c is a low-level language or neither low level nor high level language

P

pabbu

hi!
I have a doubt that 'c' is low level language or neither low level
nor high level language.please give me details.
with regards,
vinod
 
W

Walter Roberson

I have a doubt that 'c' is low level language or neither low level
nor high level language.please give me details.

Rather than have this turn into a long quibble about semantics,
let me turn the question around and ask you:

What do *you* mean by "low level language"?
What do *you* mean by "high level language"?

The answer to your question depends upon the definitions that
are in use, so tell us -your- definition and we'll tell you
which side C falls on.
 
M

Mike Wahler

pabbu said:
hi!
I have a doubt that 'c' is low level language or neither low level
nor high level language.please give me details.

Only you can know the details of your doubt. Care to share them?
How low must something be for you to consider it low?
How high must something be for you to consider it high?
Lower than what?
Higher than what?

-Mike
 
G

Gordon Burditt

I have a doubt that 'c' is low level language or neither low level
nor high level language.please give me details.

How high is high?

Assembly language, especially with macros and symbols, is much higher
than binary entered on the console switches in binary.

Probably the ultimate in high-level languages is "and God said,
'let there be light'". Notice how God didn't have to bother with
Maxwell's equations or any of that other design detail?

Gordon L. Burditt
 
M

Malcolm

pabbu said:
I have a doubt that 'c' is low level language or neither low level
nor high level language.please give me details.
with regards,
vinod
It's a low level language.
Every C statement translates to a few assembly instructions on a typical
processor.
The standard library functions are also all rather simple to implement,
except arguably malloc() on big systems.

However it is possible to write some very complicated libraries for C -
these would be called "high level libraries". That doesn't make the language
itself high level.
 
S

slebetman

Malcolm said:
Every C statement translates to a few assembly instructions on a typical
processor.

In fact, on a lot of processors I work on (PIC, AVR, 68k) I usually
find that each line of C code translates to exactly 1 assembly
instruction. Except for compound math statements like (x*(y/2) & 0x0f |
0xf0). Not only was C originally evolved from a kind of
high-level-assembly language but some modern CPUs were designed to run
C. Atmel's AVR, ARM's ARM, and Transmeta's Crusoe processors were
designed with input/comments from compiler writers.
 
M

Marc Boyer

Le 05-11-2005 said:
hi!
I have a doubt that 'c' is low level language or neither low level
nor high level language.please give me details.
with regards,

It was a high level langage, but with time, general level
had increased.

Marc Boyer
 
P

pete

It was a high level langage, but with time, general level
had increased.

K&R 1978 Preface (also K&R2 "Preface to the First Edition")
"C is not a very high level language"

K&R 1978 Introduction
"C is a relatively low level language."
 
M

Marc Boyer

pete said:
K&R 1978 Preface (also K&R2 "Preface to the First Edition")
"C is not a very high level language"

K&R 1978 Introduction
"C is a relatively low level language."

Thanks for the citations.

Marc Boyer
 

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