Difference between c and java

Answer 1

Java is an object-oriented language, without pointers, garbage collected.

C is a procedural language, with pointers, not garbage collected.

Basically, the standard distribution of Java compiles to C and then to machine code.

Answer 2

Java is an object oriented language, while C is not.

C source code is compiled to native machine code, which executes on the operating system, and it uses the primitives and libraries offered by the operating system; Java source code is compiled to byte code, which executes on the Java virtual machine, an execution environment that must be installed first, and it uses the primitives and libraries offered by that environment; all Java virtual machines look the same to a Java program, so Java programs tend to be portable across operating systems, while for C programs, achieving such portability is much harder.

The virtual machine shields the Java programmer from the details of the operating system and computer hardware and provides features such as run-time type checking and memory management (garbage collection); this induces overhead, which implies that Java programs are typically slower and use more memory than equivalent C programs; on the other hand, this makes it much safer to program in Java than in C: errors tend to be easier to diagnose and they cannot as easily make the whole computer malfunction.

Therefore, C is best suited for programs that must be very fast, use very little memory, or require direct access to the computer's hardware and low-level operating system primitives; for instance, the Linux operating system is written in C. Java is best suited for programs that do not need to be the fastest or smallest but that must be portable and easy to design and debug. In practice, there is a large overlap between the application areas of both languages.