title: Are there downsides to using calls to system() instead of your programming language's functions?
body: <p>I'm programming in C to create some API for an embedded device. This embedded device runs a variant of Linux. I'm not very familiar with C - I'm more familiar with shell scripting/bash.</p>
  
  <p>With that in mind, when it comes to things like checking whether a directory exists, or getting disk usage, I find it easier to just make a call to <code>system</code> or <code>popen</code> and execute my command, then parse the output. It's faster for me as a developer.</p>
  
  <p>Are there downsides to making these <code>system</code> and <code>popen</code> calls instead of finding out how to do each of these things in C and then making use of C's functions?</p>