Cours 1.1. History of C programming language
History
C is a computer programming language. It has been named after its predecessor, the B language developed in 1969 by Kenneth Thompson. In 1972, as part of the development of the UNIX system, Kenneth Thompson and Dennis Ritchie developped a new version of the B language, logically named C. I will not go into the details of the language since this is the subject of the following of this course. Just remember that C is a low-level language, it allows significant control over the machine, in particular in terms of memory allocation thanks to pointers. C is a language used for programming of applications, embedded systems, compilers or even operating systems.
C quickly became a very popular language. Although it is difficult to analyze the underlying reasons for the democratization of one language rather than another, we can note the following facts that are likely related to the success of C.
- The C is based on an open standard.
- C is closely related to UNIX systems, which makes it, even today, the preferred language of these systems.
- In 1978 Brian Kernighan wrote the book The C Programming Language which, to this day, is still a reference.
- In 1983 C was standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The following video shows how C programming language is popular over years:
Nowadays
Since the creation of C, other programming languages have become more popular. Depending on the task or the machine on which the code will run, some languages are more suited than others. But despite its age, C remains a very widely used language and its learning the best investment of the future developer. It is still very widely used in systems embedded or under Linux. Above all, many modern languages use the syntax and logic of C, like for example the C++, the C#, Java, PHP, JavaScript, Objective C, etc.
Learning programming in C is essential because its mastery allows the developer to adapt very quickly to other languages. The C is, in a way, the Latin of programming languages, without being an extinct language!
Quiz
When C programming language was created?
Who developed the C programming language?
What has become C nowadays?
What are the technical advantages of C?
