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C Language Introduction

C is a procedural programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972, primarily for system programming and writing the UNIX operating system. It features general purpose portability, low-level memory access, fast speed, and clean syntax, while differing from C++ in its lack of object-oriented programming support and exception handling. C is widely used in various applications including operating systems, embedded systems, and scientific applications.

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7 views

C Language Introduction

C is a procedural programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972, primarily for system programming and writing the UNIX operating system. It features general purpose portability, low-level memory access, fast speed, and clean syntax, while differing from C++ in its lack of object-oriented programming support and exception handling. C is widely used in various applications including operating systems, embedded systems, and scientific applications.

Uploaded by

hiren.jodhani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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C Language Introduction

C is a procedural programming language initially developed by Dennis


Ritchie in the year 1972 at Bell Laboratories of AT&T Labs. It was mainly
developed as a system programming language to write the UNIX
operating system.

The main features of the C language include:


 General Purpose and Portable
 Low-level Memory Access
 Fast Speed
 Clean Syntax

Difference Between C and C++


C++ was created to add the OOPs concept into C language so they both
have very similar syntax but both are a bit different from each other.
Following are some main differences between C and C++ Programming
language.
 C++ supports OOPs paradigm while C only have procedural concept of
programming.
 C++ have exception handling capablities. In C, we have to resolve
manually.
 There are no references in C.
Beginning with C Programming
Writing the First Program in C
The following code is one of the simplest C programs that will help us the
basic syntax structure of a C program.
Example:
C

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
int a = 10;
printf("%d", a);

return 0;
}

Components of a C Program:

1. Header Files Inclusion – Line 1 [#include <stdio.h>]

The first and foremost component is the inclusion of the Header files in a C program. A header file is
a file with extension .h which contains C function declarations and macro definitions to be shared
between several source files. All lines that start with # are processed by a preprocessor which is a
program invoked by the compiler. In the above example, the preprocessor copies the preprocessed
code of stdio.h to our file. The .h files are called header files in C.

Some of the C Header files:

stddef.h – Defines several useful types and macros.

stdint.h – Defines exact width integer types.

stdio.h – Defines core input and output functions

stdlib.h – Defines numeric conversion functions, pseudo-random number generator, and memory
allocation

string.h – Defines string handling functions

math.h – Defines common mathematical functions.

2. Main Method Declaration – Line 2 [int main()]

The next part of a C program is to declare the main() function. It is the entry point of a C program
and the execution typically begins with the first line of the main(). The empty brackets indicate that
the main doesn’t take any parameter (See this for more details). The int that was written before the
main indicates the return type of main(). The value returned by the main indicates the status of
program termination. See this post for more details on the return type.

3. Body of Main Method – Line 3 to Line 6 [enclosed in {}]


The body of a function in the C program refers to statements that are a part of that function. It can
be anything like manipulations, searching, sorting, printing, etc. A pair of curly brackets define the
body of a function. All functions must start and end with curly brackets.

4. Statement – Line 4 [printf(“Hello World”);]

Statements are the instructions given to the compiler. In C, a statement is always terminated by a
semicolon (;). In this particular case, we use printf() function to instruct the compiler to display
“Hello World” text on the screen.

5. Return Statement – Line 5 [return 0;]

The last part of any C function is the return statement. The return statement refers to the return
values from a function. This return statement and return value depend upon the return type of the
function. The return statement in our program returns the value from main(). The returned value
may be used by an operating system to know the termination status of your program. The value 0
typically means successful termination.

How to Execute the Above Program?

Windows: There are many free IDEs available for developing programs in C like Code Blocks and Dev-
CPP. IDEs provide us with an environment to develop code, compile it and finally execute it. We
strongly recommend Code Blocks.

Linux: GCC compiler comes bundled with Linux which compiles C programs and generates
executables for us to run. Code Blocks can also be used with Linux.

macOS: macOS already has a built-in text editor where you can just simply write the code and save it
with a “.c” extension.

Application of C

Operating systems: C is widely used for developing operating systems such as Unix, Linux, and
Windows.

Embedded systems: C is a popular language for developing embedded systems such as


microcontrollers, microprocessors, and other electronic devices.

System software: C is used for developing system software such as device drivers, compilers, and
assemblers.

Networking: C is widely used for developing networking applications such as web servers, network
protocols, and network drivers.
Database systems: C is used for developing database systems such as Oracle, MySQL, and
PostgreSQL.

Gaming: C is often used for developing computer games due to its ability to handle low-level
hardware interactions.

Artificial Intelligence: C is used for developing artificial intelligence and machine learning applications
such as neural networks and deep learning algorithms.

Scientific applications: C is used for developing scientific applications such as simulation software
and numerical analysis tools.

Financial applications: C is used for developing financial applications such as stock market analysis
and trading systems.

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