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