title: Why in C, when reading files, do we have to use a character array?
body: <p>I've literally just started programming in C. Coming from a little understanding of Python. </p>
  
  <p>Just had a lecture on C, the lecture was about this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>#include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
  
  int main() {
      FILE *file;
      char name[10], degree[5];
      int mark;
      file = fopen("file.txt", "r");
      while (fscan(file("%s %s %d", name, degree, &amp;mark) != EOF);
          printf("%s %s %d", name, degree, mark);
      fclose(file);
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm specifically asking why we the lecturer would have used an array rather than just declaring two string variables. Searching for a deeper answer than just, "that's just C for you". </p>