Step-by-Step Complete Guide to C Language

C is a programming language that is both versatile and popular, allowing it to be used in a vast array of applications and technologies. It can, for example, be used to write the code for operating systems, much more complex programs and everything in between. Its simplicity and flexibility are largely because it can function independently of machines, which has lent itself to becoming one of the foundational programming languages in the industry.

C is a procedural programming language initially developed by Dennis Ritchie in the year 1972 at Bell Laboratories of AT&T Labs. It was mainly developed as a system programming language to write the UNIX operating system.

 In fact, learning C Tutorial could help you develop skills that will benefit you throughout your professional career by simplifying the process of learning additional programming languages in the future.

Features of C Language

C is the widely used language. It provides many features that are given below.

1. Simple
2. Machine Independent or Portable
3. Mid-level programming language
4. structured programming language
5. Rich Library
6. Memory Management
7. Fast Speed
8. Pointers
9. Recursion
10. Extensible

1) Simple

C is a simple language in the sense that it provides a structured approach (to break the problem into parts), the rich set of library functions, data types, etc.

2) Machine Independent or Portable

Unlike assembly language, c programs can be executed on different machines with some machine specific changes. Therefore, C is a machine independent language.

3) Mid-level programming language

Although, C is intended to do low-level programming. It is used to develop system applications such as kernel, driver, etc. It also supports the features of a 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. Functions also provide code reusability.

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 since there are lesser inbuilt functions and hence the lesser overhead.

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. Recursion enables us to use the approach of backtracking.

10) Extensible

C language is extensible because it can easily adopt new features.

Also Read: C Tutorials: DataTypes in C Language

Why Should We Learn C?

Many later languages have borrowed syntax/features directly or indirectly from the C language. Like syntax of Java, PHP, JavaScript, and many other languages are mainly based on the C language. C++ is nearly a superset of C language (Only a few programs may compile in C, but not in C++).

So,  if a person learns C programming first, it will help him to learn any modern programming language as well. As learning C help to understand a lot of the underlying architecture of the operating system. Like pointers, working with memory locations, etc.

How to install C

There are many compilers available for c and c++. You need to download any one. Here, we are going to use Turbo C++. It will work for both C and C++. To install the Turbo C software, you need to follow following steps.

1. Download Turbo C++
2. Create turboc directory inside c drive and extract the tc3.zip inside c:\turboc
3. Double click on install.exe file
4. Click on the tc application file located inside c:\TC\BIN to write the c program

1) Download Turbo C++ software

You can download turbo c++ from many sites. download Turbo c++

2) Create turboc directory in c drive and extract the tc3.zip

Now, you need to create a new directory turboc inside the c: drive. Now extract the tc3.zip file in c:\truboc directory.

3) Double click on the install.exe file and follow steps

Now, click on the install icon located inside the c:\turboc

Also Read: C Tutorials: Control Statements and its Types

First C Program

Before starting the abcd of C language, you need to learn how to write, compile and run the first c program.

To write the first c program, open the C console and write the following code:

1. #include <stdio.h>    
2. int main(){    
3. printf("Hello C Language");    
4. return 0;   
5. }  

#include <stdio.h> includes the standard input output library functions. The printf() function is defined in stdio.h .

int main() The main() function is the entry point of every program in c language.

Learning C has a lot of benefits, After that, you can prepare for C language tutorial that can help you gain the job-ready skills you need to get started in the exciting field of programming.