Important Points of C Language
The C Language is developed for creating system applications, that directly interact with the hardware devices such as drivers, kernels, etc. C Language programming is considered as the base for other programming languages, that is why it is known as mother language.
C Language can be defined in the following ways:
C as a mother language
C language is considered as the mother language of all the modern languages because most of the compilers, JVMs, Kernels, etc. are written in C language and most of the languages follow C syntax e.g. C++, Java, etc. It provides core concepts like arrays, functions, file handling, etc. that are being used in many languages like C++, Java, C#, etc.
C as a system programming language
A system programming language is used to create system software. C language is a system programming language because it can be used to do low-level programming (e.g. driver and kernel). It is generally used to create hardware drivers, OS, kernels, etc. For example, the Linux kernel is written in C. It cannot be used in internet programming like java, .net, Php, etc.
C as a procedural language
A procedure is known as function, method, routine, subroutine, etc. A procedural language specifies a series of steps or procedures for the program to solve the problem. A procedural language breaks the program into functions, data structures, etc. C is a procedural language. In C, variables and function prototypes must be declared before being used.
C as a structured programming language
A structured programming language is a subset of procedural language. Structure means to break a program into parts or blocks so that it may be easy to understand. In C language, we break the program into parts using functions. It makes the program easier to understand and modify.
C as a middle-level programming language
C is considered as a middle-level language because it supports the feature of both low-level and high-level language.
Features of C Language
C is a widely used language. It provides a lot of features that are given below.
- Simple
- Mid-level programming language
- structured programming language
- Rich Library
- Memory Management
- Fast Speed
- Pointers
- Recursion
Simple
C Language is a simple language in the sense that it provides a structured approach i.e. breaks the problem into parts, rich set of library functions, data types, etc.
Mid-level programming language
C Language is also used to do low-level programming. It is used to develop system applications such as the kernel, driver, etc. It also supports the feature of a high-level language. That is why it is known as mid-level language.
Structured programming language
C Language is a structured programming language in the sense that we can break the program into parts using functions. So, it is easy to understand and modify.
Rich Library
C Language provides a lot of inbuilt functions that make the development fast.
Memory Managemen
It supports the feature of dynamic memory allocation. In C language, we can allocate memory dynamically using malloc() and calloc() function and we can free the allocated memory at any time by calling the free() function.
Speed
The compilation and execution time of C Language is fast.
Pointer
C Language provides the feature of pointers. We can directly interact with the memory by using the pointers. We can use pointers for memory, structures, functions, array, etc.
Recursion
In c language, we can call the function within the function. It provides code reusability for every function.
