C programming
is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative computer programming language
developed in 1972 by Dennis M. Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories to develop the
UNIX operating system. C is the most widely used computer language. It keeps fluctuating at
number one scale of popularity along with Java programming language, which is also equally
popular and most widely used among modern software programmers.
Why to Learn C Programming?
C programming language is a MUST for students and working professionals to become a great
Software Engineer specially when they are working in Software Development Domain. I will list
down some of the key advantages of learning C Programming:
Easy to learn
Structured language
It produces efficient programs
It can handle low-level activities
It can be compiled on a variety of computer platforms
Facts about C
C was invented to write an operating system called UNIX.
C is a successor of B language which was introduced around the early 1970s.
The language was formalized in 1988 by the American National Standard Institute
(ANSI).
The UNIX OS was totally written in C.
Today C is the most widely used and popular System Programming Language.
Most of the state-of-the-art software have been implemented using C.
Hello World using C Programming.
Just to give you a little excitement about C programming, I'm going to give you a small
conventional C Programming Hello World program, You can try it using Demo link.
Live Demo
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
/* my first program in C */
printf("Hello, World! \n");
return 0;
}
Applications of C Programming
C was initially used for system development work, particularly the programs that make-up the
operating system. C was adopted as a system development language because it produces code
that runs nearly as fast as the code written in assembly language. Some examples of the use of C
are -
Operating Systems
Language Compilers
Assemblers
Text Editors
Print Spoolers
Network Drivers
Modern Programs
Databases
Language Interpreters
Utilities
Audience
This tutorial is designed for software programmers with a need to understand the C
programming language starting from scratch. This C tutorial will give you enough
understanding on C programming language from where you can take yourself to higher level of
expertise.
Prerequisites
Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding of Computer
Programming terminologies. A basic understanding of any of the programming languages will
help you in understanding the C programming concepts and move fast on the learning track.
C is a general-purpose, high-level language that was originally developed by Dennis M. Ritchie
to develop the UNIX operating system at Bell Labs. C was originally first implemented on the
DEC PDP-11 computer in 1972.
In 1978, Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie produced the first publicly available description of
C, now known as the K&R standard.
The UNIX operating system, the C compiler, and essentially all UNIX application programs
have been written in C. C has now become a widely used professional language for various
reasons −
Easy to learn
Structured language
It produces efficient programs
It can handle low-level activities
It can be compiled on a variety of computer platforms
Facts about C
C was invented to write an operating system called UNIX.
C is a successor of B language which was introduced around the early 1970s.
The language was formalized in 1988 by the American National Standard Institute
(ANSI).
The UNIX OS was totally written in C.
Today C is the most widely used and popular System Programming Language.
Most of the state-of-the-art software have been implemented using C.
Today's most popular Linux OS and RDBMS MySQL have been written in C.
Why use C?
C was initially used for system development work, particularly the programs that make-up the
operating system. C was adopted as a system development language because it produces code
that runs nearly as fast as the code written in assembly language. Some examples of the use of C
might be −
Operating Systems
Language Compilers
Assemblers
Text Editors
Print Spoolers
Network Drivers
Modern Programs
Databases
Language Interpreters
Utilities
C Programs
A C program can vary from 3 lines to millions of lines and it should be written into one or more
text files with extension ".c"; for example, hello.c. You can use "vi", "vim" or any other text
editor to write your C program into a file.
This tutorial assumes that you know how to edit a text file and how to write source code inside a
program file.
