Difference Between C and Python

One of the most frequently asked questions by people who

have just started out their careers in the field of computer
science or related fields is which programming language they
should use. Well, there are a lot of programming languages
that have been developed by people all round the globe over
the years. However, there are two languages in particular
which have seemed to attract coders a lot – C and Python.

While C was developed and released way before Python and had
gotten a lot of attention during the time of its release, it
seems that Python is more popular than C in today’s modern
world because of a lot of reasons. Therefore, it is
important for all coders or developers to know what are the
differences between C and Python so that they can take the
right step in their coding career by picking a language of
relevance. Through this article, we try to give an
introduction to both these programming languages C and
Python, and also highlight the key differences between the
two.

Table Of Contents
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 Introduction to C
 Introduction to Python
 Key Differences
 Differences Between C and Python
 Pros and Cons of C
 Pros and Cons of Python
 C or Python: Which is better?
 Conclusion
 Frequently Asked Questions
 Additional Resources

Introduction to C

C was developed at Bell Labs by Dennis Ritchie between the

years 1972 and 1973. C is one of the oldest general purpose
programming languages of all time and it was developed to
construct utilities running on Unix and was applied to re-
implement the kernel of the Unix operating system. In the
modern world, C finds its application in the development of
a number of firmware and portable systems. C supports a
plethora of features like structured programming, lexical
variable scope, and recursion, with a static type system,
etc.

C is also known as a middle level language as it combines

the features of both high level languages (programming
languages that enable programmers to write programs that are
more or less independent of a particular type of computer)
and low level languages (programming languages that provides
little or no abstraction from a computer’s instruction set
architecture, that is, commands or functions in the language
map that are structurally similar to processor’s
instructions). C is a procedural language that has a lot of
features like structured programming, lexical variable
scope, pointers, etc. due to which it gained a lot of
attraction during the time of its release.

Key Features of C

Let us now have a look at some of the most important

features of C:-

 C is a structured programming language (structured

programming is a programming paradigm aimed at
improving the clarity, quality, and development time of
a computer program by making extensive use of the
structured control flow constructs of selection
statements like if, then, else and repetitive
statements like while and for, block structures, and
subroutines) which is extremely easy to learn.

 It is an efficient programming language, that is, it is

fast and has very good performance as it is a compiled
language.
  C is a highly portable and extensible programming
language because it is not tied to any hardware or
system. Any code written in C can be run on any machine
which supports C, without modifying a single line of
code.

 C has a rich set of built-in Operators and libraries

with functions.

 C is a modular language, that is, it emphasizes on

separating the functionality of a program into
independent, interchangeable modules, such that each
contains everything necessary to execute only one
aspect of the desired functionality.

Introduction to Python

One of the most promising languages of the upcoming times,

Python is a general purpose high level language which is
interpreted. Python was first released in 1991 as a
successor to the ABC programming language. One of the most
striking features of Python is its indentation that has been
emphasized a lot to improve code readability. Python
supports a lot of programming paradigms, for instance,
Object Oriented Programming, Functional Programming,
Structured Programming, etc.

Python is dynamically-typed and garbage-collected. Due to

the plethora of features which Python offers, it is one of
the most in demand programming languages and has its
application in a variety of fields like Software
Engineering, Data Science, for instance, in Machine
Learning, Deep Learning, etc. It is extremely user friendly
and is therefore, due to the ease with which Python code can
be written, Python is being adopted by a lot of developers
nowadays as their primary programming language.
Key Features of Python

Let us now have a look at some of the most important

features of Python:-

 Python is a very simple, readable open source

programming language which is extremely easy to learn.

 Python is an interpreted language and not a compiled

language.

 Python also supports the Object Oriented Programming

Model.

 Python is platform independent and easily extensible

and embeddable.

 It has a huge standard library with lots of modules and

packages which support a lot of common and important
functionalities. Python has one of the largest
communities on StackOverflow and Meetup.

 Python is a high level language as it is easy to use

because of simple syntax, powerful because of its rich
libraries and extremely versatile.

Key Differences

Before taking a deep dive into all the differences between C

and Python, let us take a look at some of the most basic yet
remarkable differences between the two programming
languages. Firstly, C is a compiled language while Python is
an interpreted language. Python is an Object Oriented
Programming language (a programming model which is based
upon the concept of objects, in which all the entities are
represented as objects) while C is a Structured, Procedure
Oriented Programming language (a programming model which
can be said to be derived from structured programming, based
upon the concept of calling procedures or functions).
Also, C is predominantly used in the development of firmware
and portable systems where high speed and high performance
are of utmost priority. On the other hand, Python is a
general purpose programming language which has found its
application in a variety of fields like Software
Engineering, Data Science, etc.

Differences Between C and Python

Let us now dive deep into all the differences between C and
Python to evaluate which one is better in the competition: C
vs Python.

Comparison
C Python
Parameter
The Python programming language
The C programming language
Developed / was first worked upon by Guido
was developed by Dennis
Founded by van Rossum and was released in
M. Ritchie in 1972.
the year 1991.
Programming C is a procedural Python is an object oriented
model programming language programming language.
C is a middle level
Python is a high-level language
language as it binds the
Type of as the translation of Python
bridges between machine
language code takes place into machine
level and high level
language, using an interpreter.
languages.
C is a compiled
programming language. Python is an interpreted
Special programs known as programming language. Special
compilers check the C code programs known as interpreters
Compilation and
line by line and if any check the entire Python code
Interpretation
error is found on any and all the errors in the
line, the program entire Python code is reported
compilation stops then and at once.
there.
C is a faster language Python programs are usually
Speed compared to Python as it slower than C programs as they
is compiled. are interpreted.
Variable In C, the type of the In Python, variables are
Declaration various variables must be untyped, that is, there is no
declared when they are need to define the data type of
 a variable while declaring it.
created, and only values A given variable in Python can
of those particular types store values of different data
must be assigned to them. types in different parts of the
Python code.
Memory management is
Memory Memory management needs to automatically handled in Python
Management be done manually in C. by the Garbage Collector
provided by it.
C has support for
Pointers Python has no support pointers.
pointers.
In C, mostly the
In Python, mostly the
functional units are
Functional functional units are objects as
functions as it is a
Units it is an object oriented
procedural programming
programming language.
language.
Python is a more robust
C is a less robust
programming language compared
Robustness programming language
to C as it has strong memory
compared to Python.
management schemes.
The C programming language
is mostly used for the Python is a general purpose
Applications
development of hardware programming language
applications.
The number of built-in
Built-in There are a lot of built-in
functions in C are very
functions functions in Python.
limited.
To use various data
It is easier to use Data
structures like stacks,
Usage of Data Structures in Python as it
queues, etc. in C, we need
Structures provides built in libraries for
to implement them on our
the same.
own.
C allows inline Python does not allow inline
In line
assignment. For instance: assignment. For instance, a =
assignment.
int a = 5; runs well in C. 5; throws an error in python.
C codes are stored with .c Python codes are stored
Type of file
extension. with .py extension.

Pros and Cons of C

Let us now take a look at some of the advantages of using C

as a programming language:-
  C is a procedure oriented programming language which
offers high speed of compilation.

 The C language is extremely easy to understand as its

syntax is very simple.

 It has support for a lot of built-in libraries.

 C supports a lot of features like structured

programming, recursion, pointers, structures, etc.
which makes it simpler to solve a lot of problems.

 C codes can be easily extended. A lot of programming

languages like C++, Python, etc. have been created with
C codes as their foundations.

Let us now take a look at some of the disadvantages of using

C as a programming language:-

 One of the drawbacks of C is that it does not support

Object Oriented Programming.

 C does not support run time polymorphism.

 There is no concept of automatic garbage collection in

C. Garbage Collection in C is done manually.

 C is somewhat a small and core machine language that

offers minimum data hiding and exclusive visibility.
This has a major impact on the security of this
language.

 Since C is only compiled and is not interpreted, errors

or bugs cannot be detected after every line of code.

Pros and Cons of Python

Let us now take a look at some of the advantages of using

Python as a programming language:-
  Python is portable (computer programming language
capable of developing software for more than one
computer system) and interactive.

 Python is ideal for prototyping as it provides more

functionality with very few lines of code.

 It is very versatile, easy to read, learn and write

with a great community support.

 It has extensive support for libraries, for instance,

NumPy for numerical calculations, Pandas for data
analytics, etc.

 Python is free and open source.

Let us now take a look at some of the disadvantages of using

Python as a programming language:-

 Python has speed limitations (as it is interpreted) and

is generally slower compared to compiled languages like
C and C++.

 Multithreading causes problems in Python due to the

Global Interpreter Lock (GIL). GIL is nothing but a
mutex which allows only one thread to execute at a time
due to which, multi threaded CPU bound programs are not
as fast as the single threaded ones.

 Python is not native to the mobile environment and

therefore, it can be seen as a weak language for mobile
computing. Android and iOS don’t support Python as an
official programming language.

 Python’s memory consumption is very high.

 Python also has its limitations with Database Access.

Python’s database access layer is primitive and
underdeveloped in comparison to the popular
technologies like JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity) and
ODBC (Open Database Connectivity).
C or Python: Which is better?

This is a question which may have different answers for

different scenarios and different applications. If the
programming language needs to give better performance and
has to be used in systems where high speed and performance
are of utmost value, then probably C is a better choice than
Python. However, Python is a general purpose language which
can be used for the ease of development and in problems
where code reusability is of great value. In other words, if
there are standard libraries or important functionalities
which need to be used again and again, then Python might
prove to be the better choice between the two programming
languages.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion,we would like to mention that both the

languages C and Python are being used a lot by big Software
Companies and therefore, learning both of them could prove
to be extremely useful. For the budding coders of today who
are looking forward to taking a job in the Software
Industry, or already have a Software Engineering Job, it is
better to learn more about Python because of the diversity
and flexibility it provides. Also, Python is being
extensively used by Data Scientists. However, for people
looking to work on building firmware systems, gaming
engines, etc. where high performance is needed, C can
certainly prove to be a better choice of programming
language than Python as it is way faster than Python.