C Programming Language (C)

Definition - What does C Programming Language (C) mean?

C is a high-level and general purpose programming language that is ideal for developing firmware or portable applications. Originally intended for writing system software, C was developed at Bell Labs by Dennis Ritchie for the Unix Operating System (OS) in the early 1970s.

Ranked among the most widely used languages, C has a compiler for most computer systems and influenced many popular languages - notably C++.

Techopedia explains C Programming Language (C)

C belongs to the structured, procedural paradigms of languages. It is proven, flexible and powerful and may be used for a variety of different applications. Although high-level, C and assembly language share many of the same attributes.

Following are C programming language features:
  • Fixed number of keywords, including a set of control primitives, such as if, for, while, switch and do while.
  • Multiple logical and mathematical operators, including bit manipulators.
  • Multiple assignments may be applied in a single statement.
  • Function return values are not always required and may be ignored if unneeded.
  • Typing is static. All data has type but may be implicitly converted.
  • Basic form of modularity, as files may be separately compiled and linked.
  • Control of function and object visibility to other files via extern and static attributes.

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