History of Computers - C
Page created by Tom Viehman
C
C is a portable, flexible programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Telephone Laboratories. It gives the programmer low-level access to memory and can be used as a machine-independent programming language.
Overview
C was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie, a computer scientist working at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. C was created for implementation of system software, which includes operating systems. As time passed, C began to be used for application programming. Originally, C was designed for the Unix operating system. Code in C is free-form, which removes column or text-line limitations present in other languages such as FORTRAN. C allows for structured programming, which alleviates the need for repetition of the GOTO command. [2] [3] C compilers are available on virtually any operating system, giving it a high level of accessibility. Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernhigan's book The C Programming Language is both the essential text for C programmers and an often-copied standard for technological writing. C also has very quick loading speed and requires very little from the system when it is run. Recently, newer and more advanced version of the C language have been released. Following C++, C# is a multi-paradigm programming language developed by Microsoft by a development team known as Anders Hejlsberg. Its intentions are to be simple, more modern, and to be used for more general purposes. The C# application utilizes a .NET framework class library and can operate enumeration, delegates, inheritance, and polymorphism. [4] The success of C is due to the portability of the compiler, the standard library concept, a powerful and varied repertoire of operators, an elegant syntax, ready access to the hardware when needed, and the ease with which applications can be optimized by hand-coding isolated procedures. [5] Uses of C include operating systems, language compilers, assemblers, text editors, print spoolers, network drivers, modern programs, data bases, language interpreters, and utilities. [6]
Significance
Thanks to its greater flexibility and strength compared to contemporary languages, C spread rapidly among the programming community. C forms the basis of most system programming, with some use in application software. Languages it has influenced include C#, Java, Perl, and C's derivative languages Objective-C and C++, all of which have seen widespread usage in software and system programming. Due to its revolutionary characteristics of flexibility, speed power, and simplicity, C remains in use today worldwide.
References
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/
