Know Interesting Facts about C Language

C is a very common and extensively used language. Although it is popular, there are some things about it that you might not be aware of. Therefore, we have decided to reveal them to you in this blog. In case, you are curious to know the interesting facts about C language, then take a look below.

But, before we move on to the interesting facts about C language, let us see a short overview of C programming language.

What is C Programming Language?

C is a general-purpose, high-level, and imperative programming language. It was originally developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1972 at Bell Laboratories. C is an evergreen programming language and is also known as the mother language. Hence, in the programming world, every developer understands the fundamental syntax of the C language.

Moreover, it is one of the most popular programming languages with compilers available for the vast majority of computer architectures and operating systems. All UNIX application programs, the C compiler, and the UNIX operating system are all written in C.

Mainly, C has become a popular professional language for these reasons.

• Simple to learn
• Structured language
• Generates efficient programs
• Supports low-level activities
• Compiled on multiple computer platforms

Also Read: 120 Best C++ Project Ideas for Beginners and Advanced

Key Features of C Programming Language

The following are the key features of the C language

• Simple
• Object Oriented
• Procedural language
• Portable
• Case Sensitive
• Modular
• Fast and Efficient
• Highly Compatible
• Recursion
• Contains pointers
• Contains a variety of data types
• Includes a rich set of operators
• Easy to Extend
• Dynamic Memory
• Large Library Support

Interesting Facts about C Language

As we all know, the C programming language has gained its popularity only because of its features. There are still some unknown interesting facts about C language that have also contributed to its popularity.

If you are interested to know the facts about the C language, go through the list shared below

Aslo Read: What is Rust Programming Language and Who can Use it?

Facts about the Origin and Evolution of C language

1. C was initially invented to build an operating system called UNIX.
2. C is a successor of B language which was debuted around the early 1970s.
3. The language was formalized in 1988 by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI).
4. C has been written in assembly language.
5. The entire UNIX operating system was written in C.
6. Initially, the C language was not named C. It evolved from ALGO. The C language evolved from ALGO to BCPL, then B, Tradition C, K&R C, ANSI C, ANSI/ISO C, and C99.
7. Why is it named C? It was created to address all of the limitations of the B language (a reduced version of BCPL). So it was simply termed C because it is adjacent to B in the English alphabet.
8. C is the only popular system programming language that has existed for such a long time and is still extensively used.
9. C is the foundation for many other programming languages including C++, Java, JavaScript, Go, C#, PHP, Python, Perl, C-shell, and many more.
10. Most of the state-of-the-art software is written in C. Also, the popular Linux OS and RDBMS MySQL have been written in C.
11. Previously, C was considered a high-level language, but many programmers now treat it as a low-level language because it only allows scalar operations.
12. In C, the identifier must be less than or equal to 32 characters.
13. C-89 contains 32 keywords, and C-99 includes an additional 5 keywords.
14. C supports 45 operators that are divided into eight groups.
15. C23 is the most recent version of the C programming language. It was released in April 2023.

Programming Facts of C Language

1. The C language has only one ternary operator, “?:”.
2. “sizeof” is the only operator that is also a keyword.
3. In printf() and scanf(), f stands for formatted and not function.
4. The compiler does not recognize header files; instead, the preprocessor processes them and expands the original code.
5. The header file name can be supplied in two ways: (a) with angular brackets and (b) with double inverted commas.
6. The compiler generates assembly code rather than machine code, after which the assembler generates machine code.
7. The sizeof operator cannot tell us the size of functions since it operates at compile time and functions load into memory at runtime.
8. Case labels in a switch statement can appear within if-else statements or loops.
9. You can use #include in unusual places.
10. Printf in C allows you to use variables for formatting format specifiers.
11. a[index] is equal to index[a]. The reason is array elements can be accessed using pointer arithmetic.
12. Previously, C accepted ‘<:,:>, <%,%>’ instead of ‘[,], {, }’.
13. Main() is not mandatory for a basic C program that has no functions.
14. C ignores input using %*d in scanf.
15. A range can be used within switch cases.

Amazing Facts about Functions in C

1. A C program allows us to define any number of functions.
2. A function’s name should be unique in a C program.
3. All C programs must have a main() function.
4. A C function can only return one value to its caller function.
5. The execution of a C program ends when there are no more functions or statements to execute in the main function body.
6. C functions can be called from anywhere within a C program.
7. There are two sorts of functions in C: library functions and user-defined functions.

Top Tech Companies That Use C Language

Earlier, we stated a fact that C is widely used by programmers even today. Listed below are some tech giants that have developed their applications using C language.

1. Adobe develops the majority of its applications using the ‘C’ programming language.
2. Google’s Chromium is written in the ‘C’ programming language.
3. The world’s most popular databases such as Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server, are written in C and C++.
4. Apple’s OS X, Microsoft’s Windows OS, Linux OS, and Symbian OS all use the ‘C’ programming language.
5. Epic Games developed PUBG utilizing a specific game engine platform known as Unreal Engine 4. This platform is unique in that it is coded in C++ and makes extensive use of portability and utilities to provide realistic graphics to the audience.
6. C++ is the primary development language used in many of Google’s open-source projects.

Popular IDEs for C language

Listed below are some popular IDEs for developing applications using C language.

• Turbo C (Borland)
• Visual Studio Code (Microsoft)
• Dev C++ (Bloodshed Software)
• Code::Blocks (Code::Blocks Team)
• Eclipse (IBM)
• NetBeans (Oracle Corp)
• CodeLite (Eran Ifrah)
• KDevelop (KDE Umbrella)

Aslo Read: Learn How to Write the Best Quality Programming Assignment

Conclusion

Hopefully, by now, you will have known the interesting facts about C language. Only the extraordinary features of C make it popular in the programming world. If you wish to begin your career as a software developer, then first learn C programming language and its syntax. In case, you have any doubts about C programming, contact us immediately.