Introduction to C

C is a compiled, low-level language: you write source code, a compiler turns it into machine code, and that runs directly on the CPU — no interpreter, no virtual machine.

Every C program needs a `main` function as its entry point, and every variable must have a declared type: `int age = 36;`. There's no garbage collector — memory you allocate, you must free yourself.

C gives very little safety by default: reading past the end of an array or forgetting to free memory won't stop the program, it'll just corrupt something silently. This tradeoff is exactly why C is fast and why bugs in C can be dangerous.