Starting Point

I am not going to explain how and where it started. I am not going to say that it is the succesor of the language B. There are enough sources on the internet that explains how C became C. I want to skip that part. I want to start with the question; Why C?

Why C?

• C is a small language. C is one of the most powerful languages. C is the combination of the low level power of machine language with the sophisticated feel of a high level language.

• C is a small language. C does not have embedded input/output instructions or complicated interrupt handlers as C uses library functions for all of these.

• C is very portable. Because C is so small you can use it on virtually any machine. An example is Hisoft C on the ZX-Spectrum 48k.

There are more reasons why you want to choose for C, but that does not bring you one bit closer to your first in C written program.

C for yourself

As a programming language, C is rather like Pascal or Fortran. Values are stored in variables.Programs are structured by defining and calling functions. Program flow is controlled using loops, if statements and function calls. Input and output can be directed to the terminal or to files. Related data can be stored together in arrays or structures.

For newcomers C can be tough to learn because it's concept of pointers. Many of the extra facilities which it offers can lead to extra types of programming error. You will have to learn to deal with these to successfully make the transition to being a C programmer.

Ansi C

These pages will cover, as much as possible, the Ansi C standard. I encourage the real Atari C addicts to controle and edit these pages to show were Atari C differs from Ansi C.

Back to Atari_ST_C_for_newbies