Language Characteristics Characteristics of C

Language Characteristics

Characteristics of C

Some of the important characteristics of C are as follows:

1. Structured programming facilities
2. Confirming to the ALGOL traditions
3. Short circuit evaluation – usage of only one operand if the result can be determined with it alone
4. Static typing system for avoiding unintended operations
5. Value passed parameters with relevance to pointer value passing
6. Heterogeneous data combination & manipulation
7. Reserved keywords and free-format source text
8. Larger number of compound operators, such as +=, ++
9. Huge variable hiding capacity, though function definitions being non-nestable
10. Character – integer usage similar to assembly language
11. Low-level access to computer memory via machine addresses and typed pointers
12. Function pointers allow rudimentary forms of closures & polymorphic runtime
13. Pointer arithmetic defined Array indexing (secondary notion)
14. Standardized processor for defining macros, including source code files & conditional compilations
15. Complex Input/Output and mathematical functions with consistent delegation to library routines
16. Syntax same as “B” (C’s predecessor) but different from ALGOL e.g.: { ... } replaced begin ... end, && and || replaced and & or, which
17. While B used & and | in both meanings, C made them syntactically distinct from the bit-wise operators
18. Similarities to Fortran e.g: the equal- sign for assignment (copying) & two consecutive equal-signs to test for equality (compare to EQ) or the equal-sign in BASIC)