C Tutorial Lecture#1

Introduction to C Programming

Overview of C Language History and Importance

C is a general-purpose programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie in the early 1970s at Bell Labs. It was designed to provide low-level access to memory and language constructs that map efficiently to typical machine instructions. C has had a profound influence on many other programming languages, including C++, Java, and Python, making it an essential language for system programming and embedded systems.

Setting Up the Development Environment

To start programming in C, you need a text editor or an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a C compiler. Here are simple steps to set up:

1. Download and install a text editor or IDE like Visual Studio Code.
2. Install a C compiler such as GCC (GNU Compiler Collection).
3. Set up environment variables if necessary.

Writing Your First "Hello, World!" Program

Let's write a simple "Hello, World!" program in C:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}
  

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Basic Structure of a C Program

A basic C program consists of:

• Header files and libraries included using #include
• The main function as the starting point of execution.
• Executable statements enclosed within { }
• Comments (// for single-line and /* ... */ for multi-line).

Recommendations and External Resources

For further learning, consider the following resources:

• Visit Learn-C.org for interactive C tutorials.
• Explore GeeksforGeeks for C programming articles and examples.

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