Factsheet
Paradigm Multi-paradigm: imperative (procedural), structured
Designed by Dennis Ritchie
Developer ANSI X3J11 (ANSI C); ISO/IEC JTC 1 (Joint Technical Committee 1) / SC 22 (Subcommittee 22) / WG 14 (Working Group 14) (ISO C)
Paradigm Multi-paradigm: imperative (procedural), structured
Designed by Dennis Ritchie
Developer ANSI X3J11 (ANSI C); ISO/IEC JTC 1 (Joint Technical Committee 1) / SC 22 (Subcommittee 22) / WG 14 (Working Group 14) (ISO C)
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › C_(programming_language)
C (programming language) - Wikipedia
15 hours ago - C is an imperative procedural language, supporting structured programming, lexical variable scope, and recursion, with a static type system. It was designed to be compiled to provide low-level access to memory and language constructs that map efficiently to machine instructions, all with minimal ...
W3Schools
w3schools.com › c › c_intro.php
Introduction to C
Create Variables Format Specifiers Change Values Multiple Variables Variable Names Real-Life Examples C Data Types
Reddit
reddit.com › r/cprogramming › why just no use c ?
r/cprogramming on Reddit: Why just no use c ?
January 22, 2025 -
Since I’ve started exploring C, I’ve realized that many programming languages rely on libraries built using C “bindings.” I know C is fast and simple, so why don’t people just stick to using and improving C instead of creating new languages every couple of years?
Top answer 1 of 40
59
C has some serious shortcomings that make it impractical or uncomfortable to use for many tasks. I wouldn't want to do, for example, web development in C. As for improving C, that happens but extremely slowly. C is rather unique in that it is a foundational language for just about every computer on the planet from the microcontroller in your electric toothbrush to the largest supercomputers. There are tens or hundreds of compilers in daily use. Every change to the language upsets someone and takes years to get through the standardization process. This is not necessarily a bad thing, C should evolve very conservatively.
2 of 40
31
Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp. --Greenspun's tenth rule C is used a great deal, and has been for a long time. But to get it up to the level of convenience and rapid-prototyping capability of (say) Python, one would pretty much have to implement something like Python! (CPython, the reference implementation, is, in fact, written in C!) Python (mostly) doesn't segfault. It (mostly) doesn't leak memory. You can load new functions into the program while it's running. It's easy to accidentally segfault or leak memory or generally mess up a pointer and read or write memory where you didn't want to. That mostly doesn't happen in Python. Many things that have to be design patterns in C are built into the language. It has dynamic typing, iterators, hash tables, automatic array resizing, a garbage collecter, a large standard library. The stack trace almost always points you to exactly your problem, but in C, you might accidentally overwrite the information you needed to debug it! Compared to Python, C feels tedious. Of course, there are costs to all of that. Python seem slow and bloated in comparison. In practice, CPython projects get most of the best of both worlds, because the fast library code gets written in C, and the slow Python code just glues those libraries together. Still bloated though.
Nokia
nokia.com › bell-labs › about › dennis-m-ritchie › chist.html
The Development of the C Language
C came into being in the years 1969-1973, in parallel with the early development of the Unix operating system; the most creative period occurred during 1972. Another spate of changes peaked between 1977 and 1979, when portability of the Unix system was being demonstrated.
Cprogramming.com
cprogramming.com
Learn C and C++ Programming - Cprogramming.com
The best site for C and C++ programming. Popular, beginner-friendly C and C++ tutorials to help you become an expert!
HowStuffWorks
computer.howstuffworks.com › tech › computer software › programming
The Basics of C Programming | HowStuffWorks
March 8, 2023 - The C programming language is a popular and widely used programming language for creating computer programs.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/explainlikeimfive › eli5:what is the difference between c, c+, c++ and c#?
r/explainlikeimfive on Reddit: ELI5:What is the difference between C, C+, C++ and C#?
April 28, 2012 - C# is a C like language made by MS to try and suit their own needs and make writing applications for Windows and other MS products more easy.
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › c language › c-programming-language
C Programming Tutorial - GeeksforGeeks
C is a general-purpose mid-level programming language developed by Dennis M. Ritchie at Bell Laboratories in 1972. It was initially used for the development of UNIX operating system, but it later became popular for a wide range of applications.
Published October 13, 2025
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › C+
C+ - Wikipedia
October 23, 2025 - Canal+ (disambiguation), French company Groupe Canal+ and its subsidiaries all bearing the brand name · Faster-than-light travel, above the speed of light, c · C augmented triad, a chord made up of the notes C, E, and G#. Search for "c+" or "c-plus" on Wikipedia.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/c_programming › could someone explain the use of the asterisk * in c and how it is used?
r/C_Programming on Reddit: Could someone explain the use of the asterisk * in C and how it is used?
April 26, 2022 -
I am currently working on an assignment in C where we are required to make a stack by simply using pointers.
I know the line: int *ptr = &val; declares ptr to be a "pointer to"(which is my interpretation of what asterisk * means in C) the "address of" the integer variable val.
When I want to create a double pointer, or a pointer to a pointer, I do so like:
int **ptr_ptr = &ptr; By setting ptr_ptr to a "pointer to" the address of pointer ptr.
When we use the asterisk anywhere other than in a declaration, it is usually referred to as dereferencing that pointer (I think), and grabbing the value that the pointer actually points to. This goes against my intuition that an asterisk means "pointer to".
Could anybody explain the proper meaning of the asterisk in C? Is it just that it means different things depending on how it is used (i.e. in a declaration versus anywhere else)?
Thanks!
Top answer 1 of 5
36
Is it just that it means different things depending on how it is used Yes. Just like it can also mean multiplication. int* a = malloc(5 * sizeof(*a)); ^ ^ ^ Dereferencing "Pointer to" Multiplication
2 of 5
4
Does one ever multiply a pointer by some other value? How does the compiler differentiate a multiply from a dereference?
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Cunt
Cunt - Wikipedia
1 day ago - It is often used as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman in the United States, an unpleasant or objectionable person (regardless of gender) in the United Kingdom and Ireland, or a contemptible man in Australia and New Zealand.
Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › cpp › c-language
C docs - get started, tutorials, reference. | Microsoft Learn
C programming reference for users of Microsoft C/C++ and Visual Studio.
Amazon
amazon.com › Programming-Language-2nd-Brian-Kernighan › dp › 0131103628
Amazon.com: C Programming Language, 2nd Edition: 9780131103627: Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie: Books
Written by the developers of C, this new version helps readers keep up with the finalized ANSI standard for C while showing how to take advantage of C's rich set of operators, economy of expression, improved control flow, and data structures. The 2/E has been completely rewritten with additional examples and problem sets to clarify the implementation of difficult language constructs.
Cppreference
en.cppreference.com › w › c › language.html
C language - cppreference.com
This is a reference of the core C language constructs.
Reddit
reddit.com › r › C_Programming
C
March 27, 2008 - r/C_Programming: The subreddit for the C programming language
Reddit
reddit.com › r/nostupidquestions › why is "c*nt" considered offensive in america?
r/NoStupidQuestions on Reddit: Why is "C*nt" considered offensive in america?
August 17, 2024 -
As a european who learned english from speaking to and watching youtube videos of british and australian people online I always wondered why americans were so offended by a word that doesn't mean anything more "offensive" than calling someone a dick or an asshole. Especially considering how normalized the word is in australian or even scottish english.
Is there any particular reason for it?
Top answer 1 of 78
1603
It's intended almost exclusively in the US as a vulgar insult for women that makes direct reference to their genitalia. It's considered much worse than other common gendered insults like "bitch" or "whore" which some people find to be more vague or general. A lot of Americans are frankly baffled that it's commonly used and may even be a term of endearment in places like Australia or the UK.
2 of 78
326
European can mean a lot of countries and this a lot of languages. The German translation for Cunt is Fotze which is a derogatory term for vagina and also used as a misogynist insult for women.
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › C++
C++ - Wikipedia
1 month ago - C++ is a high-level, general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup. First released in 1985 as an extension of the C programming language, adding object-oriented (OOP) features, it has since expanded ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/programmerhumor › for some reason, nobody uses c--
r/ProgrammerHumor on Reddit: For some reason, nobody uses C--
January 23, 2022 - C-- is a C-like programming language.
NumPy
numpy.org › devdocs › reference › generated › numpy.c_.html
numpy.c_ — NumPy v2.5.dev0 Manual
Stack 1-D arrays as columns into a 2-D array.
Top answer 1 of 6
5
In this case, double means a variable of type double.
double* means a pointer to a double variable.
double** means a pointer to a pointer to a double variable.
In the case of the function you posted, it is used to create a sort of two-dimensional array of doubles. That is, a pointer to an array of double pointers, and each of those pointers points to an array of pointers.
2 of 6
4
Here's a more general answer: the spiral rule. For this particular example:
+-----------+
|+--------+ |
|| +---+ | |
|| ^ | | |
double** foo; | | |
^ |^ | | |
| |+------+ | |
| +---------+ |
+--------------+
Read this as "\"foo\" is a pointer to a pointer to a double."
In this case, each pointer is semantically an array, so this represents a 2D array of type double.