C may refer to any of the following:
- C describes the C: drive or the first hard drive on IBM-compatible computers.
- How to change drives in MS-DOS and Windows command line.
- The C programming language was developed by Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan at Bell Labs in 1972 from an almost unknown language named B. The first major software written in C was the Unix operating system, and for many years, C was considered to be inextricably linked with Unix. Pictured is The C Programming Language book by Kernighan and Ritchie, also sometimes called the bible in the computer field.
C program example
Below is an example of a C program that prints “Hello World!” after it’s been compiled. If you need a free C compiler, consider GCC.
#include <stdio.h>
int main() { printf(“Hello World!\n”); }
- With measurements, C is an abbreviation for Celsius. As the SI-derived symbol C is short for coulomb, when lowercase, c is of centi.
Related information
- Programming language history.
- How to create a computer program.
- What computer books would you recommend reading?
The C button on calculators is short for “clear” and clears all last numbers and totals. Calculators with this key may also have a CE button that only clears the last entered number. For example, if several numbers are entered before the number you’re entering now, you can press the CE button only to clear the current number without deleting any prior numbers. To clear everything, press the C button.
C is a keyboard key used with the keyboard shortcuts Alt+C, Command+C, and Ctrl+C.
Shorthand and chat slang for see or sea. For example, someone may say “ICU” in chat as a short method of typing “I see you.”
With Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet programs, “C” is the third column of a spreadsheet. To reference the first cell in the column, you’d use “C1.”
In Adobe Photoshop, C is a shortcut to select crop and slice tools. Holding down the Shift while pressing C cycles through all options.
In the phonetic alphabet, “C” is often pronounced as “Charlie.”
C is the third letter in the English alphabet. The letter “C” comes after “B” and is followed by the letter “D.” To create a capitalized “C,” press Shift and C at the same time.
On U.S. QWERTY keyboards, the “C” key is on the bottom row, to the right of the “X” and left of the “V” key. See our keyboard page for a visual example of all keyboard keys.
C++, Celsius, Computer abbreviations, GCC, High-level language, Letter, Procedural language, Programming languages, Programming terms, .SEA
If the “C” key is not working on the keyboard, see: Some keys on my computer keyboard aren’t working.
In ASCII, the uppercase “C” is “067” in decimal (01000011 in binary). The lowercase “c” is “099” in decimal (01100011 in binary).
Doing the Alt code Alt+67 creates a capital “C” and Alt+99 creates a lowercase “c” character.
The number 2 on a phone keypad is used to create an “C” on a US phone.
- See our C terms for a full listing of computer terms starting with “C.”
- Computer people and pioneers with “C” first names.
