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C vs Java

Priya Pedamkar
Article byPriya Pedamkar

C vs Java

Difference Between C vs Java

C: Almost all of us know who Dennis M. Ritchie is. Yes, he developed C between 1969 and 1973 at Bell Labs, and it was used to re-implement the UNIX operating systems. Do you know the project name where C was developed? It’s Multics.

 

 

Java: James Gosling is the developer of Java. It was developed at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a component of Sun Microsystems. Initially, it was called Oak after an Oak tree outside Gosling’s office. Then it was changed to Green, and finally, it was renamed Java.

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Head-to-Head Comparison Between C vs Java (Infographics)

Below are the top 13 comparisons between C vs Java:

C vs Java Infographics

Key Differences Between C vs Java

The key difference between C vs Java is explained in the below-mentioned points:

  • C and Java’s main key difference is the programming paradigm that tells us that C is procedure-oriented and Java is data-oriented.
  • C does not support the OOPs concept, whereas its counterpart supports OOPs. Thus Java is suited when one has to relate things according to the real world.
  • Memory management is also essential because Java does not allow access to any memory it internally manages. Thus it is easy to focus on developing the business logic.
  • Exception handling is one powerful mechanism in Java that maintains the normal flow of the program in case of any abnormalities that we cannot achieve directly in C.
  • Portability is also a factor when we compare languages. When income to Java, it wins the race in terms of portability.
  • C also does not support the concept of threading which is also a significant advantage in Java. In today’s day-to-day environment, threading is a big plus point that allows us to do our work simultaneously and save time.

C vs Java Comparison Table

Below is a list of points that describe the comparison between C vs Java:

Basis of Comparison C Java
Language Type Procedural Programming
Language.

  • Let me explain a bit about Procedural Programming Language. A procedural programming language is a type of computer language that specifies a series of well-structured steps and procedures within a programming context to compose a program.
  • It is a compiled language.
  • C is a middle-level language because it binds the gap between machine-level and high-level languages. One can use C for system programming as well as application programming.
  • Since we already know that C does not support OOPs, it lags behind the property called Inheritance, which is very useful in case of code reusability.
 Object-Oriented Programming Language.

  • Object-oriented Programming language (OOP) is a programming language in which we define not only the data type of a data structure but also the types of operations that can be applied.
  • The four basics of OOP are Inheritance, Abstraction, Polymorphism, and Encapsulation.
  • It is an interpreted language.
  • Java is a high-level language that must be translated into machine language using a compiler or interpreter.
  • Due to support for Inheritance, code reusability is possible in Java.
Programming Paradigms (pattern/models)
  • It breaks down into functions.
  • It is more procedure oriented.
  • It breaks down into objects.
  • It is more data-oriented.
Approach
  • Follows a top-down approach.
  • It means it gives more importance to the flow of the program rather than to the data on which it operates.
  • Follows bottom-up approach.
Preprocessors
  • It supports.
  • C Predecessor is a macro processor used automatically by the C compiler to transform the before program’s compilation.
  • The preprocessor can include header files, macro expansions, and conditional compilation.
  • It does not support it.
Memory
Management
  • User-based memory management.
  • It supports the use of pointers.
  • Pointers is a programming language object whose value refers to another value stored in computer memory. It is used to store and manage the address of a dynamically allocated memory block.
  • It internally manages memory.
  • It does not support the use of pointers.
Portability
  • It is not portable; thus, it is platform dependent.
  • It is portable; thus, it is platform-independent.
  • But we have to keep in mind that we have to install JDK, which provides JVM, and due to it, it is platform-independent.
Object
Management
  • Cone has to manage it manually.
  • In Java, it is automatically managed by a garbage collector.
Thread
  • It does not support threads.
  • It supports threads.
Memory
Allocation
  • Memory allocation can be done by malloc.
  • To free the memory, one has to use it free.
  • A new keyword can do memory allocation.
  • A compiler will do it internally by calling the garbage collector.
Exception
Handling
  • C does not provide a direct mechanism for handling exceptions.
  • errno.h is a header file in the standard library of the C programming language. It defines macros for reporting and retrieving error conditions through error codes stored in a static memory location called an error number.
  • The exception Handling mechanism is available in Java for handling errors so that the normal flow of the program can be maintained.
Overloading
  • C does not support overloading functionality at all.
  • Java supports method overloading.
  • Overloading is very useful in code readability.
Calling Functionality
  • It supports the call by value and call by reference.
  • It only supports a call by value.
Variable Declaration
  • The declaration of variables should be at the beginning of the block.
  • We can declare variables anywhere though it is a good practice to declare the variables at the beginning of the block.

Conclusion

So from the above discussion, we concluded that C vs Java is two different programming languages. Java is the most popular language at the industry level for the development of web applications as well as mobile applications. But we can’t deny that C, the oldest language, is also very popular. Everything from a microcontroller to operating systems is written in C due to its flexibility and versatility, allowing maximum control with minimum commands. Both C vs Java programming languages hold their position in different aspects, so there are always points where we can compare but cannot replace each other.

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