C programming in Visual Studio

Question

Short answer: Yes, you need to rename .cpp files to c, so you can write C: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb384838.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

From the link above:

By default, the Visual C++ compiler treats all files that end in .c as C source code, and all files that end in .cpp as C++ source code. To force the compiler to treat all files as C regardless of file name extension, use the /Tc compiler option.

That being said, I do not recommend learning C language in Visual Studio, why VS? It does have lots of features you are not going to use while learning C

Yes, you very well can learn C using Visual Studio.

Visual Studio comes with its own C compiler, which is actually the C++ compiler. Just use the .c file extension to save your source code.

You don't have to be using the IDE to compile C. You can write the source in Notepad, and compile it in command line using Developer Command Prompt which comes with Visual Studio.

Open the Developer Command Prompt, enter the directory you are working in, use the cl command to compile your C code.

For example, cl helloworld.c compiles a file named helloworld.c.

Refer this for more information: Walkthrough: Compiling a C Program on the Command Line

Hope this helps

Yes it is, none of the Visual Stdio editions have C mentioned, but it is included with the C++ compiler (you therefore need to look under C++). The main difference between using C and C++ is the naming system (i.e. using .c and not .cpp).

You do have to be careful not to create a C++ project and rename it to C though, that does not work.

Coding C from the command line:

Much like you can use gcc on Linux (or if you have MinGW installed) Visual Studio has a command to be used from command prompt (it must be the Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt though). As mentioned in the other answer you can use cl to compile your c file (make sure it is named .c)

Example:

cl myfile.c

Or to check all the accepted commands:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community>cl
Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 19.16.27030.1 for x86
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

usage: cl [ option... ] filename... [ /link linkoption... ]

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community>

Coding C from the IDE:

Without doubt one of the best features of Visual Studio is the convenient IDE.

Although it takes more configuring, you get bonuses such as basic debugging before compiling (for example if you forget a ;)

To create a C project do the following:

Start a new project, go under C++ and select Empty Project, enter the Name of your project and the Location you want it to install to, then click Ok. Now wait for the project to be created.

Next under Solutions Explorer right click Source Files, select Add then New Item. You should see something like this:

Rename Source.cpp to include a .c extension (Source.c for example). Select the location you want to keep it in, I would recommend always keeping it within the project folder itself (in this case C:\Users\Simon\Desktop\Learn\My First C Code)

It should open up the .c file, ready to be modified. Visual Studio can now be used as normal, happy coding!

Yes, you can:

You can create a C-language project by using C++ project templates. In the generated project, locate files that have a .cpp file name extension and change it to .c. Then, on the Project Properties page for the project (not for the solution), expand Configuration Properties, C/C++ and select Advanced. Change the Compile As setting to Compile as C Code (/TC).

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/ide/visual-cpp-project-types?view=vs-2017

You can use Visual Studio for C, but if you are serious about learning the newest C available, I recommend using something like Code::Blocks with MinGW-TDM version, which you can get a 32 bit version of. I use version 5.1 which supports the newest C and C++. Another benefit is that it is a better platform for creating software that can be easily ported to other platforms. If you were, for example, to code in C, using the SDL library, you could create software that could be recompiled with little to no changes to the code, on Linux, Apple and many mobile devices. The way Microsoft has been going these days, I think this is definitely the better route to take.