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C Programming Language

1) C is a procedural, structured programming language that is widely used for system programming to create operating systems, kernels, drivers, and other low-level applications. 2) C was developed in the early 1970s at Bell Labs by Dennis Ritchie to build the UNIX operating system and has since become widely popular due to its efficiency and ability to interface with hardware. 3) The document provides an overview of the C language, including its history, uses, features, and how to install an IDE to write, compile, and run simple C programs.

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Giri Raj
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167 views

C Programming Language

1) C is a procedural, structured programming language that is widely used for system programming to create operating systems, kernels, drivers, and other low-level applications. 2) C was developed in the early 1970s at Bell Labs by Dennis Ritchie to build the UNIX operating system and has since become widely popular due to its efficiency and ability to interface with hardware. 3) The document provides an overview of the C language, including its history, uses, features, and how to install an IDE to write, compile, and run simple C programs.

Uploaded by

Giri Raj
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C Programming Language Tutorial

C language Tutorial with programming approach for beginners and professionals, helps you to
understand 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 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:

1. Mother language
2. System programming language
3. Procedure-oriented programming language
4. Structured programming language
5. Mid-level programming language

1) C as a mother language
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, 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.

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.

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


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. It makes the program easier to
understand and modify.

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 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.

C Program
In this tutorial, all C programs are given with C compiler so that you can quickly change the C program
code.

File: main.c

1. #include <stdio.h>  
2. int main() {  
3. printf("Hello C Programming\n");  
4. return 0;  
5. }  

History of C Language
History of C language is interesting to know. Here we are going to discuss a brief history of the 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 languages such as 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&RC 1978 Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie

ANSI C 1989 ANSI Committee

ANSI/ISO C 1990 ISO Committee

C99 1999 Standardization Committee


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

1) Simple
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


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


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.

5) Rich Library
C provides a lot of inbuilt functions that make the development fast.

6) Memory Management
It supports the feature of dynamic memory allocation. In C language, we can 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 can directly interact with the memory by using the pointers.
We can use pointers for memory, structures, functions, array, etc.

9) Recursion
In C, we can call the function within the function. It provides code reusability for every function.
Recursion enables us to use the approach of backtracking.
10) Extensible
C language is extensible because it can easily adopt new features.

How to install C
There are many compilers available for c and c++. You need to download any one. Here, we are going to
use Turbo C++. It will work for both C and C++. To install the Turbo C software, you need to follow
following steps.

1. Download Turbo C++


2. Create turboc directory inside c drive and extract the tc3.zip inside c:\turboc
3. Double click on install.exe file
4. Click on the tc application file located inside c:\TC\BIN to write the c program

1) Download Turbo C++ software


You can download turbo c++ from many sites. download Turbo c++

2) Create turboc directory in c drive and extract the tc3.zip


Now, you need to create a new directory turboc inside the c: drive. Now extract the tc3.zip file in
c:\truboc directory.

3) Double click on the install.exe file and follow steps


Now, click on the install icon located inside the c:\turboc
It will ask you to install c or not, press enter to install.

Change your drive to c, press c.


Press enter, it will look inside the c:\turboc directory for the required files.

Select Start installation by the down arrow key then press enter.
Now C is installed, press enter to read documentation or close the
software. 

4) Click on the tc application located inside c:\TC\BIN


Now double click on the tc icon located in c:\TC\BIN directory to write the c program.
In windows 7 or window 8, it will show a dialog block to ignore and close the application because
fullscreen mode is not supported. Click on Ignore button.

Now it will showing following console.


First C Program
Before starting the abcd of C language, you need to learn how to write, compile and run the first c
program.

To write the first c program, open the C console and write the following code:

1. #include <stdio.h>    
2. int main(){    
3. printf("Hello C Language");    
4. return 0;   
5. }  

#include <stdio.h> includes the standard input output library functions. The printf() function is


defined in stdio.h .

int main() The main() function is the entry point of every program in c language.

printf() The printf() function is used to print data on the console.

return 0 The return 0 statement, returns execution status to the OS. The 0 value is used for successful
execution and 1 for unsuccessful execution.

How to compile and run the c program


There are 2 ways to compile and run the c program, by menu and by shortcut.

By menu
Now click on the compile menu then compile sub menu to compile the c program.

Then click on the run menu then run sub menu to run the c program.

By shortcut
Or, press ctrl+f9 keys compile and run the program directly.

You will see the following output on user screen.


You can view the user screen any time by pressing the alt+f5 keys.

Now press Esc to return to the turbo c++ console.

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