Introduction to C

Language
History of C
Origin: Developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell laboratories of AT&T (American Telephone &
Telegraph), located in the U.S.A. It was developed to overcome the problems of previous
languages such as B, BCPL, etc.

Purpose: Originally designed for system programming, specifically for creating the UNIX
operating system.

Evolution: Derived from the B language, which itself was influenced by BCPL. C has
influenced many later languages, such as C++, Java, and C#.

Significance: C is known for its efficiency and control, making it a popular choice for system
programming, embedded systems, and applications requiring high performance.
What is B and BCPL

B and BCPL are both early programming languages that have historical significance in the
development of modern programming languages.

B:

● B is a programming language developed in the late 1960s by Ken Thompson at Bell

Labs.
● It was primarily designed for system and software development. B is considered a
simplified version of the BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language) language.
● B was mainly used for the development of operating systems and compilers.
● The most notable use of B was in the early development of Unix. However, B had
limitations, especially in terms of data types, which led to the creation of the C
programming language by Dennis Ritchie as an extension of B.
BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language)

● BCPL is a programming language created by Martin Richards in 1966.

● It was designed as a simplified and more efficient version of the Combined Programming
Language (CPL).
● BCPL was intended for writing system software, such as compilers and operating
systems, and was known for its portability across different computer architectures.
● Although BCPL itself didn't achieve widespread use, it influenced the development of B
and subsequently C, which became one of the most widely used programming
languages.
Features of C Language
C is the widely used language. It provides many features that are given below.
● Simple
○ C is a simple language in the sense that it provides a structured
approach (to break the problem into parts), a rich set of library
functions, data types, etc.
● Machine-independent or portable
○ Unlike assembly language, Cprograms can be executed on different
machines with some machine specific changes. Therefore, C is a
machine independent language.
● Mid-level programming language
○ Although, C is intended to do low-level programming. It is used to
develop system applications such as kernels drivers etc. It also
● 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.
● Rich Library
○ C provides a lot of inbuilt functions that make the development fast.
● Memory Management
○ It supports the feature of dynamic memory allocation. In the C
language, we can free the allocated memory at any time by calling the
free() function.
● Speed
○ The compilation and execution time of the C language is fast since there
are few inbuilt functions and hence the lesser overhead.
● 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, arrays,etc.
● Recursion
○ In C, we can call the function within the function. It provides code
reuse for every function. Recursion enables us to use the approach of
backtracking.
● Extensible
○ The Clanguage is extensible because it can easily adopt new
features.
Character Set

Definition: The character set in C includes all the characters that can be used in a C program.
This includes letters (uppercase and lowercase), digits, special characters, and control
characters.(\n (newline), \t (tab), etc.)

Examples:
Structure of the C program
The return value can indicate whether the
program ended successfully or encountered an
error:

● 0 or EXIT_SUCCESS: The program ended

successfully.
● EXIT_FAILURE (often 1): The program
encountered an error.
Structure of the C program
Documentation section ( used for comments )
Link section ( header files required for input/output functions)
Global declarations ( global variables )
Function prototype ( it tells the compiler what to expect )
int main () {

// Variable Declarations
// Input/Output Operations
// Logic/Function Calls
return 0; // Return statement
}
User-Defined Function Definitions (if any)
Comments
● A comment is an explanation or description of the source code of the
program.
● It helps a programmer to explain the logic of the code and improves program
readability.
● At run-time, a comment is ignored by the compiler.

There are two types of comments in C:

Single line comment
Represented as // double forward slash
It is used to denote a single line comment only.
Example: // Single line comment

Multi-line comment
Represented as /* any_text */ start with forward slash and asterisk (/*) and end with asterisk and forward slash
(*/).
It is used to denote single as well as multi-line comment.
Example: /* multi line comment line -1
Single line comment
Header File

● Begin with #
● Instruct the compilerto perform some transformation to file before compiling
● Example: #include <stdio.h>
○ add the header file stdio.h to this file
○ .h for header file
○ stdio.h defines useful input/output functions
Header files
Main() Method

● 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
Body of Main Method

● 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.
Statement

● Statements are the instructions given to the compiler.

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

● 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.
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
● 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.
Simulation software