A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF C AND C++

COURSE TITLE: STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING

COURSE CODE: 301

BY

NANJI EMMANUELLA LAKAN

(U21CS1031)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................................ 2

HISTORY...................................................................................................................................... 2

1.1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................3
1.1.0 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES................................................................................3
1.1.1 DEFINITION OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES...................................................3
1.1.2 BRIEF HISTORY OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES............................................3

1.2 C................................................................................................................................................4
1.2.1 HISTORY OF C.............................................................................................................4

1.3 INTRODUCTION TO C++......................................................................................................5

1.3.1 HISTORY......................................................................................................................6
1.3.2 C with Classes provided:................................................................................................6

LANGUAGE DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PARADIGMS...........................................................8

2.1 DESIGN PRINCIPLES.............................................................................................................8

1.2.1 Programming Language Design.....................................................................................8
1.2.2 Factors to be Considered When Designing A Programming Language..........................8

2.2 Programming Paradigms.........................................................................................................10

2.2.1 What are Programming Paradigms...............................................................................10

2.3 and Limitations.......................................................................................................................12

2.3.1 Uses of C and it’s Limitation.......................................................................................12
2.3.2 Features of C++ not Readily Available in C.................................................................14

REFERENCE............................................................................................................................... 16

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 HISTORY

1.1 INTRODUCTION

1.1.0 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

There would be no better introduction to any programming language without talking

about the history of programming languages, especially before the times of our

subjects of discussion, being C and C++. Talking about programming languages is a

greatly exhaustive topic, so I would try to keep it brief.

1.1.1 DEFINITION OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

Slightly modifying the definition given by (Daragh Ó Tuama.(2023)), A

Programming Language is a computer language that programmers use to write

instructions, develop programs, and write scripts that direct the computer on how to

do certain tasks or groups of tasks.

1.1.2 BRIEF HISTORY OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

Though every programming language has a similar interface, which is to allow the

programmers to write instructions, every program has its own syntax, a set of rules

that guide the programmer on how to interact with the machine via this syntax.

According to (Sanjay K M. ( 2023)) The term Programming dates back to the early

19th century and even farther when mathematician Ada Lovelace created an

algorithm for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, which is considered the first

computer. However, the first actual programming language was developed in the

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1950s, called FORTRAN (Formula Translation). This language was used for

scientific and engineering calculations. By the 1960s, programming languages such as

COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), BASIC (Beginners All-Purpose

Symbolic Instruction Code), and ALGOL (Algorithmic Language) were developed.

ALGOL

The father of programming languages to some is said to be ALGOL, first introduced

in 1960. ALGOL (Algorithmic Language) was initially used significantly in European

countries, and it introduced the concept of structured programming to the people. In

1967, a new programming language came into force called ‘BCPL’, meaning Basic

Combined Programming Language. And now With the Introduction of ALGOL, we

can now venture into the history of C.

1.2 C

1.2.1 HISTORY OF C

(Upgrad.com.) discusses the history of C as a language that inherited its foundational

design from the ALGOL tradition, and before C, BCPL existed and was designed and

developed as a general-purpose programming language by Martin Richards. After

three years, another programming language was introduced in 1970 by Ken

Thompson. It was known as ‘B’, which combined various features of ‘BCPL’. It was

created using the UNIX operating system at AT&T and Bell Laboratories. In 1972, C

was developed by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson at the Bell Laboratories, created

from ‘ALGOL’, ‘BCPL’, and ‘B’. ‘C’ contains all these languages and much more,

making it unique from the other programming languages. The origin of C is closely

tied to the development of the Unix operating system, originally implemented in

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assembly language on a PDP-7 by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson, incorporating

several ideas from colleagues. So Thompson wanted a programming language for

developing utilities for the new platform. Initially, he tried to write a Fortran

compiler, but soon gave it up as it wasn't giving the desired results. Instead, he created

a cut-down version of BCPL, which was still relatively new at the time. Thompson

modified the syntax to be less wordy, and similar to a simplified ALGOL known as

SMALGOL. Thompson called the result B. He described B as "BCPL semantics with

a lot of SMALGOL syntax. Like BCPL, B had a bootstrapping compiler to facilitate

porting to new machines. However, few utilities were ultimately written in B because

it was too slow and could not take advantage of PDP-11 features such as byte

addressability. In 1971, Ritchie started to improve B, to utilize the features of the

more powerful PDP-11. A significant addition was a character data type. He called

this New B (NB). Thompson started to use NB to write the Unix kernel, and his

requirements shaped the direction of the language development. Through to 1972,

richer types were added to the NB language: NB had arrays of int and char. Pointers,

the ability to generate pointers to other types, arrays of all types, and types to be

returned from functions were all also added. Arrays within expressions became

pointers. A new compiler was written, and the language was renamed C. Initially, ‘C’

was limited to UNIX OS, but it gradually spread worldwide, and many compilers

were released for cross-platform systems. But Just Like many things in the evolution

of Programming and Programming Languages, the C programming language had its

constraints, and that’s when C++ and many other languages come in.

1.3 INTRODUCTION TO C++

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1.3.1 HISTORY OF C++

According to (Frank van den Beuken. 2023) C++ was developed by a Danish

computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup at AT&T Bell Labs in 1979, seven years after

the introduction of C. Its origin stemmed from Bjarne’s analysis of the UNIX kernel

to investigate to what extent it can be distributed over a network. While Stroustrup

was working on his Ph.D. thesis in the Computing Laboratory of Cambridge

University, he was fascinated by the program organization and concurrency features

of the Simula programming language, which he used to write a simulator. However,

he discovered that the implementation did not scale well, so eventually the simulator

was rewritten in BCPL. For his work at AT&T Bell Labs, Stroustrup decided to

enhance the C programming language with language features he found so useful in

Simula. He started writing a pre-processor “Cpre” that converted C programs with

Simula-like classes into regular C code that could be compiled with existing

compilers. The new language was initially called "C with Classes." From the start, the

objective was that the new language could be used for everything that C could be used

for so that it was a general-purpose programming language. Also, because C

compilers already were available for many platforms, it inherited C's portability,

which to this day is one of its important quality attributes. Another objective of the

language was to provide better alternatives for unsafe features of C while maintaining

its efficiency and direct access to underlying hardware features. Because of that, it is

also popular in safety-critical application areas such as those in the automotive

industry, where MISRA is one of the most popular coding standards.

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1.3.2 C with Classes provided:

Classes

Derived classes

Public/private access control

Constructors and destructors

Call and return functions (soon removed due to lack of popularity)

Friend classes

Type checking of function arguments

Inline functions

Default arguments

Overloading of the assignment operator. And much more.

At this point in C++ history, the language didn’t have a proper name. For some time,

it was called C84, but that was kind of confusing. Eventually, it was computer

scientist Rick Mascitti who suggested the name C++, which helped many aware of the

fact that it was a successor of C.

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 LANGUAGE DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PARADIGMS

2.1 DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Earlier on, I stated that C followed a structure, which was that of ALGOL.

But what do we mean by structure?

Is it its look, behavior, or maybe programming syntax?

1.2.1 Programming Language Design

When we say Design, in the context of programming language, it encompasses how a

solution should look, behave, and be implemented to address a specific problem.

Programming language design involves defining the syntax, semantics, and other

features of a language, providing the rules and conventions necessary for software

development.(Saeed Mohajeryami, PhD. (2022, Dec 27).)

Several factors need to be considered when choosing a language's design, including

its intended use, target audience, and design goals and constraints. These factors guide

the development and documentation of the language, ensuring it meets the needs of its

users while aligning with its intended purpose.

1.2.2 Factors to be Considered When Designing A Programming Language.

The design of a programming language encompasses its syntax, semantics, and

features, all of which play a crucial role in expressing complex ideas and algorithms

while ensuring ease of learning and usage. Syntax dictates the rules for naming

variables and functions, punctuation usage, and code organization, while semantics

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govern the logic of the code and its interpretation by the computer, including

evaluation of expressions and control structures.

Abstraction in programming languages allows developers to work at different levels

of detail, with mechanisms like data abstraction hiding implementation details and

control abstraction representing complex operations as single units. Data types define

the types of data usable in programs, determining their size, representation, and

allowable operations.

Memory management is essential, handling the allocation and reallocation of memory

resources, including dynamic memory allocation and garbage collection. Concurrency

and parallelism features enable programs to execute multiple tasks simultaneously,

utilizing threads, processes, and asynchronous programming constructs.

Effective error handling mechanisms detect, report, and handle errors and exceptions

during program execution, enhancing program efficiency and correctness.

Extensibility allows a language to be extended with new features or libraries through

modular programming and frameworks. Portability ensures a language can run on

different hardware platforms and operating systems with minimal modifications.

Finally, performance considerations influence the speed and efficiency of program

execution. By considering these aspects, a programming language can strike a balance

between expressiveness, usability, and efficiency, meeting the diverse needs of

developers and users alike.

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2.2 Programming Paradigms

Before Delving into the The intended uses of C and C++ their objectives and

constraints, let’s talk about their Programming Paradigms and what paradigms mean.

2.2.1 What are Programming Paradigms

According to (Germán Cocca. (2022, May 2)cited in Programming Paradigms-

Paradigm Examples for Beginners), Programming paradigms are different ways or

styles in which a given program or programming language can be organized. Each

paradigm consists of certain structures, features, and opinions about how common

programming problems should be tackled.

Ever wondered why there seem to be a huge influx of Programming Languages in the

world? Well this is because their many Programming Paradigms that exist alongside

them, these paradigms have different structures, a way of solving problems and also

communicating with the machine, I daresay, choosing an array of languages in a

chosen field revolving around programming, is dependent on the kind of solutions

you want to create.

Note, Programming paradigms are not languages or tools that can be used to program,

no. They're like a set of ideals and guidelines that many people have agreed on,

followed, and explored .

And Programming languages aren't always tied to a specific paradigm. There are

languages that have been built with a certain paradigm in mind and have features that

facilitate that kind of programming more than others (Haskel and functional

programming is a good example).

But there are also "multi-paradigm" languages, meaning you can adapt your code to

fit a certain paradigm or another (JavaScript and Python are good examples).

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Like earlier mentioned the list of Programming Paradigms are exhaustive, but having

C and C++ as our case study, we would only talk about the paradigms that are used in

them.

1. Imperative Programming:

Imperative programming consists of sets of detailed instructions that are given to the

computer to execute in a given order. It's called "imperative" because in a very

specific way.Imperative programming focuses on describing how a program operates,

step by step.Imperative programming, where programs consist of a sequence of

statements that change the program's state, is the foundation of both C and C++.

Imperative programming focuses on describing how a program operates.

2. Procedural Programming:

Procedural programming is a derivation of imperative programming, adding to it the

feature of functions (also known as "procedures" or "subroutines"). Both C and C++

support procedural programming, where programs are structured as sequences of

instructions that operate on data given externally or internally. In procedural

programming, the focus is on algorithms and functions that manipulate data.

3. Object-Oriented Programming

One of the most popular programming paradigms is object-oriented programming

(OOP). The core concept of OOP is to separate different use cases of a particular

behaviour into entities which are coded as objects. Each entity will group a given set

of information (properties) and actions (methods) that can be performed by the entity.

OOP makes heavy usage of classes (which are a way of creating new objects starting

out from a blueprint or boilerplate that the programmer sets). Objects that are created

from a class are called instances. C++ is a multi-paradigm language that fully

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supports object-oriented programming, while C can emulate some OOP concepts with

struct and function pointers. In OOP, programs are structured as collections of objects

that interact with each other. Key OOP concepts include abstraction, encapsulation,

inheritance, and polymorphism.

2.3 Uses and Limitations of C

So what is the intended use of C? and what were it’s constraints which prompted

developers to sort out newer language such as C++.

They’ll be no comparative analysis of C and C++ if there’s no actual analysis on their

uses and the Constraints around them that lead to developers seeking better options.

To analyse what C++ came to solve that at the time of it’s creation C could not solve.

2.3.1 Features and Benefits

Looking at our introduction to C++ and it’s history, it was clear that Despite Simula

not being as capable as C, C definitely had it’s Limitations, which led to the extension

of C by adding certain Simula like features thereby birthing C++.

Though C is still very much in use today in many industries and not just limited to

technology and computer science, so first of, let’s look at what makes C a force to be

reckoned with.

 C is a powerful programming language that offers several benefits over other

languages.

 C is a universal language that can be used for various applications.

 C is a very efficient language that can write code that is both fast and reliable.

 C is a portable language, meaning that code written in C can be easily compiled

and run on various platforms.

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 C is a well-established language with a large and active community of developers

constantly working on improving and creating new tools and libraries.

 C program syntax is easy to learn and read; this makes debugging code more

accessible and faster.

 C programs are relatively short compared to other languages, which reduces the

time needed to complete them.

 C is a powerful programming language that enables developers to create

sophisticated software systems.

 C has been around for many years (it was first released in 1979), so many

libraries and tools are available that facilitate its use.

 C is used to create Software and Applications such as Operating Systems, for

Creating Other Languages, for performing high computational Tasks like making

3D videos or applications for them, in Embedded Systems.

Limitations of C

 C compilers only identify errors and are incapable of handling exceptions.

 It doesn’t provide protection. It also doesn’t feature re-usability of source code

extensively.

 The process of debugging is difficult. And doesn’t provide strict data type

checking. (i.e. integer data type can be passed for floating datatype)

 It uses ASCII character set which is only able to support 256 characters because it

uses 1-byte to represent a character.

 It is unable to support some languages like Chinese, Japanese that have more than

256 characters.

 C doesn’t provide the OOPs concept.

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 It doesn’t provide binding or wrapping up of data as a single unit.

 C doesn’t provide constructor and Destructor.

 There are no concepts of Namespaces in C.

2.3.2 Features of C++ not Readily Available in C.

C++ has many features that are not directly available in C, allowing developers to

write more expressive, efficient, and maintainable code. Here are some things you can

do with C++ that are either difficult or impossible to do with C:

1. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): C++ fully supports OOP concepts such

as classes, objects, inheritance, polymorphism, and encapsulation. These features

allow for better code organization, abstraction, and reusability, making it easier to

manage large-scale software projects.

2. Template Meta-programming: C++ templates enable template meta

programming, a technique for performing computations at compile-time.

3. Standard Template Library (STL): C++ includes the STL, a powerful library of

generic algorithms and data structures such as vectors, lists, maps, and algorithms like

sorting and searching. The STL provides high-level abstractions and reusable

components, reducing the need for manual implementation of common tasks.

4. Exception Handling: C++ supports exception handling, allowing developers to

write robust and reliable code that can gracefully handle errors and exceptional

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conditions. Exceptions provide a structured mechanism for propagating and handling

errors, improving code maintainability and reliability.

5. Function and Operator Overloading: C++ allows for function and operator

overloading, enabling developers to define multiple functions or operators with the

same name but different parameter types or signatures.

6. Namespace Support: C++ provides support for namespaces, allowing developers

to organize code into logical groups and avoid naming conflicts. Namespaces help

improve code modularity, readability, and maintainability by providing a hierarchical

naming structure.

7. Inline Functions: C++ supports inline functions, which are expanded inline at the

point of invocation rather than being called through a function call mechanism. Inline

functions can improve performance by reducing function call overhead and enabling

compiler optimizations.

Overall, C++ offers a rich set of features and libraries that enable developers to write

more efficient, maintainable, and scalable code compared to C. While C remains a

powerful language for systems programming and low-level development, C++

extends its capabilities to support a broader range of application domains and

programming paradigms.

Though simply put even witheir differences in syntax, libraries and more, there is

notthing C can do that C++ cannot do.

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