C Language History | C Programming Tutorial pdf

                               C – Language History                                                                                                                             

• C language is a structure oriented programming language, was developed at Bell Laboratories in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie
• C features were derived from earlier language called “B” (BCPL language)
• C was invented for implementing UNIX operating system
• In 1978, Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan published the first edition  “The C Programming Language” and commanly known as K&R C
• In 1983, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) established a committee to provide a modern, comprehensive definition of C. The resulting definition, the ANSI standard, or “ANSI C”, was completed late 1988.

C standards:

• C89/C90 standard – First standardized specification for C language was developed by American National Standards Institute in 1989. C89 and C90 standards refer to the same programming language.
• C99 standard – Next revision was published in 1999 that introduced new futures like advanced data types and other changes.
• C11 and Embedded C
• C11 standard adds new features to C and library like type generic macros, anonymous structures, improved Unicode support, atomic operations, multi-threading, and bounds-checked functions. It also makes some portions of the existing C99 library optional, and improves compatibility with C++.
• Embedded C includes features not available in normal C like fixed-point arithmetic, named address spaces, and basic I/O hardware addressing
• Operating systems, C compiler, all UNIX application programs are written in C
• It is also called as procedure oriented programming language
• C language is reliable, simple and easy to use.
• C has been coded in assembly language

Features of C language:

• Reliability
• Portability
• Flexibility
• Interactivity
• Modularity
• Efficiency and Effectiveness

Uses of C language:

     C is used for developing system applications that forms portion of operating system. Below are some examples of C being used.

• Database systems
• Graphics packages
• Word processors
• Spread sheets
• Operating system development
• Compilers and Assemblers
• Network drivers
• Interpreters