Key Features of C Programming Language: A Comprehensive Guide
Table of Content:
It is a robust language with a rich set of built-in functions and operators that can be used to write any complex program. The C compiler combines the capabilities of an assembly language with features of a high-level language. Programs Written in C are efficient and fast. This is due to its variety of data type and powerful operators. It is many time faster than BASIC. C is highly portable this means that programs once were written can be run on another machine with little or no modification. Another important feature of C program is its ability to extend itself. A C program is basically a collection of functions that are supported by C library. We can also create our own function and add it to C library. C language is the most widely used language in operating systems and embedded system development today.
C is the widely used language. It provides a lot of features that are given below.
- Simple
- Machine Independent or Portable
- Mid-level programming language
- structured programming language
- Rich Library
- Memory Management
- Fast Speed
- Pointers
- Recursion
- Extensible
1) Simple
C is a simple language in the sense that it provides structured approach (to break the problem into parts), rich set of library functions, data types etc.
2) Machine Independent or Portable
Unlike assembly language, c programs can be executed on many machines with a little bit or no change. But it is not platform-independent.
3) Mid-level programming language
C is also used to do low-level programming. It is used to develop system applications such as kernel, driver etc. It also supports the feature of high level language. That is why it is known as mid-level language.
4) Structured programming language
C 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.
5) Rich Library
C provides a lot of inbuilt functions that make the development fast.
6) Memory Management
It supports the feature of dynamic memory allocation. In C language, we can free the allocated memory at any time by calling the free() function.
7) Speed
The compilation and execution time of C language is fast.
8) Pointer
C 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.
9) Recursion
In c, we can call the function within the function. It provides code reusability for every function.
10) Extensible
C language is extensible because it can easily adopt new features.