Basics of C language
History
C is a programming language that has been developed by AT & T’s Bell Laboratories, USA in 1972. Dennis Ritchie was the man behind the designing and writing this language. C language gradually replaces it’s competitors like ALGOL, PL/I etc. C was never advertised but still programmers were preferring this language and it’s inventor was amazed at it. The reason behind the popularoty of C languages wwas its simplcity, ease of use and realiability. You may wonder that there are many languages that have surpassed C language like C++ and Java etc. but the fact is that for complete understanding of C++ and Java languages C language is a must.
Learning C Language
If you need to communicate with computer you need a language that computer understnads which means English is not the language of choice here. The first step of learning C language is to learn the alphabets, numbers and special symbols which are used in C. After this you need to know how to use constants, variables and keywords. All of these with a group of instructions form a program.
The C Character Set:
A character in C languages is any alphabet, number or special symbol used for representing information. The valid alphabets, numbers and special symbols are as follows
| Alphabets | A, B, C, D, E, …….., X, Y, Z. a,b,c,d,e,………………..x,y,z. |
| Digits | 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 |
| Special Symbols | ~ ‘ ! @ # % ^ & * ( ) _ – + = | \ { } [ ] : ; ” ‘ < > , . ? / |
Constants, Variables and Keywords
The alphabets, numbers as well as special symbols mentioned above when combined in a proper way will form constants, variables and keywords.
Constant:
A constant is an entity that does not change it’s value. There are two types of constants i.e. Primary Constants and Secondary Constants.
Variable:
A variable is an entity that changes it’s value.
Keywords:
Keywords are actually the words whose meaning has been explained to the C compiler.
