{"id":83578,"date":"2021-08-30T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T03:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/?p=83578"},"modified":"2021-08-30T09:00:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T03:30:53","slug":"c-programming-language-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/c-programming-language-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"What is C – Introduction to C Programming Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

C programming language is a procedural and general-purpose programming language. It is fast and simple to learn and implement. It was developed by Dennis Ritchie in the year of 1972.<\/p>\n

The c programming language offers various features and functionalities to the programmers. It includes low-level memory access, simple syntax, and a clean style. It makes the C programming language suitable for system programming like compiler development and operating system development.<\/p>\n

After C, several programming languages like PHP, JavaScript, Java, and many others have borrowed the syntax and the features directly or indirectly from the C language.<\/p>\n

If someone wants to learn a programming language then he\/she should start learning the C programming language in the first place. C is the base for programming.<\/p>\n

History of C programming language:-<\/h3>\n

The father of programming languages is ALGOL. It came in the year 1960. With the help of ALGOL, the developer community learned about the concept of structured programming language.<\/p>\n

In the year of 1967, a new programming language named BCPL was introduced. BCPL stands for Basic Combined Programming Language. It is specially used for writing system software.<\/p>\n

After 3 long years, a new programming language called B was created by Ken Thompson. It contained multiple features of BCPL. These two programming languages such as B and BCPL were also known as system programming languages.<\/p>\n

In 1972, a great computer scientist named Dennis Ritchie created the C programming language. It includes all the features of B, BCPL, ALGOL,<\/strong> and many more additional features too. That\u2019s what makes it unique compared to these languages. Most of the UNIX operating systems are created using the C language.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, the C is used on a variety of operating systems and hardware platforms. In the year 1990, C was approved by the International Standards Organization(ISO)<\/strong>. C language is also known as \u2018ANSI C\u2019<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"History<\/a><\/p>\n

Structure of C programming language:-<\/h3>\n

Following is a basic example of C language:-<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Commands<\/b><\/td>\nMeaning<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#include<stdio.h><\/span><\/td>\nIt helps you to include the stdio.h header file into your program. With this, you can perform input\/output operations.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
int main()<\/span><\/td>\nFrom here the execution of the C program starts. It is the main() function.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
{<\/span><\/td>\nUsed for indicating the beginning of the main() function.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/* comments *\/<\/span><\/td>\nIf you write something inside this \u2018\/* *\/\u2019 then it won\u2019t get executed.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
printf(\u201cHello World\u201d);<\/span><\/td>\nUsed for printing the output to the screen.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
return 0;<\/span><\/td>\nUsed for terminating a C program and it returns 0.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
}<\/span><\/td>\nUsed for indicating the end of the main() function.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Including header files:-<\/h4>\n

In a C program code, at first you have to include a header file. To execute the program, you must include a header file into your program code.<\/p>\n

Below are some of the header files:-<\/strong><\/p>\n