C LANGUAGE

HI - TECH COMPUTERS
C Programming
The C Language is developed by Dennis Ritchie for creating
system applications that directly interact with the hardware
devices such as drivers, kernels, etc.
C programming is considered as the base for other programming
languages, that is why it is known as mother language.


It can be defined by the following ways:
Mother language




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System programming language
Procedure-oriented programming language
Structured programming language
Mid-level programming language


1) C as a mother language
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C language is considered as the mother language of all the
modern programming languages because most of the compilers,
JVMs, Kernels, etc. are written in C language, and most of the
programming languages follow C syntax, for example, C++, Java,
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C#, etc.
It provides the core concepts like the array, strings,
functions, file handling, etc. that are being used in many
languages like C++, Java, C#, etc.
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2) 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.




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3) C as a procedural language
A procedure is known as a function, method, routine,
subroutine, etc. A procedural language specifies a series of
steps for the program to solve the problem.
A procedural language breaks the program into functions, data
structures, etc.
C is a procedural language. In C, variables and function
prototypes must be declared before being used.
4) C as a structured programming language




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A structured programming language is a subset of the
procedural language. Structure means to break a program into
parts or blocks so that it may be easy to understand.
In the C language, we break the program into parts using
functions.
modify.
It makes the
TE program easier to understand and


5) 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
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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
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easy to understand.
A High-Level language is not specific to one machine, i.e.,
machine independent. It is easy to understand.


C Program
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello C Programming\n");
return 0;
}




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History of C Language
C programming language was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie
at bell laboratories of AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph),
located in the U.S.A.
Dennis Ritchie is known as the founder of the c language.
It was developed to overcome the problems of previous
languages such as B, BCPL, etc.
Initially, C language was developed to be used in UNIX
operating system. It inherits many features of previous




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languages such as B and BCPL.
Let's see the programming languages that were developed before
C language.

Language Year TEDeveloped By


Algol 1960 International Group

BCPL 1967 Martin Richard

B 1970 Ken Thompson
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Traditional C 1972 Dennis Ritchie

K & R C 1978 Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie

ANSI C 1989 ANSI Committee
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ANSI/ISO C 1990 ISO Committee

C99 1999 Standardization Committee




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Features of C Language
C is the widely used language. It provides many features that
are given below.
1. Simple
2. Machine Independent or Portable
3. Mid-level programming language
4. structured programming language
5. Rich Library
6. Memory Management




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7. Fast Speed
8. Pointers
9. Recursion
10.Extensible


1) Simple
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C is a simple language in the sense that it provides a
structured approach (to break the problem into parts), the
rich set of library functions, data types, etc.
2) Machine Independent or Portable
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Unlike assembly language, c programs can be executed on
different machines with some machine specific changes.
Therefore, C is a machine independent language.
3) Mid-level programming language
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Although, C is intended to do low-level programming. It is
used to develop system applications such as kernel, driver,
etc. It also supports the features of a high-level language.
That is why it is known as mid-level language.
4) Structured programming language
C is a structured programming language in the sense that we
can break the program into parts using functions. So, it is
easy to understand and modify. Functions also provide code
reusability.




C - LANGUAGE 4