modular programming. It means that the program can be divided into small
modules. These modules can be developed and compiled independently
v.
Case Sensitivity
C is a case sensitive language. It
means that it can differentiate uppercase and lowercase words. All keywords are
written in lowercase. This feature makes it easier to lowercase words source
code.
vi.
Hardware Control
C language provides close control on
hardware. It can be used to write efficient programs to control hardware
components of computer systems
vii.
Small Language
C is a small language. It has a small
number of keywords and programming controls. But still it is very powerful for
developing different types of programs.
viii.
Fast Code Generation
The
compilers of C language generate very easy code. The code execute very
efficiently. So the programs take less time to execute.
