C is a procedural programming language. It was initially developed by Dennis Ritchie in the year 1972. It was mainly developed as a system programming language to write an operating system. The main features of C language include low-level access to memory, a simple set of keywords, and clean style, these features make C language suitable for system programming is like an operating system or compiler development.
Many later languages have borrowed syntax/features directly or indirectly from C language. Like syntax of Java, PHP, JavaScript, and many other languages are mainly based on C language. C++ is nearly a superset of C language (There are few programs that may compile in C, but not in C++).
Syntax:
#include<stdio.h>
int main() // main function with integer return type
{
printf("Welcome to The Tech Platform\n"); // print statement to display output on the screen
return 0; // Indicates that the main function returns null value
}History:
In 1972, a great computer scientist Dennis Ritchie created a new programming language called 'C' at the Bell Laboratories. It was created from 'ALGOL', 'BCPL' and 'B' programming languages. 'C' programming language contains all the features of these languages and many more additional concepts that make it unique from other languages.
'C' is a powerful programming language which is strongly associated with the UNIX operating system. Even most of the UNIX operating system is coded in 'C'. Initially 'C' programming was limited to the UNIX operating system, but as it started spreading around the world, it became commercial, and many compilers were released for cross-platform systems.
How C Programming Language Works?
C is a compiled language. A compiler is a special tool that compiles the program and converts it into the object file which is machine readable. After the compilation process, the linker will combine different object files and creates a single executable file to run the program. The following diagram shows the execution of a 'C' program
Nowadays, various compilers are available online, and you can use any of those compilers. The functionality will never differ and most of the compilers will provide the features required to execute both 'C' and 'C++' programs.
Following is the list of popular compilers available online:
Clang compiler
MinGW compiler (Minimalist GNU for Windows)
Portable 'C' compiler
Turbo C
C Basic Commands:
Following are the basic commands in C programming language:
Applications:
'C' language is widely used in embedded systems.
It is used for developing system applications.
It is widely used for developing desktop applications.
Most of the applications by Adobe are developed using 'C' programming language.
It is used for developing browsers and their extensions. Google's Chromium is built using 'C' programming language.
It is used to develop databases. MySQL is the most popular database software which is built using 'C'.
It is used in developing an operating system. Operating systems such as Apple's OS X, Microsoft's Windows, and Symbian are developed using 'C' language. It is used for developing desktop as well as mobile phone's operating system.
It is used for compiler production.
It is widely used in IOT applications.
Advantages:
C language is a building block for many other currently known languages. C language has variety of data types and powerful operators. Due to this, programs written in C language are efficient, fast and easy to understand.
C is highly portable language. This means that C programs written for one computer can easily run on another computer without any change or by doing a little change.
There are only 32 keywords in ANSI C and its strength lies in its built-in functions. Several standard functions are available which can be used for developing programs.
Another important advantage of C is its ability to extend itself. A C program is basically a collection of functions that are supported by the C library this makes us easier to add our own functions to C library. Due to the availability of large number of functions, the programming task becomes simple.
C language is a structured programming language. This makes user to think of a problem in terms of function modules or blocks. Collection of these modules makes a complete program. This modular structure makes program debugging, testing and maintenance easier.
Disadvantages:
1. C does not have concept of OOPs, that’s why C++ is developed.
2. There is no runtime checking in C language.
3. There is no strict type checking. For example, we can pass an integer value.
4. for the floating data type.
5. C doesn’t have the concept of namespace.
6. C doesn’t have the concept of constructor or destructor.
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