C (programming language)
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| Paradigm | Imperative, structured |
|---|---|
| Family | C |
| Designed by | Dennis Ritchie |
| Developer | Bell Labs |
| Stable release | C18
/ June18, 2018 |
| Typing discipline | Static, weak, manifest |
| OS | Unix, Unix-like, Windows, MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS |
| License | Public domain, Proprietary |
| Filename extensions | .c, .h |
| Website | {{ |
| Major implementations | |
| GCC, Clang, MSVC | |
| Dialects | |
| ANSI C, K&R C, C99, C11, C18 | |
| Influenced by | |
| B, ALGOL, Assembly | |
| Influenced | |
| C++, C#, Objective-C, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Rust, Go | |
C is a general-purpose programming language that was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs. It has since become one of the most widely used programming languages of all time, particularly in system programming, embedded systems, and operating systems.
History[edit | edit source]
C was developed as a successor to the B programming language, which itself was influenced by BCPL. The language was designed to provide low-level access to memory, a simple set of keywords, and a clean style. C was initially used for Unix operating system development, and its success led to its widespread adoption.
Features[edit | edit source]
C is known for its efficiency and control. Key features include:
- Low-level access to memory
- A small set of keywords
- Pointers
- Manual memory management
- Structured programming constructs such as if, for, and while.
Syntax and Semantics[edit | edit source]
C's syntax is relatively simple and has influenced many other programming languages. It uses a combination of declarations and statements to define the structure and behavior of programs.
Data Types[edit | edit source]
C supports several basic data types:
Control Structures[edit | edit source]
C includes standard control structures such as:
Functions[edit | edit source]
Functions in C are defined using a return type, a function name, and a list of parameters. They can be declared before they are defined, allowing for function prototypes.
Standard Library[edit | edit source]
C comes with a standard library that provides many useful functions for tasks such as input/output, string manipulation, and mathematics. The standard library is defined in several header files, such as:
Influence[edit | edit source]
C has had a significant influence on many other programming languages, including:
Related Pages[edit | edit source]
See Also[edit | edit source]
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