Brandon Barker, Ben Trumbore (revisions)
Cornell Center for Advanced Computing

Revisions: 9/2022, 8/2021, 9/2014, 2011 (original)

The C programming language's design was influenced by other computing languages and its initial intended applications. But since its inception, its popularity has grown and it is now also used for other classes of applications. The language's simplicity makes it easy to learn, but programmers must accept responsibility for carefully managing memory. More modern and complicated programming languages do not place this burden on the programmer.

Objectives

After you complete this segment, you should be able to:

  • Explain how the C language is used in various applications
  • Discuss how the C language evolved
Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites for learning C beyond basic computer operations.

 
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