C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose programming language created in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie. By design, C gives programmers relatively direct access to the features of typical CPU architectures, customized for the target instruction set. It has been and continues to be used to implement operating systems (especially kernels), device drivers, and protocol stacks, though its use in application software is decreasing. C is used on computers ranging from supercomputers to microcontrollers and embedded systems.

C was initially developed as a successor to the B programming language at Bell Labs by Ritchie between 1972 and 1973. Its initial purpose was to construct utilities running on Unix, and was later applied to re-implementing the kernel of the Unix operating system. During the 1980s, C gradually gained popularity, leading to it becoming one of the most widely used programming languages, with C compilers available for practically all modern computer architectures and operating systems. The book The C Programming Language, co-authored by the original language designer, served for many years as the de facto standard for the language. C has been standardized since 1989 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and, subsequently, jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

C is an imperativeprocedural language, supporting structured programming, lexical variable scope, and recursion, with a static type system. It was designed to be compiled to provide low-level access to memory and language constructs that map efficiently to machine instructions, all with minimal runtime support. Despite its low-level capabilities, the language was designed to encourage cross-platform programming. A standards-compliant C program written with portability in mind can be compiled for a wide variety of computer platforms and operating systems with few changes to its source code.

Although neither C nor its standard library provide some popular features found in other languages, it is flexible enough to support them. For example, object orientation and garbage collection are provided by external libraries GLib Object System and Boehm garbage collector, respectively.

Since 2000, C has typically ranked as the most or second-most popular language in the TIOBE index.