Discover the Top 11 Fun Facts About C: Unraveling the Mysteries of the World's Most Iconic Programming Language

1. Alice and Light Speed

If Alice were to chase the White Rabbit at light speed, she might exclaim, "Curiouser and curiouser!", but alas, 'c' doesn't stand for that in scientific notation: Instead, it represents the speed of light in a vacuum, which whimsically dashes through space at a whopping 299,792,458 meters per second!
Source => brainly.in

2. C, K, and Q's Alphabet Adventures

Once upon a C, before Ks and Qs had their way: The Latin alphabet originally used C, K, and Q for the [k] sound, with K designated for A and Q for V; while C handled everything else, including the [g] sound. As languages evolved, K became the wallflower of the alphabet, and a dashing newcomer, G, took over for the [g] sound, leaving C, K, and Q to ponder their place in linguistic history.
Source => linguistics.stackexchange.com

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3. Celsius' Temperature Topsy-Turvy

Talk about being cold-blooded: Anders Celsius, the Swedish astronomer who created his famed temperature scale in 1742, initially set it with boiling water rudely freezing at 100 and freezing water hot under the collar at 0! But fear not, the French swooped in a year later, led by physicist Jean-Pierre Christin, who flipped the scale so that 0 degrees marked the freezing point, and 100 marked the boiling point of water - noble actions that nipped the potential uproar in the bud.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

4. Sound Speed's Super Powers

Have you ever considered how Superman might feel if he were underwater or made of steel? Well, the speed of sound can certainly relate: In air at 20°C, it zips along at 344 m s−1, while in water at the same temperature it cruises turbo at 1461 m s−1, and in steel, it is full-on Flash with 5000 m s−1. This sonic rollercoaster is governed by the equation c = √(E/ρ) and keeps adjusting its pace according to temperature, following the formula c = c0√(1 + t/273), where c0 is the speed of sound at 0°C, and t is the temperature in °C. Yowza!
Source => oxfordreference.com

5. Beethoven Meets WWII Victory

From Beethoven to Churchill, they really knew how to drop the beat and V-signs like it's 1940: During World War II, the opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the letter V in Morse code became symbols of victory and resistance, with Winston Churchill famously using the V hand gesture and the BBC launching a "V for Victory" campaign to boost Allied morale.
Source => popularbeethoven.com

6. Rayleigh Wave Speed Dating

Ever heard of speed dating for waves? They call it the Rayleigh wave singles mixer, where the swaying moves are slower, but the connections run deep: Rayleigh waves, a type of surface wave in elastic solids, have a lower speed (typically around 0.9β) compared to P and S waves, making them ideal for lightweight transducers in radar, television, and radio signal processing, especially for aircraft and space vehicles.
Source => sciencedirect.com

7. Secret Life of Copyright Symbols

Did you ever wonder if your favorite band's song had a secret double life? Maybe it moonlights as a rule-abiding citizen in the land of copyrights! Here's the scoop: In C programming, there are two copyright symbols - 'C in a circle' for most types of works, and 'P in a circle' exclusively for sound recordings, aka phonorecords, phonograms, or phonographic copyright, which starts from the date of publication and represents a separate right. Now that's what we call harmoniously serious business!
Source => copyrightservice.co.uk

8. Email's Carbon Copy Wizardry

Before Dumbledore could say "expecto patronum," folks in the muggle world had a magical way to duplicate their parchment scrolls: Carbon paper – a relic we honor every time we send an email! Wondering why?: CC and BCC in emails actually originate from the days of traditional letter writing, when carbon paper was placed between sheets to create copies. CC stands for carbon copy, which allows you to send an email copy to multiple recipients, while BCC, the secretive blind carbon copy, does the same, but hides the recipients from each other. Clearly, email is just a modern-day Owl Post!
Source => campaignmonitor.com

9. Roman Numerals' Century Hero

You may not be able to count on the Romans for tech support or trendy fashion advice, but they sure knew how to keep it one hundred with Roman numerals: 'C' in Roman numerals isn't just any stroll down the number line, it proudly stands for 100 and plays a starring role in many numeral variations involving the sought-after century mark. Not to be mistaken for Charles or chicken soup, this industrious letter is found gallantly holding the fort in numerals such as XC (90) and CC (200), forever etched in capital form to assert its importance.
Source => byjus.com

10. C's Palatal Identity Crisis

Does the letter 'C' have identity issues, or is it just a whimsical, free-spirited party phoneme? Little did we know, it has a palatal secret: In the International Phonetic Alphabet, 'C' represents the voiceless palatal plosive or stop, a rare consonantal sound with its tongue raised to the hard palate, while many languages tend to use it for a voiceless postalveolar affricate. Confusing, huh?
Source => en.wikipedia.org

11. C++ Language Evolution

You know what they say: if at first you don't C, then C++, C++ again! Bjarne Stroustrup, the mad genius of programming languages, went ahead and added two whole plus signs to put his own spin on the classic C: thus, C++ was born, setting the stage for countless tech innovations, powerhouse video games, and an army of programmers typing furiously away at their keyboards.
Source => en.wikipedia.org