C & C++ Training in Rajaji Nagar

The Key Differences Between C Vs C++ Languages In Terms Of Various Features:

C++ language is a subset of the C language.

C++ was first designed as an extension of C language. Thus in addition to the procedural language features derived from C, C++ also supports object-oriented programming features like inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction, encapsulation, etc.

In this tutorial, we discuss some of the main differences between C and C++ language.

Key Features Of C And C++

Before going ahead with the differences, let us list down some of the features of both C and C++ language.

Features and Properties of C

• Procedural
• Bottom-up approach.
• System programming language.
• Does not support classes and objects.
• Supports pointers

Features and Properties of C++

• Object-oriented
• Bottom-up approach
• Speed is faster.
• Rich library support in the form of the standard template library.
• Supports Pointers & References.
• Compiled

Key Differences Between C Vs C++

Enlisted below are the main differences between C Vs C++.

Type of Programming:

C: C is a procedural language in which the program revolves around the functions. The entire problem is broken down into numerous functions. The main focus of the program is on functions or procedures to get the things done.

C++: C++, on the contrary, is an object-oriented programming language. Here the data of the problem is the main focus and the classes are built around this data. Functions operate on the data and closely bound to data.

Programming Approach:

C: As C is a procedural language, it follows a top-down approach of programming. Here we take the problem and then break it into subproblems until we find single subproblems that can be solved directly. Then we combine the solutions to get the main solution.

C++: C++ follows a bottom-up approach to programming. In this, we start with low-level design or coding and then build on this low-level design to get a high-level solution.

Application Development:

C:C language is helpful in the programming of embedded systems or low-level implementations.

C++: C++, on the other hand, is more suitable for server-side applications, network applications or for applications like gaming, etc.

File Extension:

C The programs written in C are usually saved with “.c” extension while the C++ programs are saved with the “.cpp” extension.

Compatibility With Each Other:

C++ is a subset of C as it is developed and takes most of its procedural constructs from the C language. Thus any C program will compile and run fine with the C++ compiler.

However, C language does not support object-oriented features of C++ and hence it is not compatible with C++ programs. Therefore programs written in C++ will not run on C compilers.

Compatibility With Other Languages:

C++ language is generally compatible with other generic programming languages but C language is not.

Ease of Coding:

We can say that C is a hands-on language and we can program it in whichever way we want. C++ consists of some high-level object-oriented programming constructs that help us to code high-level programs.

Thus if we say C is easy then C++ is also easier to code.

Data Security:

C: In C, the main emphasis is on functions or procedures rather than on data. Hence as far as data security is concerned, it is negligible in C.

C++: In C++, as we are dealing with classes and objects, the main building block of the program is Data. Thus, data is tightly secured using classes, access specifiers, encapsulation, etc.

Program Division:

C: A program in C is divided into functions and modules. These functions and modules are then called by the main function or other functions for execution.

C++: A C++ program is divided into classes and objects. The problem is designed into classes and the objects of these classes are the executing units that are created by the main functions and are executed.

Standard I/O Operations:

C: The standard input-output operations in C to read/write data from/to the standard device are ‘scanf’ and ‘printf’ respectively.

C++: In C++, the data is read from the standard input device using ‘cin’ while it is printed to the output device using ‘cout’.

Focus/Emphasis:

C: Being a procedural language, C has more emphasis on the sequence of steps or procedures to solve a problem.

C++: C++, on the other hand, is object-oriented and thus puts more focus on objects and classes around which the solution is to be built.

The main() Function:

C: In C language, we can have a main() function called by the other functions in the code.

C++: In C++ we cannot call a main() function from any other point. The main() function is the single execution point.

Variable:

Variables need to be declared at the beginning of the function block in C, on the contrary, we can declare variables anywhere in a C++ program provided they are declared before they are used in the code.

Global Variables:

C: C language allows multiple declarations of global variables.

C++: C++, however, does not allow multiple declarations of global variables.

Pointers And Reference Variables:

Pointers are the variables that point to memory addresses. Both C and C++ support pointers and various operations performed on pointers.

References act as aliases for the variables and point to the same memory location as a variable.

C language only supports pointers and not references. C++ supports pointers as well as references.

Enumerations:

We can declare enumerations in C as well as C++. But in C, the enumeration constants are of Integer type. It is the same as declaring an integer constant without any type of safety.

In C++, the enumerations are different. They are of distinct types. Thus to assign an integer type to a variable of an enumerated type, we need explicit type conversion.

However, we can assign an enumerated value to a variable of integer type as enumerated type allows integral promotion or implicit conversion.

Strings:

As far as strings are concerned, the declaration ‘char []’ declares a string array. But when the string declared as above is passed between the functions, then there is no guarantee that it will not be changed by the other external functions as these strings are mutable.

This drawback is not there in C++ as C supports string data type that defines immutable strings.