We start from scratch and say: C is an intermediate programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie when he worked at AT&T Bell Labs in the United States in the early 1970s. The purpose of its development is to redesign the UNIX operating system to enable it to be used on multiple computers. Before
, language B is now used to improve UNIX systems. As a high-level language, B allows faster code generation than assembly language. However, because B cannot understand data types and does not provide the use of "structure", it still has flaws.
These shortcomings became the driving force for Ritchie to develop a new programming language called C. He retained most of the syntax of the B language, and added data types and many other necessary changes. Eventually, C was developed between 1971-73 and included both advanced functions and detailed functions required to program the operating system. Therefore, many UNIX components, including the UNIX kernel itself, were eventually rewritten in C.
The benefits of C language
as an intermediate language, C combines the functions of a high-level language and a low-level language. It can be used for low-level programming, such as driver and kernel scripts, and it also supports high-level programming language functions, such as scripts for software applications.
C is a structured programming language that allows complex programs to be decomposed into simple programs called functions. It also allows free movement of data across these functions. The various functions of the
C language, including direct access to machine-level hardware APIs, the existence of a C language compiler, the use of deterministic resources and dynamic memory allocation, make C language the best choice for writing script applications and embedded system drivers . The
C language is case sensitive, which means that lowercase and uppercase letters will be treated differently.
C has a high degree of portability and can be used to write scripts for system applications. These applications constitute the main part of Windows, UNIX and Linux operating systems.
C is a general-purpose programming language that can be effectively used in enterprise applications, games, graphics, and applications that require computing. The
C language has a rich library, which provides many built-in functions. It also provides dynamic memory allocation.
C quickly implements algorithms and data structures, thereby facilitating faster calculations in programs. This makes it possible to use the C language in applications that require higher computational power, such as MATLAB and Mathematica.
With these advantages, C became the dominant and quickly expanded beyond Bell Labs, thus replacing many well-known languages at the time, such as ALGOL, B, PL/I, FORTRAN, etc. C language is already available on a variety of platforms, from embedded microcontrollers to supercomputers