Why To Learn C Language?

C Language

C is a middle-level programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie during the early 1970s while working at AT&T Bell Labs in the USA. The objective of its development was in the context of the re-design of the UNIX operating system to enable it to be used on multiple computers.

Earlier the language B was now used for improving the UNIX system. Being a high-level language, B allowed much faster production of code than in assembly language. Still, B suffered from drawbacks as it did not understand data-types and did not provide the use of “structures”.

These drawbacks became the driving force for Ritchie for development of a new programming language called C. He kept most of language B’s syntax and added data-types and many other required changes. Eventually, C was developed during 1971-73, containing both high-level functionality and the detailed features required to program an operating system. Hence, many of the UNIX components including UNIX kernel itself were eventually rewritten in C.

C programming is considered as the base for other programming languages, that is why it is known as mother language.

Benefits of C language

1. As a middle-level language, C combines the features of both high-level and low-level languages. It can be used for low-level programming, such as scripting for drivers and kernels and it also supports functions of high-level programming languages, such as scripting for software applications etc.
2. C is a structured programming language which allows a complex program to be broken into simpler programs called functions. It also allows free movement of data across these functions.
3. Various features of C including direct access to machine level hardware APIs, the presence of C compilers, deterministic resource use and dynamic memory allocation make C language an optimum choice for scripting applications and drivers of embedded systems.
4. C language is case-sensitive which means lowercase and uppercase letters are treated differently.
5. C is highly portable and is used for scripting system applications which form a major part of Windows, UNIX, and Linux operating system.
6. C is a general-purpose programming language and can efficiently work on enterprise applications, games, graphics, and applications requiring calculations, etc.
7. C language has a rich library which provides a number of built-in functions. It also offers dynamic memory allocation

It can be defined by the following ways:

1. Mother language
2. System programming language
3. Procedure-oriented programming language
4. Structured programming language
5. Mid-level programming language

C as a mother language

C language is considered as the mother language of all the modern programming languages because most of the compilers, JVMs, Kernels, etc. are written in C language, and most of the programming languages follow C syntax, for example, C++, Java, C#, etc.

It provides the core concepts like the array, strings, functions, file handling, etc. that are being used in many languages like C++, Java, C#, etc.

C as a system programming language

A system programming language is used to create system software. C language is a system programming language because it can be used to do low-level programming (for example driver and kernel). It is generally used to create hardware devices, OS, drivers, kernels, etc. For example, Linux kernel is written in C.

It can't be used for internet programming like Java, .Net, PHP, etc.

C as a procedural language

A procedure is known as a function, method, routine, subroutine, etc. A procedural language specifies a series of steps for the program to solve the problem.

A procedural language breaks the program into functions, data structures, etc.

C is a procedural language. In C, variables and function prototypes must be declared before being used.

C as a structured programming language

A structured programming language is a subset of the procedural language. Structure means to break a program into parts or blocks so that it may be easy to understand.

In the C language, we break the program into parts using functions. It makes the program easier to understand and modify.

C as a mid-level programming language

C is considered as a middle-level language because it supports the feature of both low-level and high-level languages. C language program is converted into assembly code, it supports pointer arithmetic (low-level), but it is machine independent (a feature of high-level).

A Low-level language is specific to one machine, i.e., machine dependent. It is machine dependent, fast to run. But it is not easy to understand.

A High-Level language is not specific to one machine, i.e., machine independent. It is easy to understand.