An Absolute Guide to Build C Hello World Program

Even today, C is one of the most-recommended programming languages that help beginners learn and understand computer logic and programming fundamentals.

C combines the features of both high-level and low-level languages, resulting in the fastest execution and development. Not just that, C is a simple and highly readable programming language that has resulted in groundbreaking advancements in the IT industry.

To know more about C programming, first, let us get to know who and when C was invented.

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Introduction to C

C_Hello_World_1.

Dennis Ritchie, a computer scientist, invented the C programming language in 1972 at Bell Laboratories. It is one of the most popular, general-purpose, and procedural programming languages. C was developed to overcome the redundant problems of the existing programming language B and BCPL faced. It is one of the most popular languages due to its reliability and machine independence.

This article by Simplilearn will help you understand how to write the first C hello world program in detail.

How to Build the First C Hello World Program?

The logic of a C program is easy to understand, and the whole C program can be divided into individual and functional units. It means every function in the program acts as an independent unit to perform a specific task or an operation and is also capable of running separately. C language is portable because the program written in one operating system can compile and run on another system with minimum compatibility issues.

#include <stdio.h>

void main()

{

    printf("Hello World");

}

Now you know the code to print the hello world program, let's look at the program output.

Output:

C_Hello_World_2

Now, let us understand the structure of a C Hello World program.

  • #include - In every C program, to include the header file, we use symbol #. #include is used to direct the Compiler to load the header file in the program.

  • <stdio.h> - stdio.h is a header file that stands for standard input-output. Functions like printf() and scanf() are defined in this header file.

  • Main () - Main is a function, every C program execution begins with the main() function.

  • printf() - printf() function is used to print the output on the screen. The above-given program displays "hello world" as an output.

  • \n (backslash n) - \n is called an escape sequence. Which denotes the newline character. 

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Example: 

printf("Hello World \n");

printf("hey! welcome you all");

In the above code, we have mentioned \n in the printf() to display the output in the new line. Let’s see the output.

Output: 

C_Hello_World_3

In the below code, we haven't included \n in the printf(), so it will print both statements in one line.

Let's have a look at the output.

printf("Hello World ");

printf("hey! welcome you all ");

Output:

C_Hello_World_4

I hope it's clear why we use \n(backslash n) in our program.

With that, you can conclude this tutorial on how to build the first C Hello World program. 

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Next Steps

"Data Structures in C" can be your next topic. So far, you have learned a program on how to print a hello world. The next fundamentals will be the data structures and the varieties in data structures used for different purposes.

If you are interested in building a career in software development, then feel free to explore Simplilearn's Courses that will give you the work-ready software development training you need to succeed today. Are you perhaps looking for a more comprehensive training program in the most in-demand software development skills, tools, and languages today? If yes, our Post Graduate Program in Full Stack Web Development should be the right thing for your career. Explore the course and enroll soon.

Please let us know in the comment section below if you have any questions regarding the "C Hello World” tutorial. Our experts will get back to you ASAP.

About the Author

Ravikiran A SRavikiran A S

Ravikiran A S works with Simplilearn as a Research Analyst. He an enthusiastic geek always in the hunt to learn the latest technologies. He is proficient with Java Programming Language, Big Data, and powerful Big Data Frameworks like Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark.

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