Hardware platforms for teaching C, to engineering technology students

Abstract

The c programming language is fast becoming the ' language of choice for teaching engineering technology students. To the beginning engineering technology student C is a language that relates directly to the operating system of many UNIX based hardware components. C language has replaced the study of assembly language in many programs.This paper is not written to detail the many virtues of the C language. It's purpose is to examine how the C language can be taught using the different hardware platforms that are presently available in current technology programs. It is easy to recognize the need for a new language, however, it is often difficult to implement a new language if current hardware does not support the language.The cost of new equipment should not be a factor in adding . C language to an engineering technology program. Since C is a highly portable language it is generally possible to adapt current hardware to teaching C with only a few limitations., , C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE:The C programming language is fast becoming the language of choice for teaching engineering students. C is a useful language. C is F$: : : &xpose language. It can be a real tool for writing programs in a concise and efficient manner. More important to the beginning engineering technology student, C is a language that relates direct1 to the operating system of many UNIX based Lardware components.Many computer users closely link the C programming language with the UNIX o erating system. This link is natural as C and d X were both developed at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. Dennis Ritchie developed C while working on the LJNIX operating system with Ken Thompson at Bell Labs. The name C was a step rogression from Ken Thompson's B language. %me at Bell Labs even speak of the " A lan uage as an early machine language which was ''X real beast" used in first generation computers. Early versions of UNIX were developed for "real programmers" and were not user friendly. The development of C was an attempt to allow workin or ordinary programmers to have a useful qanguage tool to use with the UNIX operating system.Maurice Wal wort h P urd u e U n iver si t y Many writers go i n t o r t detail describing the development of the rogrammin language. Many preplanned attriEutes and Eatures are given as developmental history. However, most people who know Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson feel that C evolved as a workin tool and that very little of C was a precise plan. !&any "urban legends" about C and UNIX are taken as truth and Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Thompson are not in the business of combating these stories; seeming instead to enjoy them.

Innovation for the course of C language to embedded platform

“…It's a bridge for the students to realize the power and practicality of C language and to exercise the programm ing ability (7). Therefore, the experiment board should have plenty of practical functions to form various solutions.…”