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INTRODUCTION TO C
C is a
1. High level / middle level programming language.
2. It is a compiler based programming language.
What is a program?
Set of instructions is called program.
What is a software?
Set of programs is called software.
Basically we are having two type of software.
1. System software
Eg: o.s, device drivers, translators
2. Application software
Eg: WhatsApp, fb, phone pay,...
What is a language?
Generally, the languages are used to communicate with others. For example the human languages
like Telugu / English / Hindi /Marathi etc are used to communicate with humans. By using these
human languages we can’t communicate with machines. To communicate with these machines we
have to create the programs [software] by using computer programming languages like C / C++ / Java
/ Python / .Net etc
. Basically the computer languages divided into 3 types.
1. Machine language: Created with binary code. Eg: 1000111
2. Low level languages/ Assembly languages:
Created with English like shortcuts called MNEMONICS.
Eg: gd mrg, add, sub
3. High level languages: Created with simple English. Hence they are easy to understand.
Eg: good morning, subject, address,...
C is having both low level and high level features. Hence it is also called middle level language.
C high level feature are used to develop application software and low level features used to develop
system software. Hence c is called it is a multi-purpose programming language.
What is a translator?
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Always the user [ programmer ] given instructions are in English, which is called source code. But the
machines are not able to understand this English source code. We have to convert into binary code
[ machine language ]. For this we are using the translators like
1. Compiler
2. Interpreter
3. Assembler
Compiler and interpreter both used to convert high level programs to machine language.
Compiler converts the total program into binary code at once by leaving error lines.
Interpreter converts line by line. i.e. when an error is occurred the interpreter stop the translation
until that error is solved.
Assembler used to convert low level programs to machine language. Assembler working style is
similar to compiler.
In c we are using compiler, it is called compiler based programming language.
In java / .net / py we are using both compiler and interpreter. Hence they are called compiler based
interpreted languages.
