Introduction To C
A Brief History Of C
C was invented and first implemented by Dennis Ritchie on a DEC PDP-11 that used the Unix operating system. C is the result of a development process that started with an older language called BCPL.
For many years, the de facto standard for C was the version supplied with the Unix version 5 operating system. The growing popularity of microcomputers led to the creation of a large number of C implementations. At the source code level, most of these implementations were highly compatible. However, since no standard existed there were discrepancies. To overcome this situation, ANSI established a committee in 1983 that defined an ANSI standard for the C language.
Silent Features of C
- C is a Middle-level language: C is often called a middle-level language. It means that it combines the elements of high-level languages with the functionality of assembly language. It provides relatively good programming efficiency and relatively good machine efficiency as compared to high-level language. As a middle-level language, C allows the manipulation of bits, bytes and address – the basic elements with which the computer executes the inbuilt and memory management functions.
- Portable: C language code is also very portable. Portability means that it is easy to adapt software written for one type of computer or operating system to another type.
- C is a Structured Language: C is commonly referred to simply as a structured language. It has many similarities to other structured languages, such as ALGOL, Pascal and Modula-2. A structured language offers a variety of programming possibilities. For example, structured languages typically support loop constructs, such as while, do-while and For.
Some examples of structured and nonstructured languages.
Nonstructured |
Structured |
|---|---|
|
Fortran Basic COBOL
|
Pascal Ada C++ C Java Modula-2 |
- .
- C’s stand-alone subroutine: C, functions are the building blocks in which all program activity occurs. They allow you to define and code individually the separate tasks in a program, thus allowing your programs to be modular. Being able to create stand-alone functions is extremely important in larger projects where one programmer’s code must not accidentally affect another’s.
- C is a Programmer’s Language: C was created, influenced, and field-tested by working programmers. The end result is that C gives the programmer what the programmer wants, few restrictions, few complaints, block structure, stand-alone functions, and a compact set of keyboards. C has become the universal language of v around the world.