What is C programming?

C is a general-purpose programming language that is extremely popular, simple and flexible. It is machine-independent, structured programming language which is used extensively in various applications.

C was the basics language to write everything from operating systems (Windows and many others) to complex programs like the Oracle database, Git, Python interpreter and more.

It is said that 'C' is a god's programming language. One can say, C is a base for the programming. If you know 'C,' you can easily grasp the knowledge of the other programming languages that uses the concept of 'C'

It is essential to have a background in computer memory mechanisms because it is an important aspect when dealing with the C programming language.

History of C language

The base or father of programming languages is 'ALGOL.' It was first introduced in 1960. 'ALGOL' was used on a large basis in European countries. 'ALGOL' introduced the concept of structured programming to the developer community. In 1967, a new computer programming language was announced called as 'BCPL' which stands for Basic Combined Programming Language. BCPL was designed and developed by Martin Richards, especially for writing system software. This was the era of programming languages. Just after three years, in 1970 a new programming language called 'B' was introduced by Ken Thompson that contained multiple features of 'BCPL.' This programming language was created using UNIX operating system at AT&T and Bell Laboratories. Both the 'BCPL' and 'B' were system programming languages.

In 1972, a great computer scientist Dennis Ritchie created a new programming language called 'C' at the Bell Laboratories. It was created from 'ALGOL', 'BCPL' and 'B' programming languages. 'C' programming language contains all the features of these languages and many more additional concepts that make it unique from other languages.

'C' is a powerful programming language which is strongly associated with the UNIX operating system. Even most of the UNIX operating system is coded in 'C'. Initially 'C' programming was limited to the UNIX operating system, but as it started spreading around the world, it became commercial, and many compilers were released for cross-platform systems. Today 'C' runs under a variety of operating systems and hardware platforms. As it started evolving many different versions of the language were released. At times it became difficult for the developers to keep up with the latest version as the systems were running under the older versions. To assure that 'C' language will remain standard, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) defined a commercial standard for 'C' language in 1989. Later, it was approved by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in 1990. 'C' programming language is also called as 'ANSI C'.

Languages such as C++/Java are developed from 'C'. These languages are widely used in various technologies. Thus, 'C' forms a base for many other languages that are currently in use.

Where is C used? Key Applications

1. 'C' language is widely used in embedded systems.
2. It is used for developing system applications.
3. It is widely used for developing desktop applications.
4. Most of the applications by Adobe are developed using 'C' programming language.
5. It is used for developing browsers and their extensions. Google's Chromium is built using 'C' programming language.
6. It is used to develop databases. MySQL is the most popular database software which is built using 'C'.
7. It is used in developing an operating system. Operating systems such as Apple's OS X, Microsoft's Windows, and Symbian are developed using 'C' language. It is used for developing desktop as well as mobile phone's operating system.
8. It is used for compiler production.
9. It is widely used in IOT applications.

Why learn 'C'?

As we studied earlier, 'C' is a base language for many programming languages. So, learning 'C' as the main language will play an important role while studying other programming languages. It shares the same concepts such as data types, operators, control statements and many more. 'C' can be used widely in various applications. It is a simple language and provides faster execution. There are many jobs available for a 'C' developer in the current market.

'C' is a structured programming language in which program is divided into various modules. Each module can be written separately and together it forms a single 'C' program. This structure makes it easy for testing, maintaining and debugging processes.

    'C' contains 32 keywords, various data types and a set of powerful built-in functions that make             programming very efficient.

Another feature of 'C' programming is that it can extend itself. A 'C' program contains various functions which are part of a library. We can add our features and functions to the library. We can access and use these functions anytime we want in our program. This feature makes it simple while working with complex programming.

Various compilers are available in the market that can be used for executing programs written in this language.

It is a highly portable language which means programs written in 'C' language can run on other machines. This feature is essential if we wish to use or execute the code on another computer.

How 'C' Works?

C is a compiled language. A compiler is a special tool that compiles the program and converts it into the object file which is machine readable. After the compilation process, the linker will combine different object files and creates a single executable file to run the program. The following diagram shows the execution of a 'C' program

  Nowadays, various compilers are available online, and you can use any of those compilers. The        functionality will never differ and most of the compilers will provide the features required to execute    both 'C' and 'C++' programs.

  Following is the list of popular compilers available online:

• Clang compiler
• MinGW compiler (Minimalist GNU for Windows)
• Portable 'C' compiler
• Turbo C

Summary

• 'C' was developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972.
• It is a robust language.
• It is a low programming level language close to machine language
• It is widely used in the software development field.
• It is a procedure and structure oriented language.
• It has the full support of various operating systems and hardware platforms.
• Many compilers are available for executing programs written in 'C'.
• A compiler compiles the source file and generates an object file.
• A linker links all the object files together and creates one executable file.
• It is highly portable. 

Important Computer Knowledge – Development of Computer

• Father of the Computer – Charles Babbage.
  Father of the Modern Computer – Alan Turing.
  The first computer for the home user introduced – IBM in 1981.
  Basic Architecture of Computer: John Von Neumann (1947-49).
  First Programmer: Lady Ada Lovelace (1880).
  First Electronic Computer: ENIAC (1946) – J.P. Eckert & J.W. Mauchly.

Full form of Computer:

• * C       –          Commonly
  * O       –          Operated
  * M      –          Machine
  * P       –          Particularly
  * U       –          Used for
  * T       –          Technical
  * E       –          Education
  * R       –          Research

Abacus

Abacus is known to be the first mechanical calculating device.

Which was used to be performed addition and subtraction easily and speedily.

Abacus is made up of the wooden frame in which rod where fitted across with rounds beads sliding on the rod.

Pascal Calculator

In the year 1642, Blaise Pascal a French scientist invented the adding machine called Pascal’s calculator, which represents the position of the digit with the help of gears in it.

Analytical Engine

A scientist from England knows to be Charles Babbage invented such the machine.

This device is known as Analytical engine and it is the first mechanical computer.

It includes such feature which we use in today’s computer language.

For this great invention of the computer, Sir Charles Babbage is also known as the father of the computer.

Basic Computer Knowledge for any Competition(Part-III)

The first computer language for electronic devices was short code.

The first of the major languages appeared in the form of FORTRAN.

FORTRAN stands for Formula Translation system.

FORTRAN language was designed at IBM, for scientific computing.

The language used for programs that benchmark and ranks the world's fastest super computers is FORTRAN.

The name COBOL stands for "COMMON BUSINESS ORIENTED LANGUAGE".

The language which was referred as "the mother of the COBOL language" was FLOW - MATIC language.

LISP stands for LIST PROCESSING language.

LISP language was designed for Artificial Intelligence Research.

The first language to have format grammar was ALGOL.

ALGOL mean ALGORITHMIC Language.

ALGOL is a high level language designed specially for programming Scientific Computations.

Pascal language was named in honor of Blaise Pascal.

Pascal language was developed by Niklans Wirth.

A small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices is Pascal.

A general purpose programming language which was developed by Dennis Ritchie was 'C' Language.

C++ language was known as Object Oriented Programming or OOP.

C++ is most after used in simulations, such as games.

C++ is sometimes called a hybrid language.

One of the preferred programming languages to develop professional applications is C++.

Java is a programming language developed by James Gosling.

Java language was developed to facilitate communication with the interactive T.V.

Visual Basic (VB) was derived from BASIC.

BASIC is a very limited scope language and was designed for non - computer science people.

The heart of VB is the form or blank window on which some components are drag and drop. Those items are known as Widgets.

Perl has often been described as the 'Duct tape of the Internet'.

Perl was developed by Larry Wall in 1987.

PERL stands for Practical Extraction and Reporting Language.

BASIC means Beginner's All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.

Ada is a structured, statically typed, wide spectrum, object oriented high level computer programming language.

Ada is an international standard.

CORAL stands for Computer On - line Real - time Applications Language.

Coral 66 is a general purpose programming language based on ALGOL 60.

Coral is specifically intended for real time and embedded applications.

PHP is a general purpose server side Scripting language Originally designed for Web development to produce dynamic Web pages.

PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page.

At present, PHP is said to stand for Hypertext Pre - Processor.

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language.

HTML is for displaying web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser.

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.

Basic Computer Knowledge for any Competition(Part-II)

A/D Analog To Digital.

ALU Arithmetic Logic Unit.

ASCII American Standard Code For Information Interchange.

ASR Automatic Send And Receive.

ATM Automated Teller Machine.

BCD Binary Coded Decimal.

BIOS Basic Input/Output System.

BIS Business Information System.

BPS Bits Per Second.

CAD Computer-Aided Design.

CAM Computer-Aided Manufacturing.

CASE Computer-Aided Software Engineering.

CD Compact Disc.

CDROM Compact Disc Read-Only Memory.

COBOL Common Business-Oriented Language.

CPS Characters Per Second.

CPU Central Processing Unit.

CROM Control Read-Only Memory.

CRT Cathode Ray Tube.

DBMS Database Management System.

DOS Disk Operating System.

DPI Dots Per Inch.

DTP Desktop Publishing.

DVD Digital Versatile Disk.

EEPROM Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory.

EPROM Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory.

FM Frequency Modulation.

FORTRAN Formula Translation.

FTP File Transfer Protocol.

GB GigaByte.

GIGO Garbage In, Garbage Out.

GUI Graphical User Interface.

H HTML Hyper Text Markup Language.

HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.

HZ Hertz.

I/O Input / Output.

IP Internet Protocol.

ISO International Standards Organisation.

ISP Internet Service Provider.

K KB KiloByte.

LAN Local Area Network.

LCD Liquid Crystal Display.

MAN Metropolitan Area Network.

MB MegaByte.

MICR Magnetic Ink Character Recognition.

N NS Nano Second.

OCR Optical Character Recognition.

OMR Optical Mark Reader.

OS Operating System.

P2P Peer To Peer.

PAN Personal Area Network.

PC Personal Computer.

PCB Printed Circuit Board.

PDF Portable Document Format.

PIN Personal Identification Number.

PPP Point-To-Point Protocol.

PROM Programmable Read-Only Memory.

RAM Random Access Memory.

ROM Read Only Memory.

URL Uniform Resource Locator.

USB Universal Serial Bus.

VDU Visual Display Unit.

VGA Video Graphics Array.

WAN Wide Area Network.

Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity.

WWW World Wide Web.

X XML Extensible Markup Language.

XT Extended Technology

XMF Extensible Music File

XML Extensible Markup Language

XMS Extended Memory Specification

XHTML Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language

XSL Extensible Style Language

Yahoo Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle

YB YOTTA BYTE

YiB YOBI BYTE

ZB ZETTA BYTE

ZiB Zebi Byte

Basic Computer Knowledge for any Competition(Part-I)

1. The improvement of computer hardware theory is summarized by which law.?

Ans: Moore's First Law

2. The most widely used computer device is.

Ans: Internal Hard Disk

3. _______ are software which is used to do particular task.

Ans: Program

4. Who is father of modern computers?

Ans: Charles Babbage

5. ________ controls the way in which the computer system functions and provides a means by which users can interact with the computer.

Ans: The Operating System (OS)

6. The difference between people with access to computers and the Internet and those without this access is known as the:

Ans: Digital Divide

7. ……….is the process of dividing the disk into tracks and sectors.

Ans: Crashing

8. What type of software creates a smaller file that is faster to transfer over the Internet?

Ans: Compression

9. Which of the following is used for close a tab on a browser?

Ans: Ctrl + W

10. You can move between two or more Excel files opened by using the

Ans:  Ctrl + Tab

11. To open find window.

Ans: F3

12. __ Is a mechanism by which all the content in a specified storage area are written as output.

Ans: Dumping

13. The first generation computers used ____________ for circuitry

Ans: Vacuum Tube

14. He period of First generation computer is

Ans: 1940-1956

15. In analog computer...

Ans: Input is never converted to digital form

16. The output quality of a printer is measured by

Ans: Dot per sq. inch

17. In the latest generation of computers, the instructions are executed

Ans: Both sequentially and parallel

18. Who designed the first electronics computer – ENIAC?

Ans: J. Presper Eckert and John W Mauchly

19. Who invented the high level language c?

Ans: Dennis M. Ritchie

20. When did arch rivals IBM and Apple Computers Inc. decide to join hands?

Ans: 1991

21. An error in a computer program is called a _________.

Ans: Bug

22. Which of the following are computers that can be carried around easily?

Ans: Laptops

23. Which among the following is a Super computer series developed by Indian scientists?

Ans: Param

24.  What type of web technology creates an online community where people can make statements and others can read and respond to those statements?

Ans: Blog 

25. When the pointer is positioned which of the following, it is shaped like a hand?

Ans: Hyperlink

26. If your computer keeps rebooting itself, then it is likely that _______.

Ans: It has a virus

27. Deleted data remains on a disk until _________.

Ans: The Recycle bin is emptied

28. LANs can be connected by devices called _________ operate in the data link layer.

Ans: Bridges

29. From what location are the 1st computer instructions available on boot up?

Ans: ROM BIOS

30. Direct Access Storage Device is also referred as ?

Ans: DASD