C (programming language)

The C Programming Language logo

Ken n dennis

The C Programming Language, First Edition Cover (2)

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The C Programming Language cover

Hello World Brian Kernighan 1974

1999 ISO C Concepts

General-purpose programming language

C is a general-purpose programming language that was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs. It has since become one of the most widely used programming languages of all time, particularly in system programming, embedded systems, and operating systems.

History

C was developed as a successor to the B programming language, which itself was influenced by BCPL. The language was designed to provide low-level access to memory, a simple set of keywords, and a clean style. C was initially used for Unix operating system development, and its success led to its widespread adoption.

Features

C is known for its efficiency and control. Key features include:

• Low-level access to memory
• A small set of keywords
• Pointers
• Manual memory management
• Structured programming constructs such as if, for, and while.

Syntax and Semantics

C's syntax is relatively simple and has influenced many other programming languages. It uses a combination of declarations and statements to define the structure and behavior of programs.

Data Types

C supports several basic data types:

• int
• char
• float
• double

Control Structures

C includes standard control structures such as:

• if statement
• switch statement
• for loop
• while loop
• do-while loop

Functions

Functions in C are defined using a return type, a function name, and a list of parameters. They can be declared before they are defined, allowing for function prototypes.

Standard Library

C comes with a standard library that provides many useful functions for tasks such as input/output, string manipulation, and mathematics. The standard library is defined in several header files, such as:

• stdio.h
• stdlib.h
• string.h
• math.h

Influence

C has had a significant influence on many other programming languages, including:

• C++
• C#
• Java
• JavaScript
• Perl
• PHP
• Python
• Rust
• Go

Related Pages

• C++
• C#
• Java
• JavaScript
• Perl
• PHP
• Python
• Rust
• Go
• Dennis Ritchie
• Bell Labs
• Unix
• GCC
• Clang
• MSVC

See Also

• List of programming languages
• Comparison of programming languages
• History of programming languages

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