What is C Programming Languages
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What is C Programming Languages
C is a Programming Language developed at AT & T’s Bell
Laboratories of USA in 1972. It was designed and written or developed by Dennis
Ritchie.
C is a programming language used to written a programs are
the set of instruction given by a programmer to the computer in the high level
language. C uses a compiler to translate the high level program into machine
code before executing any instructions. Compiler is itself a computer program
other translators are Interpreters and Assembler. It was originally for
programming under Linux Operating System. C is actually a symbolic instruction
code, a set of commands that perform action on a computer. The C language is
referred as middle level language because we can write high as well as low
level programs through C.
Language prior to C are FORTRAN (Formula Translation), COBOL
(Common Business Oriented Language), BASIC (Beginners All Purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code) and Pascal. Languages after C are C++, Java, C# etc. C
permits very close interaction with the inner working of the Computer.
Evolution of C Programming Languages
In the late seventies C began to replace the more familiar
language of that time like PL/I, Algol, FORTRAN and the newer like Pascal and
API. C was developed from BCPL (Basic Programming Language-B) which was
improved and renamed as B. B was developed in 1960’s at Cambridge University.
It was named “C” because its features according to Ken Thomson was a
stipped-down BCPL programming language.
C and Operating Systems
The C language is not tied to any particular Operating
System. It can be used to develop new operating Systems. Figure 2, shows the C
language is a shown associated with the various Operating Systems. The C
language is closely associated with the Unix Operating system is in C. C runs
under a number of Operating Systems including MS-DOS. The C programs are
efficient, fast and highly portable, i.e., C programs written on one Computer
can be written on another with mere or almost no modification.
C Programs
A C program can vary from 3 lines to millions of lines and
it should be written into one or more text files with extension “.c”; for
example, hello.c. You can use “vi”,
“vim” or any other text editor to write C program in to a file. The original
high level program is called the source program (.c) and resulting machine
language program is called the object program (.obj).
Importance of C Programming
The increasing popularity of C is probably due to its many
desirable qualities. C seems so popular is because it is reliable, simple and
easy to use, moreover, in an industry where newer languages, tools and
technologies emerge. C is a language which day in and day out that has survived
more than three decades has really good. C is robust language whose rich set of
built-in functions and operators can be used to write any complex program. The
C compiler combines the capabilities of an assembly language with the features
of high- level language and therefore it is well suited for writing both system
software and business packages. In fact, many of the C compilers available in
the market are written in C.
Some points of importance of C as follows
- C was invented to write an
operating System called UNIX.
- C is a successor of B
language which was introduced around the early 1970s.
- The UNIX OS was totally
written in C.
- Today C is the most widely
used and popular System Programming Language.
- Most of the State-of-the
art software have been implemented using C.
- Today’s most popular Linux
OS and RDBMS MySQL have been written in C.
Why Learn C Programming Languages
C is the most commonly used programming language for written
operating systems. UNIX was the first operating system written in C. later
Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux were all written in C. Not only is C
the language of operating systems, it is the precursor and inspiration for
almost all of the most popular high-level languages available today. In fact,
Perl, PHP and Python are all written in C. C has been already super sided by
languages like C++, C# and Java. C programming languages was basis of all of
those languages, knowing C will enable you to understanding and appreciated an
entire family of programming languages upon the traditions of C enables
freedom.
There are several reasons for learning C programming
languages. These are as follows
(a) C++, C# or Java make use of a principle called Object
Oriented Programming (OOP) to organize programs which offers many advantages.
While using this organizing principle, you need basic programming skills. So it
makes more sense to first learn C and then migrate to C++, C# or Java. Though
this two-step learning process may take more time, but at the end of it, you
will definitely find it worth the trouble.
(b) Major parts of popular operating systems like Windows,
UNIX, Linux and Android are written in C. Moreover, if one is to extend the
operating system to work with new devices, one needs to write device driver
programs. These programs are written exclusively in C.
(c) Mobile devices like Smartphones and Tablets have become
rage of today. Common consumer devices like microwave ovens, washing machines
and digital cameras are getting smarter by the day. This smartness comes from a
microprocessor, an operating system and a program embedded in these devices.
These programs have to run fast and work in limited amount of memory. C is the
language of choice while building such operating systems and programs.
(d) You must have seen several professional 3D computer
games where the user navigates some object, like say a spaceship and fires
bullets at invaders. The essence of all such games is speed. To match this
expectation of speed, the game has to react fast to the user inputs. The
popular gaming frameworks (like DirectX) that are used for creating such games
are written in C.
(e) At times one is required to very closely interact with
the hardware devices. Since C provides several language elements that make this
interaction feasible without compromising the performance, it is the preferred
choice of the programmer.
I hope that these are very convincing reasons why you should
adopt C as the first, and a very important step, for learning programming.
Uses of C Programming Languages
C was initially used
for system development work, particularly 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 the code written in assembly
language. Some examples of the use of C are -
- Operating Systems
- Language Compilers
- Assemblers
- Text Editors
- Print Spoolers
- Network Drivers
- Modern Programs
- Databases
- Language Interpreters
- Utilities
Characteristics of C Programming Languages
- C is a general
purpose programming language
You can generates games, business software, utilities,
mathematical models, word processors, spreadsheets and other kinds of software.
- C is easy to learn, and
fast speed.
- C is Structured Programming Language
C uses statements such as while, for loops in place in place
of goto statements which cause bugs (error) in the program.
- High Efficiency
C compilers are generally able to translate source code into
efficient machine instructions, C language data and control mechanisms are well
matched to most small computers and microcomputers.
- System Programming
C is used for system programming i.e. writing operating
systems or compiler development. The UNIX Operating System is also rewritten
from C.
- C produces efficient
programs, clean syntax.
- It handle low-level
activities and low-level memory access.
- It can be compiled on a
variety of Computer Platforms., it is used for general purpose. It is
Portable.
Advantages of C Programming Languages
- It contains a powerful
data definition. The data type supported are characters, alphanumeric,
integers, long integers, floats, and double. It also supports string
manipulation in the form of character array.
- C supports a powerful set
of operators.
- It also supports powerful
graphics programming and directly operates with hardware. Execution of
program is faster.
- An assembly code is also
inserted into C programs.
- C programs are highly
portable on any type of OS platforms.
- System Programs such as
Compilers, Operating Systems can be developed in C. For example, the
popular operating system UNIX is developed in c.
- The C language has 32
keywords and about 145 functions and near about 30 header files.
- C works closely with
machines and matches assembly language in many ways.