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C Programming Introduction

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History of C

• 1960 — ALGOL: First language to use a block structure.
• 1967 — BCPL: Developed by Martin Richards, derived from ALGOL.
• 1970 — B: Created by Ken Thompson using BCPL. Both BCPL and B were type-less.
• 1972 — C: Developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs using BCPL and B.

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Why Learn C?

• Foundation for C++, Java, Python, and most modern languages.
• Used in OS kernels, microcontrollers, game engines, and databases.
• Teaches low-level memory management and hardware interaction.
• Fast execution with minimal abstraction overhead.

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C Language Versions

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Structure of a C Program

#include <stdio.h>    // Preprocessor directive

int main() {          // Entry point of every C program
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}