Introduction to C Language | What is C? | Why learn C language?

In this article, we are going to learn about the Introduction to C language like what is C, when it was developed, why to learn C language etc.

Introduction to C Language

• C programming language was developed by American Scientist Dennis M Ritchie in the early 1970s in the Bell Laboratory ( also known as AT&T Bell Laboratory) for the implementation of the UNIX operating system and for creating system applications that can communicate directly with the hardware devices such as drivers, kernels, etc.

• C programming language is a successor of many languages like ALGOL, BCPL, B and C.

• Shortly due to its features and flexibility shortly C language becomes very famous and it was needed to set some standards for the languages as it was being used in government projects and various other organizations.

• So in 1989 to maintain the standard of ‘C’ language, ANSI(American National Standards Institute) defined a commercial standard.

• In the 1990s C language was approved by the International Standards Organization (ISO) that’s why C’ programming language is also known as ‘ANSI C’.

• ‘C’ programming language is a middle-level language but even today in the advanced programming world, ‘C’ is called the mother of programming languages.

I suppose this introduction covers a lot of the details.

Facts about ‘C’

• Intial name was not C aas we know today. ‘C’ was named so because it is next to ‘B’ which is it’s predecessor.

• ‘C’ language is known for the longest existing programming language and it is in use even today.

• ‘C’ is considered to be a mid-level language.

• ‘C’ is called mother language because it is a basis of many advance languages like C++, Java, C#, Python and many more.

• ‘C’ language is a procedure oriented programing language.

Why learn C Language?

Guys I am going to tell you why should you learn the ‘C’ language. I never talk about anything without the facts. So, without wasting any more time let’s see what makes the C language so special that we should learn it.

• C is a middle level language(M.L.L) so it is used for writting operating system and applications as well. M.L.L is a language which lies on between Low Level Language also known as machine language and High Level Language and most importantly it reduces the gap between low level language and high level language.

• As we learn above, ‘C’ language is a basis of almost all of the operating system, Computer network, computer architecture and network. So one requires a vast knowledge of ‘C’ if you are working on them.

• In all the modern humand understable high level languages, machine level details are hidden from the user.

• If you really want to learn working with CPU, cache, memory, system architecture, networking etc, then C language is must.

• ‘C’ programming language is used in Embedded Programming which is also referred to as micro-controller programming. It means if we will learn ‘C’ language in depth we can do the micro-controlling too which is very amazing.

Applications of C Programming

Warning!. After reading this article, you will fall in love with the C language again. So read at your own risk. Personally, I love the ‘C’ language.

World-known company Google open source community uses C/C++ for their projects and a lot of the file system in chromium-browser is also built using C or C++ language.

Now let’s see what are other amazing and interesting applications of the C language.

1. Operating Systems

Using ‘C’ language you can write and design your own operating system. Isn’t it amazing to have your own operating system? All this is possible only if you learn the C language deeply.

Karnal’s of the famous operating system like UNIX OS, Linux OS, Windows OS is mostly written in C language.

2. Assemblers

GNU assembler was developed using C language.

3. Text Editors

Vim, Gedit etc. text editors are designed using C.

4. Print Spoolers

5. Modern Programs

6. Databases

7. Utilities

8. Embedded Systems

9. Database

10. Development of New languages

and the list goes on longer but it seems there is no end to it.

C is being used in every domain such as hardware and software development, embedded systems, databases etc. But instead of a lot of applications, high rich features nowadays, the usage of the C programming language is decreasing day by day which is very sad.

In our next article, we will learn about the fundamentals of the C language.