Difference Between C and Java

By | September 15, 2016

Complete Guide For Difference Between C and Java

Learn The Difference Between C and Java Programming Languages with a demonstration of codes in both the programming languages. The Differentiation of C and Java is described in Points and also in Tabular Format.

The C Programming Language is generally every programmer’s first choice to start their journey in the programming world, after which they move on to C++ or Java Programming Languages. It is, therefore, important to understand the differences between C Programming Language and Java Programming Language.

It will help you to get a good grasp on Java programming if you know the differences well. Also, you will get to know about the difference between Procedural Programming and Object Oriented Programming paradigms. Let us first see a simple Hello World Program in C and Java Programming Languages. Try to differentiate between C and Java Programming Languages with the following code.

Find Difference Between C and Java in Tabular Format and Points

C Programming Language

The C programming language is a middle-level programming language. It is a general purpose programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs in 1972. C is subset of Java programming language. It is a Procedural Programming Language. C is a semi – cross platform programming language. It’s source code is portable to other operating systems but there has to be some modifications done according to the Operating System. C Programming language is, therefore, hardware dependent.

The C Programming supports .h and .c extensions.The latest stable release version of C Programming is C11, and was released in 2011. It is standardised by International Standards Organisation (ISO) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Java Programming Language

The Java programming language is developed by James Gosling, Patrick Naughton and Mike Sheridan at Sun Microsystems in the year 1995. Java was initially known as Oak Programming Language. However, Oracle Corporation, now own Java. Java is, therefore, also known as Oracle Java.  Java is cross platform and a completely portable programming language. It is an Object Oriented and a Multi – Paradigm programming language. Java is, therefore, Operating System independent as well as Hardware Independent.

The filename extensions supported by Java are .java, .class and .jar. The latest stable released version of Java is Java 8. Java is more of a Class – based programming language.

Hello World C Program

Hello World Java Program

Difference Between C and Java in Tabular Format

Sr. No.C Programming LanguageJava Programming Language
 1.C is a Middle-Level Programming Language.Java is a High-Level Programming Language.
 2.C Programming Language is a Structured Programming Language.Java is a Class based Programming Language.
3. C is a Procedural or Procedure-Oriented Programming Language. Java is an Object-Oriented Programming Language.
4. C is a function-based language. In other words, C programming is function-driven programming language. Java is a class-based programming language. It is, therefore, a class-driven language.
5. A C program is divided into what we call as Functions.A Java program is divided into Classes and Objects.
6. C language follows a Top-Down approach. Java language follows a Bottom-Up approach.
7. C does not support Inheritance and Polymorphism. Java supports Inheritance and Polymorphism.
8.C is standardised by ANSI and ISO authorities.Java is standardised by Oracle Corporation.
9. C Programming language does not support function overloading and operator overloading. Java supports function overloading and operator overloading.
10. Importance is given on the algorithms and the program-flow. Importance is given on the data instead of the algorithm and program-flow.
11. C does not support Exception Handling or Error handling. Java supports Exception Handling or Error Handling.
12. C programming supports usage of Global variables. Java does not support usage of Global variables.
13. The data can be accessed from one function to another easily. Hence, data is not secure.The data cannot be accessed from one object to another object so easily. Therefore, data is highly secured.
14. Union in C provides memory overlapping feature. Java does not support memory overlapping feature.
15. C does not have any feature to check array index out of bounds issue. Java checks Array Index out of Bounds to prevent unauthorised access of memory
16. C does not provide automatic garbage collection feature. Therefore, free() needs to be explicitly used. Java supports automatic garbage collection and is, therefore, memory efficient.
17. The execution speed of C programming language is higher than that of Java. The execution speed of Java programming language is lower than that of C.
18. C is semi-platform-dependent.Java is not platform-dependent.
 C supports use of Pointers extensively. Java does not support using Pointers to prevent security breaches.
20. C programming language is influenced by ALGOL, Assembly, BCPL, CPL, etc. Java is influenced by Ada, Objective-C, Pascal, C++, Eiffel, Modula-3, Mesa, etc.
21. C language is Hardware-Dependent. Java is not Hardware-Dependent.
22. C does not support Data Encapsulation. Java supports Data Encapsulation.
23. C is a single-paradigm programming language.Java supports Multiple programming-paradigms.
24. The filename extensions supported by C is .c and .h. The filename extensions supported by Java are .jar, .class and .java.
25. The latest release version of C is C11. The latest release version of Java is Java 8.
26.Applications: Network Drivers, Device Drivers, Embedded Systems, Database Systems, Language Interpreters, Operating Systems, etc.Applications: Desktop GUI Applications, Mobile App Development, Web Development, Embedded Systems, Scientific Applications

We hope that you got some good information about the difference between C and Java Programming Languages out of this article. If you have any doubts or have any extra information to share about Java and C Programming Languages, please let us know about it in the comment section below.

3 thoughts on “Difference Between C and Java

  1. Sachin Bhoi

    Every piece of code needs to be within a class whereas in C there is no such class.

    Reply
  2. Mayank Agarwal

    Thanks so much. This is one of the best comparison between c and java programming languages.

    Reply

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