Learn in the textbookTypes of Representative Programming Languages
DefinitionC is a general-purpose procedural programming language that can also express low-level work such as manipulating memory directly.
ExplanationProcedural means writing a program as a sequence of instructions laid out step by step, and C is the classic example. It was born at Bell Labs in the United States in the early 1970s to build UNIX, and it is still used for operating systems and embedded software today. Its source code is turned into machine code by a compiler (a program that translates the whole source in one go) before it runs, which makes it fast.
AnalogyIt is like a machine tool that lets you cut even the tiniest parts yourself: you can build almost anything, but you have to handle it with care.
Memory hookIts predecessor was called B, so the next letter of the alphabet gave it its name.