C (/ˈsiː/, as in the letter c) is a general-purpose, imperative
computer programming language, supporting structured
programming, lexical variable scope and recursion, while
a static type system prevents many unintended operations.
By design, C provides constructs that map efficiently to
typical machine instructions, and therefore it has found
lasting use in applications that had formerly been coded
in assembly language, including operating systems, as
well as various application software for computers ranging
from supercomputers to embedded systems.
1