Each and every language needs a compiler to compile (or else we can say decoder) it to machine understandable language (binary executable code).
Let us assume a group of people started working to create a compiler for C and a other group of people somewhere else in the world started developing a compiler for C then depending on their requirement both of them may create some different kind of function prototypes, then code created for one compiler may not run (or compile) on the other compiler.
To diminish such type of errors, in 1983 ANSI- American Nationals Standard has started defining a standard for C. The standard was approved in 1989 and adopted by ISO in 1990 and it was called as C89.
“The standard specifies the syntax and semantics of programs written in the C programming
Language”
The C before the standardization was known as K&RC.
From then standard is being updated and are published. Thus we can say that C language has grown compared to the language at the time of its birth.
Anyone can access C standards from ANSI or ISO website’s web-store by mentioning the name of the standard at a particular cost. Older versions may not be available.
Standard
Official Name
C89
ANSI/ISO 9989:1990
C99
ISO/IEC 9899:1999
C11
ISO/IEC 9899:2011
After a standard is published a technical corrigenda is published to rectify errors in the standard (if any).
As C is a programming language, practicing the programs while learning is a very good habit, which turns out into efficient learning. Thus before entering into course let’s take a quick guide on famous editors and compilers available to create, edit and decode C program.
EDITOR:
Editor is the one in which we write or edit the C code. Ex: Notepad, Notepad++ , vim, gedit, edit plus etc.
COMPILER:
A compiler is a program that reads a program written in one language (called the source language) and translates it into an equivalent program in machine level language
The compiler also reports to its user the presence of errors in the source program so that user can re-edit the source program and compile it once again.
Some examples of C compilers are GCC, Clang, Intel C. Famous and most widely used Compiler is GCC . And we also have Turbo C, Borland C IDE’s with inbuilt compiler.
Okay !!! Now as we came to know about editor and compiler, let’s go further into the topic. There are software’s called IDE available in market.
But what is an IDE?
IDE is Integrated Development Environment – combination of editor, compiler, debugger, libraries, flash utilities etc. Some IDE’s also have interpreter.
