================================================
'C' seems a strange name for a programming language.But this strange sounding language is one of the mos popular computer programming languages today because it is a structured,high level,machine independent language.It allows software developers to develop programs without worrying about the hardware where they will be implemented.
The root of all modern languages is ALGOL,introdced in the early 190s.ALGOL was the first computer lanfuage to use a block struccture.Althoough it never became popular in USA,it was widely used in Europe.ALGOL gave the concept of structured programming tto the computer science community.Compuer scintists like Corrado Bohm,Guiseppe Jacopini and Edsger Dijksra popularizedthis concept during 1960s.Subsequently,several languages were announced.
In 1967,Martin Richards developed a language called BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language) primilarily for writing system software.In 1970,Ken Thompson created a language usingmany features of BCPL and called it simply B.B was used to create early versions of UNIX operating system at Bell Laboratories.Both BCPL and B were "typeless" system programming languages.C was evolved from AlGOL,BCPL and B by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Laboraories in 1972.C uses many concepts from these languages and added the conceptof data types and other powerful features.Since it was developed along with the UNIX operating systems in use today and the heart of the internet data superhighway.For many years, C was used mainly in academic environments,but eventually with the release of many.C compilers for commercial use and he increasing popularity of UNIX,it began to gain widespread support among computer progrssionals.Today,C is running under a variety of operating system and hardware platforms.
THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF 'C' IS ILLUSTREATED IN FIG:1.1
======================================================================
