C programming language

The C language is a structured programming language developed in the mid 70's by Dennis Ritchie during his collaboration with Bell Labs. Initially, the C language was created for UNIX operating system development, and is based on two languages: BCPL written by Martin Richards and B programming language, which was written by Ken Thompson in the ‘70s.

C is ideal for developing firmware or portable applications, it supports structured programming, lexical variable scope and recursion. Today, C is one of the most widely used and popular programming language.

Advantages

C is a portable language and can be used on almost any platform
Applications written in C require minimal runtime support
Speed of compilation – C compiler can compile around 1000 lines of code in a few seconds
C has lots of libraries, which means that it can save development time
C is a structured programming language – this modular structure makes debugging, testing and maintenance easier
The language can handle low-level activities
C is a very good choice when performance is crucial

Disadvantages

C does not have the concept of OOP – users have to use a procedural approach
Some unexpected behaviour that is difficult to debug might be encountered

Components

Libraries
Preprocessor directives
Functions
Variables
Statements & Expressions
Comments

Development tools

Microsoft Visual Studio
Eclipse
NetBeans
Code::Blocks
DigitalMars C/C++

Versions

ANSI C and ISO C
C99
C11
Embedded C