What is a C Program?

A collection of functions which when compiled, assembled, linked, loaded, and executed performs some task.

Compile: Translate a program from source code to assembly code. Assemble: Translate a program from assembly code to object code (sometimes these two steps are combined and called compiling). Link: Pull together all of the functions needed for the program (both user defined objects and system libraries) and arrange that locations of functions and variables are known. This step creates the executable. Load: Move the executable into computer memory. Execute: Run the program on wiliki.