View source for Turbo C

{{short description|Discontinued C IDE and compiler}}
{{Technical reasons|Turbo C#|the C# IDE|Turbo C Sharp}}
{{Infobox Software
| name                   = Borland Turbo C
| developer              = [[Borland]]
| released               = {{Start date and age|1987}}
| operating system       = [[Microsoft Windows]], [[MS-DOS]]
| replaced_by            = [[Turbo C++]]<br />[[Borland C++]]
| genre                  = [[Integrated development environment|IDE]]
| license                = [[Proprietary software]]
}}
[[File:Borland Turbo C 1.5 for PC-98 floppy disk.jpg|thumb|Installation disk of Turbo C 1.5]]
'''Turbo C''' is a discontinued [[integrated development environment]] (IDE) and [[compiler]] for the [[C (programming language)|C programming language]] from [[Borland]]. First introduced in 1987, it was noted for its integrated development environment, small size, fast compile speed, comprehensive manuals and low price.

In May 1990, Borland replaced Turbo C with [[Turbo C++]]. In 2006, Borland reintroduced the '''Turbo''' [[moniker]].

==Early history==
In the early 1980s, Borland enjoyed considerable success with their [[Turbo Pascal]] product and it became a popular choice when developing applications for the PC. Borland followed up that success by releasing [[Turbo Prolog]] (in 1986), and in 1987, [[Turbo Basic]] and Turbo C. Turbo C has similar properties to Turbo Pascal: an [[integrated development environment]], a fast compiler (though not near the speed of Turbo Pascal),<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hague|first1=James|title=A Personal History of Compilation Speed, Part 2|url=http://prog21.dadgum.com/47.html|website=Programming in the 21st Century|access-date=2016-06-05}}</ref> a good editor, and a competitive price.

Turbo C competed with other professional programming tools, such as [[Microsoft C]], [[Watcom C/C++|Watcom C]],{{r|byte198902}} and [[Lattice C]], while Turbo Pascal was successful with hobbyists and schools as well as professional programmers.

==Version history==
'''Version 1.0''' (May 13, 1987) offered the first integrated development environment for C on [[IBM PC]]s. Like many Borland products of the time, the software was bought from another company (in this case '''Wizard C compiler''' by Bob Jervis<ref>[https://groups.google.com/d/msg/borland.public.delphi.non-technical/QMdz7BbHDVg/T8bGnRFje3cJ Borland Backgrounder], 2/8/99</ref>), and branded with the "Turbo" name. It ran in {{nowrap|384 kB}} of memory. It allowed [[inline assembly]] with full access to C symbolic names and structures, supported all memory models, and offered optimizations for speed, size, [[constant folding]], and jump elimination.<ref name="foldoc turboc">{{cite web|url=http://foldoc.org/Turbo+C |title=Computing Dictionary |website=Foldoc.org |access-date=2022-09-26}}</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Tc15startup.png|thumb|Turbo C 1.5 startup screen.]] -->
'''Version 1.5''' (January 1988) was an incremental improvement over version 1.0. It included more sample programs, improved manuals and bug fixes. It was shipped on five 360 KB [[diskette]]s of uncompressed files, and came with sample C programs, including a stripped down spreadsheet called [[mcalc]]. This version introduced the <conio.h> header file (which provided fast, PC-specific console I/O routines).

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Tc20startup.png|thumb|Turbo C 2.0 startup screen.]] -->
'''Version 2.0''' (late 1988) featured the first "blue screen" version, which would be typical of all future Borland releases for [[MS-DOS]]. It was also available bundled with [[Turbo Assembler]] and [[Turbo Debugger]]. Turbo C 2.0 was also released (in [[Germany]] only) for the [[Atari ST]]; the program was not maintained by Borland, but sold and renamed PureC. This version introduced the <graphics.h> header file, which provided the [[Borland Graphics Interface]] already included in [[Turbo Pascal]]. 

With the release of [[Turbo C++]] 1.0 (in 1990), the two products were folded into one and the name "Turbo C" was discontinued. The C++ compiler was developed under contract by a company in San Diego, and was one of the first "true" compilers for C++ (until then, it was common to use pre-compilers that generated C code, ref. [[Cfront]]).

== Freeware release ==
In 2006,{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Borland's successor, [[Embarcadero Technologies]], re-released Turbo C and the MS-DOS versions of the Turbo C++ compilers as [[freeware]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Tim DelChiaro |url=http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/41337 |title=Free Borland C++ 5.5 Compiler |website=Edn.embarcadero.com |date=2011-03-28 |access-date=2019-09-11 |archive-date=2015-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119063546/http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/41337 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=David Intersimone |url=http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20841 |title=Antique Software: Turbo C version 2.01 |website=Edn.embarcadero.com |date=2000-02-15 |orig-year=1989-05-11 |access-date=2019-09-11 |archive-date=2012-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722094421/http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/20841 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=David Intersimone |url=http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/21751 |title=Antique Software: Turbo C++ version 1.01 |website=Edn.embarcadero.com |date=2000-04-14|orig-year=1991-02-28|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref>

==Reception==
''[[BYTE]]'' in January 1989 listed Turbo C and Turbo Pascal as among the "Distinction" winners of the BYTE Awards. Citing their user interface and continued emphasis on speed, the magazine stated that "for rapid prototyping there's not much better".<ref name="byte198901">{{Cite magazine |date=January 1989 |title=The BYTE Awards |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1989-01/1989_01_BYTE_14-01_PC_Communications_and_Annual_Awards_and_Digitizing_Tablets#page/n371/mode/2up |magazine=BYTE |page=327}}</ref> In a February 1989 overview of optimizing C compilers, ''BYTE'' said that Turbo C Professional 2.0 "is no exception" to the company's "well-deserved reputation for pricing good software". The magazine reported that Turbo C "compiles faster—''much'' faster—than any other compiler we reviewed", and praised the addition of Turbo Debugger ("the best source debugger"). ''BYTE'' concluded that Turbo C did not produce the fastest or smallest executable, "but it's definitely the one that is most fun to use".<ref name="byte198902">{{Cite magazine |last=Apiki |first=Steven |last2=Udell |first2=Jon |date=February 1989 |title=Smoothing Out C |url=https://archive.org/details/eu_BYTE-1989-02_OCR/page/n225/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2024-10-08 |magazine=BYTE |pages=170-186}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Turbo Assembler]]
* [[Turbo Debugger]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080516014021/http://community.borland.com/museum/ borland.com - Borland Developer Network Museum]
* [http://dn.codegear.com/article/21751 codegear.com - Turbo C++ version 1.01] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625045526/http://dn.codegear.com/article/21751 |date=2008-06-25 }}
* [http://cc.embarcadero.com/item/25636 borland.com - Turbo C 2.01 Free download from EDN]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111230074611/http://www.computermuseum-muenchen.de/ computermuseum-muenchen.de - Computer Museum in Munich with a large collection of software, including Turbo C 1.0 ff]
{{Integrated development environments}}

{{CProLang}}
[[Category:1987 software]]
[[Category:Borland software]]
[[Category:C (programming language) compilers]]
[[Category:DOS software]]