C is called a mid-level programming language because it binds the low level and high -level programming language. We can use C language as a System programming to develop the operating system as well as an Application programming to generate menu driven customer driven billing system.
C is often referred to as a “mid-level” programming language because it combines elements of both low-level and high-level languages. Here’s why:
- Low-level features: C provides direct access to memory manipulation and hardware-level features like pointers, bitwise operators, and memory management. This gives programmers fine-grained control over the hardware, making it suitable for system-level programming.
- High-level features: Despite its low-level capabilities, C also offers high-level constructs like functions, loops, arrays, and structures, which promote structured programming paradigms. These features make it more abstract and easier to use than pure assembly language, for example.
- Portability: C is designed to be close to the hardware while remaining portable across different platforms. This means that C programs can be written once and compiled to run on various systems without significant modification, making it suitable for developing software that needs to run on different hardware architectures.
- Efficiency: C is known for its efficiency in terms of both execution speed and memory usage. Its low-level features allow programmers to write code that runs with minimal overhead, making it ideal for performance-critical applications.
Overall, C’s combination of low-level and high-level features, along with its portability and efficiency, positions it as a “mid-level” language, bridging the gap between low-level assembly languages and high-level languages like Python or Java.