Description #
C is a general-purpose, compiled programming language that provides low-level access to memory and is known for its speed, portability, and efficiency. It’s widely used for system programming, embedded systems, operating systems, and performance-critical applications.
History #
C was developed in the early 1970s by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs, primarily to rewrite the Unix operating system in a higher-level language. It evolved from the B language, which was based on BCPL.
The language was standardized in 1989 as ANSI C (C89), and later as ISO C (C90). Subsequent standards include C99, C11, and C17, which added new features like inline functions, improved type checking, and concurrency support.
C has profoundly influenced many modern languages, including C++, Java, and Go, and remains foundational in computer science education.
Hello World Code #
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}
How to Run #
Save the code in a file named hello.c
Compile the program using a C compiler like GCC:
Run the compiled program:
./hello
📝 On Windows, you may run hello.exe instead of ./hello.
Key Concepts #
#include <stdio.h> — imports standard I/O functions
main() — the program’s entry point
printf() — prints output to the console
Semicolons end each statement
Curly braces define code blocks
Compiled language — needs to be compiled before running
Strongly typed — variables require declared data types
Pointers — direct memory manipulation
Header files — code modularization
Manual memory management using malloc() and free()
Try It Online #
🔗 OnlineGDB – C Compiler
🔗 Replit – C
🔗 Programiz C Compiler
Fun Facts #
- C was used to build the first Unix kernel
- The Linux kernel is mostly written in C
- C influenced over 50 languages, including C++, Objective-C, Java, and even Python
- It’s one of the fastest and most portable languages in existence
- The “Hello, World!” tradition originated in a C programming book by Brian Kernighan
