Virtues and Challenges
Get introduced to the benefits and limitations of coding in C!
Like every language, C works well in many situations, but it also has its limitations.
The primary virtues and challenges of using C have been described in the table below.
Virtues | Challenges |
---|---|
Fast. (it’s a compiled language and so is close to the machine hardware). | The language is small (but there are many APIs). |
Portable. (you can compile your program to run on just about any hardware platform out there). | It’s easy to get into trouble, e.g., with direct memory access & pointers. |
The language is small (unlike C++ for example). | There is a compile — test (crash) — debug cycle for each piece of code. |
Mature (a long history and lots of resources and experience available). | You must manage memory yourself. |
There are many tools for making programming easier. (e.g., IDEs like Xcode) | It does not support Object-Oriented Programming. |
You have direct access to memory. | Sometimes code is more verbose than in high-level scripting languages like Python, R, etc. |
You have access to low-level system features if needed. | There is no concept of runtime checking. |
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