History of C

C is a programming language developed at AT&T’s Bell Laboratory of USA in 1972. It was designed and written by Dennis Ritchie. As compared to other programming languages such as Pascal, C allows a precise control of input and output.

The history of the C programming language began in the early 1970s when Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs developed it as an evolution of the B language, which itself was based on BCPL. C was designed to improve system programming, particularly for the UNIX operating system, which Ritchie and his colleagues were rewriting in a more portable and efficient way.

In 1978, Brian Kernighan and Ritchie published "The C Programming Language," also known as K&R C, which popularized C and provided a comprehensive introduction to its features. The early 1980s saw the standardization of C by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), resulting in ANSI C (C89), which ensured consistency across different platforms.

The 1990s introduced C99, which added features like new data types and variable-length arrays. The 2010s brought C11, enhancing the language with multi-threading support, followed by C18, a minor revision focused on fixing issues in C11.

Throughout its evolution, C has profoundly influenced many modern programming languages and remains widely used in system programming, embedded systems, and high-performance applications due to its efficiency and control over hardware. Its legacy continues to shape the programming landscape today.