Introduction to C Programming
C is a procedural and a middle-level structure-oriented programming language that was initially developed by Dennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Labs in 1972. It was designed to write the UNIX operating system. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) formally introduced the C language in 1988.
Procedure oriented programming (POP):
A procedural programming language is a logical step-by-step process for solving a problem. It determines what a process is and how a process should be done.
Some characteristics exhibited by POP:
- Large programs are divided into smaller programs called functions.
- The importance is on algorithms.
- Data flows freely within the functional system.
- Most of the functions share global data.
- Functions transform data from one form to another.
- Implements top-down approach in program design.
Structured programming concept:
Structured programming is a systematic way to organize programs. It is a subset of procedural programming that implements a logical structure on the written program which makes it more efficient and easier to understand and modify.
Structured programming may be described as:
- top-down analysis for problem-solving,
- modularization for program structure and organization and
- structured code for individual modules.
Features of C:
- C is a core language- It is one of the early programming languages. There are a number of modern programming concepts and popular computer languages based on C such as C++, Java, and Perl.
- C is quick- It can be close to the hardware, hence the low-level facilities can be accessed in the computer quite easily which makes the code run faster and efficiently. It is a small language and can be learned quickly.
- It has only 32 keywords that make it relatively easy to learn in comparison to other languages. It is simple, reliable, easy to learn and use.
- C is very portable- C programs written on a system may be executed with little or no change on other systems.
- C is a robust language with multiple integrated functions and operators.
- C is easily extensible- Additional features and operations can be appended with ease into it.