Introduction to C

[Jessica Brown]

C is a powerful, general-purpose programming language that serves as the foundation for many modern languages. Created in the 1970s, it is known for its efficiency and control over system resources. C is widely used in systems programming, embedded systems, and performance-critical applications.

What is C Best Used For?

• Building operating systems, kernels, and embedded systems.
• Developing performance-critical applications like databases and game engines.
• Writing low-level hardware interaction programs.
• Learning programming fundamentals and understanding how computers work.

Example C Program

This program demonstrates variables, a loop, and output.

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    // Declare variables
    char greeting[] = "Hello, C Programmer!";
    int count = 5;

    // Display greeting
    printf("%s\n", greeting);

    // Loop through numbers 1 to count
    for (int i = 1; i <= count; i++) {
        printf("Iteration: %d\n", i);
    }

    // Print completion message
    printf("Loop completed! Total iterations: %d\n", count);

    return 0;
}

Explanation:

1. Variables: greeting is a string array holding the welcome message, and count is an integer for the loop limit.
2. Loop: A for loop iterates from 1 to count, printing the current iteration.
3. Output: The program prints the greeting, iteration messages, and a final completion statement.

Sample Output:

Hello, C Programmer!
Iteration: 1
Iteration: 2
Iteration: 3
Iteration: 4
Iteration: 5
Loop completed! Total iterations: 5

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C is a great language for getting close to the hardware and understanding the building blocks of software development. Share your thoughts, experiments, or questions about C in this thread!