Setting up a C project

Creating our project folder and C source code file.

Operating system concerns

Programming in C is much easier on a Unix-based system - such as Linux or macOS. C programming on Windows is more difficult: please either install Linux or use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) for a Linux terminal in Windows.

Creating the project folder

If you have a directory (folder) that you commonly use for programming projects, in my case a dev folder for development, use cd to enter that:

~ $ cd dev
~/dev $

Otherwise, create and enter one like this:

mkdir dev
cd dev

Once inside your programming folder, run this command to create a new folder for your C program:

mkdir ctutorial

Then, to change directory into the folder:

cd ctutorial

You are, of course, free to choose whatever name for your project you like.

Making a C source file

A source file is the code that we write. It’s simply a file on your computer with a specific extension.

In the case of C, the extension is .c.

Create a file using this command:

touch main.c

You can call it something other than main.c if you wish, but main.c is the standard name for the entry-point to your program.