Let’s start Introduction and Features of C Language
Overview of C Language
C is a programming language developed at AT & T’s Bell Laboratories of the USA in the 1970s. it was designed and developed by Dennis M.Ritchie. C seems so popular because it is reliable, simple, and easy to use. C stands in between high-level language and low-level language. That is why it is often called a Middle-level language. it is designed to have both: relatively good programming efficiency and relatively good machine efficiency.
Features of C Language
we briefly list some of C’s characteristics that define the language and also have lead to its popularity as a programming language. we will be studying many of these aspects throughout the course. some of the features of C are:
Portability
one of the reasons for C’s popularity is its portability. we can easily transform a program written in C from one computer to another with few or no changes and compile it with an appropriate compiler.
Faster and Efficient
C is desirable because it is faster and more efficient than the comparable program in most other high-level languages. For e.g. a program to increment a variable from 0 to 1000 takes about 45 seconds in BASIC while it takes 1 second in C
Supports Structured Programming
it is well suited for structured programming that means the problem might be solved in terms of function modules or blocks. The modular structure makes the program debugging, testing, and maintenance easier.
Extendibility
Another property of C is extensibility. C is basically a collection of functions that are supported by the C library. We can continuously and (or extend) our functions to C.
Flexible
C is a flexible language. it permits us to write any complex programs with the help of its rich set of in-built functions and operators. In addition, it permits the use of low-level language. Hence, it is also called middle-level language and therefore it is well suited for both system and application software developemnt.
Advantage of C Language
- it is more efficient than unstructured code because of teh minimized branching of the code
- correction of errors (debugging) in a program is easy
- adding a new feature is easier and faster
- maintenance the C code is easy due to teh readability of the code
- it is easy to interact with hardware
- it is easy to learn
- the program code is secured
- it is compact and efficient to use
Disadvantage of C Language
- The program takes more time to design and implement the software
- C coding techniques sometimes result in repeating code in a program
- C coding becomes less efficient if the sub-routines called frequently there by killing the time
- C does not have efficient garbage collection i.e. problem regarding memory clearnece
- it doesn’t contain runtime checking
- there is no strict type checking
- as the program extends, it is very difficult to fix the bugs
