HISTORY OF C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

The base or father of programming languages is 'ALGOL.' It was first introduced in 1960. 'ALGOL' was used on a large basis in European countries. 'ALGOL' introduced the concept of structured programming to the developer community. In 1967, a new computer programming language was announced called as 'BCPL' which stands for Basic Combined Programming Language. BCPL was designed and developed by Martin Richards, especially for writing system software.

This was the era of programming languages. Just after three years, in 1970 a new programming language called 'B' was introduced by Ken Thompson that contained multiple features of 'BCPL.' This programming language was created using UNIX operating system at AT&T and Bell Laboratories. Both the 'BCPL' and 'B' were system programming languages.

 

Evolution of C programing language

language that it includes low-level access to memory, a simple set of keywords, clean style and a rich set of built-in functions and operators. Due to this characteristic C language is suitable for system programmings like operating system and compiler development. Many later languages have borrowed directly or indirectly from C, including..C++, C#, Syntax of JAVA, Python, JavaScript, PHP...etc. It was developed to beat the issues of previous languages like B, BCPL, etc. Initially, C language was developed to be utilized in UNIX OS . It inherits many features of previous languages like B and BCPL. Let's see the programming languages that were developed before C language.

Language Year Developed By

• Algol 1960 International Group
• BCPL 1967 Martin Richard
• B 1970 Ken Thompson
• Traditional C 1972 Dennis Ritchie
• K & R C 1978 Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie
• ANSI C 1989 ANSI Committee
• ANSI/ISO C 1990 ISO Committee
• C99 1999 Standardization Committee

C programing language

C language with programming approach for beginners and professionals, helps you to know the C language tutorial easily. Our C tutorial explains each topic with programs. The C Language is developed by Dennis Ritchie for creating system applications that directly interact with the hardware devices like drivers, kernels, etc. C programming is taken into account because the base for other programming languages, that's why it's referred to as mother language.

It are often defined by the subsequent ways:

• Mother language
• System programing language
• Procedure-oriented programing language
• Structured programing language
• Mid-level programing language

Uses of C

C's wide acceptance and efficiency is that the reason why libraries of several other applications are often implemented in C. a number of the applications using C in its kernels are: Uses of C are many additionally to Systems programming. Some of which are as follows : o Language compilers and interpreters o Device drivers o Telecom applications o schedule o Digital Signal processing applications o Database applications o Text editors Compilers available

Features of C Language

C is that the widely used language. It provides many features that are given below. Simple Machine Independent or Portable Mid-level programing language structured programing language Rich Library Memory Management Fast Speed Pointers Recursion Extensible

1) Simple

C may be a simple language within the sense that it provides a structured approach (to break the matter into parts), the rich set of library functions, data types, etc.

2) Machine Independent or Portable

Unlike programming language , c programs are often executed on different machines with some machine specific changes. Therefore, C may be a machine independent language.

3) Mid-level programing language

Although, C is meant to try to to low-level programming. it's wont to develop system applications like kernel, driver, etc. It also supports the features of a application-oriented language . that's why it's referred to as mid-level language.

4) Structured programing language

C may be a structured programing language within the sense that we will break the program into parts using functions. So, it's easy to know and modify. Functions also provide code reusability.

5) Rich Library

C provides tons of inbuilt functions that make the event fast.

6) Memory Management

It supports the feature of dynamic memory allocation. In C language, we will free the allocated memory at any time by calling the free() function.

7) Speed

The compilation and execution time of C language is fast since there are lesser inbuilt functions and hence the lesser overhead.

8) Pointer

C provides the feature of pointers. we will directly interact with the memory by using the pointers. we will use pointers for memory, structures, functions, array, etc.

9) Recursion

In C, we will call the function within the function. It provides code reusability for each function. Recursion enables us to use the approach of backtracking.

10) Extensible

C language is extensible because it can easily adopt new features.  

· C may be a procedure-based programing language

. This suggests the program is viewed as a way to unravel a drag . Various functions modules or code blocks are thus, written to unravel this problem.                                                                                                                                                                · C functions can accept parameters and return values and perform variety of tasks like input from the user, displaying the knowledge , etc. · C is straightforward and straightforward to find out and use. the most components like builtin functions, operators, keywords are small in number. · In C, errors are checked only at compile time. The compiled code though haven't any safety checks for bad type casts, bad array indices, or bad pointers. · C works best for little projects where performance is vital . · C contains the potential of programming language with the features of high level language which may be used for creating software packages, system software etc. · C is very portable. C programs written on one computer can run on other computer without making any changes within the program.

 C as a system programming language

A system programming language is used to create system software. C language is a system programming language because it can be used to do low-level programming (for example driver and kernel). It is generally used to create hardware devices, OS, drivers, kernels, etc. For example, Linux kernel is written in C. It can't be used for internet programming like Java, .Net, PHP, etc.

C as a mid-level programming language

C is considered as a middle-level language because it supports the feature of both low-level and high-level languages. C language program is converted into assembly code, it supports pointer arithmetic (low-level), but it is machine independent (a feature of high-level). A Low-level language is specific to one machine, i.e., machine dependent. It is machine dependent, fast to run. But it is not easy to understand. A High-Level language is not specific to one machine, i.e., machine independent. It is easy to understand.