15+ Advantages And Disadvantages Of C Language (A Detailed Explanation)

There's no iota of doubt in the fact that high-level languages like Python, R, and Java are wearing the crown of being the most popular, widely used, highly scalable programming languages since the past decade. But this fact doesn't undermine the power, grip, and sway of one of the oldest programming languages, C- that forms the basis and core of almost every machine, database, and compiler in the market.

What Is C Language?

It is a general-purpose, procedural, middle-level language (as it supports both low-level and high-level functionalities). Originally developed by Dennis M. Ritchie to foster the UNIX operating system at Bell Labs, C language was initially first carried out on the DEC PDP-11 PC in the year 1972.

The programs that make up the operating system are what C programming was initially used for. The code produced in C is nearly as fast as the code written in assembly language, which was adopted as a system development language.

Some examples of the use of C language are- Operating Systems (UNIX Operating system and all UNIX applications), Language Compilers (C Compiler), Assemblers, Text Editors, Print Spoolers, Network Drivers, Modern Programs, Databases, Language Interpreters, and Utilities.

Also read- History Of C Language: Basics, Timeline, Benefits & More!

To discover the wide scope of this structured programming language and know how powerful it really is, let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of C language.

What Are The Advantages Of C Language?

C is a very popular language throughout the world and is ideal for a programmer to learn at the beginning of their career. There is little vocabulary to learn, the syntax is simple, and the modular structure of the language is easier to learn.

1. It is easy to understand

One of the main reasons why people choose C over other programming languages is its simplicity. C is a highly portable language as programs coded in it are far more fast and efficient. This makes learning C easier than any other programming language. You can easily grasp the concepts behind C because there aren't many keywords or symbols involved. In addition, you don't need to be an expert in computer science to get started with C programming. All you have to do is take a few tutorials/ courses online and start writing your own codes. Also, there are system-generated functions and user-defined functions in C Language.

2. Presence of many Libraries

1. Lack of Object Orientation

C is a very vast and powerful language and simply follows the procedural programming approach. It doesn't extend its support to the concept of OOPs (Inheritance, Polymorphism, Encapsulation, Abstraction, Data Hiding). Here, you can't create a class with multiple inheritances like Java, Python, or C++. In OOP languages like Java, we can inherit methods from the parent class. But there is nothing similar in the C language. We cannot create subclasses for our classes. So it makes it difficult to reuse existing codes.

2. Inefficient Memory Management

In C language, you don't need any memory management techniques because it automatically manages all allocated resources for you. But if you want to use dynamic allocation, then you should allocate dynamically by malloc function. If you do this manually, then you will get a segmentation fault error. So, we must always remember Memory Management Techniques.

3. No Garbage Collection

Garbage collection is a feature that automatically reclaims memory from objects no longer needed by an application or library. It can be used for both automatic and manual garbage collection. Automatic garbage collection occurs when there is insufficient free space on the heap to allocate new objects; this may occur because all available physical RAM was allocated to other processes running on the computer system. Manual garbage collection involves explicitly freeing unused blocks of memory with calls to functions such as malloc.

But in C/C++ languages, there's no such feature of garbage collection as the culture of these languages is to leave storage management to the developer or programmer. Hence, it would be technically tedious and harsh on pockets to implement a precise garbage collector for C / C++.

4. Run-time checking

In the C programming language, the errors are not detected after each line of code. The compiler shows all the errors in the code only during the run-time of the whole which makes the checking of code (debugging) exceptionally complex in enormous projects. 

Also, the compiler doesn't check whether a variable was declared before its use. The programmer must remember this rule while writing programs. 

5. Concept of namespace is not present in C

C doesn't carry out the idea of namespaces. A namespace is organized as a chain of commands to permit the reuse of names in various settings. Without namespaces, we can't pronounce two factors of a similar name. 

However, C programming is devoid of this feature, and consequently, you can't characterize a variable with the same name in C. 

6. Absence of Exception Handling 

Special case Handling is perhaps the main element of programming dialects. While compiling the code, different errors and bugs can happen. Exception Handling permits you to identify the bugs and rectify them. Be that as it may, C doesn't show this significant feature.

7. Lacks Constructor and Destructor

C doesn't have any object-oriented functionalities, and hence, it doesn't have Constructor and Destructor features. So, in C Language, you need to carry out the manual construction and/or destruction of the variable, either by utilizing a function or by different means.

With this, we conclude the guide on the Advantages and Disadvantages of C language, and we hope by now you will have developed a sound understanding of the various pros and cons of C.

Happy Learning!

You may be interested in reading:

1. Hello World Program In C | How To Write, Compile & Run (+Examples)
2. Operators In C Programming: Explained With Examples
3. Identifiers In C | Types, Rules For Definition, & More (+Examples)
4. 5 Types Of Literals In C & More Explained With Examples!
5. Tokens In C | A Complete Guide To 7 Token Types (With Examples)