Scribd
Upload
14 views1 page

C

C is a high-performance, general-purpose programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie for UNIX, known for its low-level memory access and efficient execution. It serves as a 'middle-level language' that combines hardware control with structured programming, making it ideal for system-level tasks. Despite its age, C remains foundational in software engineering and influences many modern programming languages and operating systems.

Uploaded by

aiswaryapj6796
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
14 views1 page

C

C is a high-performance, general-purpose programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie for UNIX, known for its low-level memory access and efficient execution. It serves as a 'middle-level language' that combines hardware control with structured programming, making it ideal for system-level tasks. Despite its age, C remains foundational in software engineering and influences many modern programming languages and operating systems.

Uploaded by

aiswaryapj6796
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

C

C is a high-performance, general-purpose, procedural programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie between


1969 and 1973 at Bell Labs, primarily to implement the UNIX operating system. It was derived from earlier languages
like B and BCPL, with the goal of offering low-level access to memory and efficient execution while also supporting
structured programming. Often described as a "middle-level language", C bridges the gap between assembly language
and high-level languages by offering both hardware-level control and structured, readable code. It allows direct
manipulation of memory through pointers, manual memory allocation using functions like malloc() and free(), and
access to hardware via memory-mapped I/O, making it ideal for system-level programming. Unlike modern languages
with built-in safety features, C is a minimalist language: it lacks native object-oriented or garbage collection features,
so the programmer must manage everything from memory to buffer boundaries manually. This gives C great power
and flexibility, but also means that it is prone to critical issues like segmentation faults, memory leaks, and undefined
behaviour if not written carefully. C’s syntax is simple and compact, with only 32 reserved keywords, yet it allows for
complex logic through constructs like functions, recursion, structures, unions, arrays, and conditional control flow (e.g.,
if, switch, for, while). It is a compiled language, so its source code must be converted into machine code via a compiler
(such as GCC or Clang), which allows programs to run very fast and efficiently, often on very constrained hardware. C’s
influence is monumental—it forms the foundation of many modern languages including C++, Objective-C, Java, C#, and
even Python, many of which borrowed its syntax and semantics. Additionally, many parts of modern operating systems,
microcontrollers, embedded devices, real-time systems, compilers, and database engines are written in C due to its
reliability, speed, and low-level access. The UNIX kernel, Linux kernel, and key parts of Windows OS are written in C.
Because of its performance and portability, C has become a standard language in software engineering, taught globally
in computer science curriculums as the building block of programming, helping developers understand how computers
work under the hood—from memory allocation to CPU instructions. Despite being over five decades old, C remains
one of the most relevant and essential programming languages today.

You might also like