computer science

Outline of the C programming language

Outline of the C programming language is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Outline of the C programming language rather than just read about it. In short: The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to C: C is a general-purpose, procedural, compiled, and statically typed programming language. It was created by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 at Bell Labs as a successor to the B language.

Key takeaways

Outline of the C programming language belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Outline of the C programming language to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Outline of the C programming language from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to C: C is a general-purpose, procedural, compiled, and statically typed programming language. It was created by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 at Bell Labs as a successor to the B language.

What type of language is C? C can be described as all of the following:

Programming language — artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Compiled language — language implemented through compilers rather than interpreters Procedural programming language — programming paradigm based on the concept of procedure calls General-purpose programming language — designed for writing software in a wide variety of application domains Statically typed programming language — type checking is performed at compile-time

History of C B programming language — precursor to C K&R C — early version described by Kernighan and Ritchie ANSI C / ISO C standards: C89/C90 C99 C11 C17 C23 — current standard

General C concepts

Issues / Limitations Constructs that behave differently in C and C++ Cyber security Undefined behavior

C Toolchain

C compilers

GCC — GNU Compiler Collection Clang — LLVM C compiler MSVC — Microsoft Visual C++ compiler (supports C) TinyCC Turbo C

C libraries

C Standard Library

The C standard library provides fundamental routines for:

Input/output (stdio.h) String handling (string.h) Mathematical computations (math.h) Memory management (stdlib.h) Time and date (time.h)

Other notable libraries GLib SDL GSL libcurl OpenSSL

Notable projects written in C CPython — the reference implementation of the Python programming language Git — version control system Linux kernel, Bash, Coreutils, Autoconf and other command line utilities Lua, PHP, Perl — Scripting languages PostgreSQL — relational database systems Redis — in-memory database SQLite — embedded SQL database engine Unix — originally rewritten in C at Bell Labs Vim GNOME, MATE and Xfce — desktop environments X window system and Wayland — windowing systems Apache HTTP Server and nginx — Web servers cURL — command line web client and library HAProxy — multiprotocol load balancer and reverse proxy OpenSSH OpenSSL OpenLDAP

Example source code Articles with example C code

C publications

Books about C Andrew Koenig – C Traps and Pitfalls Brian W. Kernighan – The C Programming Language Guy L. Steele Jr. – C: A Reference Manual Herbert Schildt – C, The Complete Reference Peter van der Linden – Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets

Magazines about C C/C++ Users Journal — (historical publication)

C programmers John Carmack – game programmer, known for Doom and Quake. Brian Kernighan — wrote The C Programming Language book Rob Pike – worked on Unix and Plan 9, contributed to C and its ecosystem. Dennis Ritchie — created the C programming language Richard Stallman – founder of the GNU Project Tim Sweeney – founder of Epic Games and creator of Unreal Engine Ken Thompson — Unix Linus Torvalds — Linux

C dialects Cyclone — safe variant Embedded C GNU C — features specific to GCC K&R C Microsoft C — Microsoft-specific extensions Objective-C — object-oriented extension of C

C learning resources

Codecademy – interactive C programming lessons GeeksforGeeks – tutorials, coding examples, and interactive programming for C concepts and data structures Learn-C.org – free interactive C tutorial for beginners CProgramming.com Tutorial – tutorials, examples, and best practices for learning C W3Schools – beginner-friendly C tutorials Wikibooks C Programming – free open-content textbook

Competitive programming Codeforces – an online platform for programming contests that supports C submissions Codewars – gamified coding challenges HackerRank – competitive programming and interview preparation site with C challenges LeetCode – online judge and problem-solving platform

See also Compatibility of C and C++ List of software programming journals List of C-family programming languages Outline of computer programming Outline of software Outline of software engineering

Outlines of other programming languages Outline of the C sharp programming language Outline of the C++ programming language Outline of the Java programming language Outline of the JavaScript programming language Outline of the Perl programming language Outline of the Python programming language Outline of the Rust programming language

References

External links

ISO C standard information C reference on cppreference.com

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Outline of the C programming language

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Outline of the C programming language claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Outline of the C programming language before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Outline of the C programming language ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Outline of the C programming language

In research: Outline of the C programming language appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Outline of the C programming language in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Outline of the C programming language is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics C (programming language), C (programming language) libraries, Free software programmed in C, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Outline of the C programming language outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Outline of the C programming language in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Outline of the C programming language means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Outline of the C programming language out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Outline of the C programming language in simple terms?

Why does Outline of the C programming language matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Outline of the C programming language?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Outline of the C programming language.