CGet Started
Get Started With C
At W3Schools, you can try C without installing anything.
Our Online C Editor runs directly in your browser, and shows both the code and the result:
Code:
int main() {
printf("Hello World!");
return 0;
}
Result:
Hello World!This editor will be used in the entire tutorial to demonstrate the different aspects of C.
Install C
If you want to run C on your own computer, you need two things:
- A text editor, like Notepad, to write C code
- A compiler, like GCC, to translate the C code into a language that the computer will understand
There are many text editors and compilers to choose from. In the next steps, we will show you how to use anIDE that includes both.
Install IDE
An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is used to edit AND compile the code.
Popular IDE's include Code::Blocks, Eclipse, and Visual Studio. These are all free, and they can be used to both edit and debug C code.
Note: Web-based IDE's can work as well, but functionality is limited.
We will useCode::Blocks in our tutorial, which we believe is a good place to start.
You can find the latest version of Codeblocks athttp://www.codeblocks.org/. Download themingw-setup.exe file, which will install the text editor with a compiler.
C Quickstart
Let's create our first C file.
Open Codeblocks and go toFile > New > Empty File.
Write the following C code and save the file asmyfirstprogram.c (File > Save File as):
myfirstprogram.c
int main() {
printf("Hello World!");
return 0;
}
Don't worry if you don't understand the code above - we will discuss it in detail in later chapters. For now, focus on how to run the code.
In Codeblocks, it should look like this:
Then, go toBuild > Build and Run to run (execute) the program. The result will look something to this:
Hello World!
Process returned 0 (0x0) execution time : 0.011 s
Press any key to continue.Congratulations! You have now written and executed your first C program.
