C is a programming language which got developed in 1970s at AT&T Bell Labs by Dennis Ritchie. It was made to overcome challenges of BASIC, B, and BPCL languages. The best thing is that it has both high-level functions and detailed features needed to program an OS or program.
Its popularity was not effected even after the emergence of other new languages like Java, Python, JavaScript and PHP. All these have borrowed many control structures and other basic features form C language.
Where is the C programming language headed and are the IDEs advancing?
C was initially developed to do low-level programming only but now it supports features and functions of high-level programming thus making it a mid-level language. Like this it provides the best of both the worlds. It allows direct manipulation of hardware which highlight programming languages basically don’t offer.
IDEs are now advancing more then ever. This is due to the rapid growing cloud industry as well which offer such tools in the cloud and have built-in code collaboration features. Many have direct integration for platforms like GitHub and GitLab where programmers can save their code.
There are various C/C++ IDEs available out there that are not open-source and are maintained/developed by actual companies. Good examples include Eclipse, Visual Studio Code or VSCode and Code::Blocks. These are all modern and can be installed for free, some of them only update once in a while due to solo teams working in their spare time to keep their passion going.
A famous example of a C and C++ IDE that is now maintained by a single programmer and official discontinued is Turbo C++. It was developed by Borland way back in 1990 which had also bought Turbo Pascal at the time and later called it Borland Pascal.
Surprisingly, Turbo C++ download still works on modern operating systems including Windows 10 and Windows 11 to compile and edit C/C++ code without issues. Isn’t that surprising knowing this IDE came out nearly 30 years ago? Albeit, it is a bit classy with the DOS interface but works flawlessly.
The point is, C very much thriving, being a core language used in operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, it will always be in a lot of demand.
Why the C Programming language will never die – 7 reasons why it will out live you
Features are what make it stand out from others. It has the ability and uniqueness to impress anyone. We have compiled for you some significant features. Follow through to know more.
It is simple, efficient and fast
This is regarded as an introductory language to introduce programing to students. It is easy to learn and the basic syntax style to implement this language is easy too. This is what makes it easily comprehensible and allows the programmer to create or even re-design a new application.
For those who don’t know, let us put a fact that programming language typed statically are faster than dynamic ones. C is statically types which gives it an edge over others. Unlike Java and Python which are interpreter based, C is a compiler-based program. All this makes code compilation and execution fast.
It only has essential and required features whereas new languages come with numerous features which increase functions but reduce speed and efficiency. As it offers limited features, the issues of processing these features reduce thus resulting in fast and increased speed.
Libraries are very diverse
It has many libraries with in-built functions which makes programmers life easy. If you are a newbie even then you can code easily. Moreover, create user-defined functions and then add them to C libraries. When such vast scope functions and operations are present then it allows the programmer to build vast and different programs and apps.
Directly Interacts with memory
These point to a certain location in memory and directly interact with it. By using pointers you can interact with the memory directly. Using these, you can operate with memory arrays, functions and structures.
Code Extensibility
Also known as extensible programming, this is something the C programming language was built with! It can be quickly and easily extended which means if a code is written already you can add in new features to it with some alterations. What it does is allow you to add in new features, functions and operation to an already existing C program.
Memory management is top-notch
This is one of the significant features it has. With this you can utilize data size structure during runtime. Along with this it also provides with many predefined functions in order to work with memory allocations. Like you can use free() function to free allocated memory any time you want. Likewise there are many other functions like malloc(), calloc() and realloc() which perform different operation son data structure and memory allocations.
Portability and Recursion are perfect
C programs are dependent upon machine which means you can run fraction of code which has been created in C on different machine with little or no machine-specific changes. Therefore, it provides you with the functions to use one single code on different system all depending upon need.
This means you can create a function which can call itself many time till the provided condition is true just like loops. Recursion in C language gives you the function of code reusability and backtracking.
Code is structured and can be re-used
Who doesn’t like to re-use code and save time? Why re-invent the wheel when you can use the code from a different project.
With this feature you can break a code into various parts using functions which can be stored in the form of libraries for re usability. When you structure the code using functions then it increases its visual appeal and makes it a more organized program and less prone to errors.
What do you think?
The C language including C++ has a bright future ahead, even though languages such as Python and Go always make the headlines, the core is never going to be broken. There are features, structures and libraries that are unique to each and always will be. Integrated development environments are gaining traction a lot and they are now supported on more and more platforms. What are your thoughts on the future of this powerful programming language?