Has hard seed coat, high-moisture cells internally. Heating produces steam, explodes, turns endosperm inside out. Widely used by Indians because it didn't have to be ground. Flour corn, soft endosperm, easy to grind, but attacked by insects. All modern field corns are dent corns.
Major uses are for animal feed, corn meal, cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup, ethanol.
Sweet corn , endosperm contains sugar instead of starch, harvested and eaten immature. Hybrid has hybrid vigor, more productive. The uses of corn are many and varied. Processing of corn is complex because of its multiple uses. Selected from, and evolved from, wild grass teosinte.