Computer Programming is a medium for us to communicate with computers. We write programs in High-Level Language which look like English language and the compiler/interpreter translates that code into Machine code that computers understand.

What is C?

C is a General Purpose, Procedural, Machine-Independent, Structured programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 at the bell laboratories of AT&T (American Telephone & Telegraph) in the USA.

• General Purpose: - It means C is not only used for a single purpose. C programming can be used to develop operating systems, embedded systems (sensors, Digital cameras, Calculators, Microprocessors, etc.), Databases, and so on.
• Procedural: - Instructions in a C program are executed step by step.
• Machine-Independent: - A program written on one computer can also run on another without any code changes. We do not have to write different codes for each device.
• Structured: - We can convert large or complex programs into more manageable and small pieces of code.

Why Learn C?

C language is considered the Mother language of all 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.

By learning C, you learn core concepts like the array, strings, functions, file handling, etc., used in many languages like C++, Java, C#, etc.

Use of C Language

C Language is used to program a wide variety of systems.

• Major parts of Windows, Linux, and other Operating Systems are written in C.
• C is used to write driver programs for devices like Tablets, printers, etc.
• C language is used to program embedded systems where programs need to run faster in limited memory.
• C is used to develop games where latency is very important. i.e., the computer has to react quickly to user input.

Some more uses of C

• GUI (Graphical User Interface) Applications
• Databases
• Browsers
• Cloud computing and distributed systems
• Compilers
• Integrated software libraries
• Server applications

Companies using C language

Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Mastercard, Nvidia, Redhat, Telegram Messenger, VMware, etc.

Difference between C and C++