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HISTORY OF C PROGRAMMING

LANGUAGE

C programing language was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at bell laboratories


of AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph), located within the U.S.A. Dennis Ritchie
is understood because the founding father of the c language.

Dennis Ritchie developed the C programing language at Bell laboratories during


1970s

Evolution of C programing language

C has often been termed as a "Pseudo high level language" or a "Middle level
language" by many programmers. this is often not due to its lack of
programming power but due to its capability to access the system's low
level functions. actually C was invented specifically to implement UNIX. C
instructions are compiled to assembly code, therefore, counting on the
complexity of the code and on the compiler optimization capabilities, C code
may run as fast as assemby.
Ken Thompson created the B language in 1969 from Martin Richard's BCPL
(Basic Combined Programming Language). He used programming language and
B to supply the initial versions of the UNIX OS . BCPL and B
were typeless languages during which variables were simply words in
memory. Dennis Ritchie of Bell Laboratories later converted B into C by
retaining most of B's syntax in 1972 and wrote the primary compiler. This was
implemented on DEC's PDP 11 and it had been first used because the system's
language
for rewriting the UNIX OS . Later on, UNIX, its tools and C
grew simultaneously. In 1978, Kernighan and Ritchie wrote a book entitled
'The C Programming Language' that became the language definition for
almost a decade. Beginning in 1983, the ANSI X3J11 committee was asked
to standardize the C language. The result was ANSI C, a typical which was
adopted in 1988. it's not forced upon any programmer, but since it's so
widely accepted, it might be economically unwise for any systems
programmer or compiler writer to not conform to the quality .

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
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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
Most flavors of UNIX OS have a C compiler . So if a
student has access to an UNIX , he or she will immediately start
coding and compiling C sample programs and exercises given during this
course. With reference to personal computers , Microsoft C for IBM PC's
and compatibles or Borland C are the 2 most ordinarily used
programming environments. There are variety of free C compilers
available on the online for installation on the PC, one can use them as
well.

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.

The current popularity of C++ could seem to possess displaced C's position
in the programming world. But C is here to remain for a really while .
One main factor is that C++ has inherited most of its syntax from C but
has incorporated several new concepts which form the idea of Object
Oriented programming. it's better to understand C so as to find out C++
though there are many that advocate the idea that one has got to unlearn
procedural programming habits so as to find out Object Oriented
programming. GUI based C++ programming environments are more
popular, and use lot of disc space and extended memory. They use
complex class libraries and aren't compatible for developing small
programs that run on smaller systems. C may be a better option when it
comes to programming device drivers, embedded applications and
utility programs.

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