KIM COMPUTER

C Language Basics

The C Language is a procedural, general-purpose programming language developed in the 1970s. It was primarily designed for developing the Unix operating system but remains the foundational language for system programming, embedded systems, and high-performance computing.

1. Key Characteristics of C

Feature Description
Low-Level Capabilities Provides direct access to memory and hardware (registers), making it ideal for embedded and system programming.
High Performance Being close to machine code, compiled C programs execute extremely fast.
Portability C code can be compiled and run on virtually any platform (Windows, Linux, microcontrollers, etc.) that has a C compiler.
Static Typing Variables must be explicitly declared with a data type before use. (e.g., int count;, char status;)

2. Basic Structure and Compilation

① Basic Structure

All C programs start execution from the main function and include necessary header files for functionality.

#include <stdio.h> // Includes the standard input/output library

int main() {
    // Area where the code executes
    printf("Hello, C Language!"); // Prints to the console
    return 0;
}

② Compilation Process

Unlike interpreted languages like Python, C requires a compiler to translate the source code into machine code before it can be run.

  1. Write Source Code (.c)
  2. Compiler processes the code
  3. Executable File (.exe or binary) is generated
  4. Execute the generated file directly

3. Where C is Used