Difference Between C and C++

C vs. C++

C is a programming language for general purpose computers. It was specifically designed for use on the Unix operating system. It is used for implementing system software; however, it has also been known to be used for developing portable application software. As one of the most popular programming languages, most operating systems have an architecture in which a C compiler exists.

C++ is most notably an extension of the C programming language. As its own language, it is a statically typed, free form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general purpose programming language. Because it is comprised of a combination of features from both high level and low level languages, it is thought of as a middle level language itself. As it was originally designed as an extension of the C programming language, its original name was C with Classes (until 1983, in which its name was changed to C++).

C is an imperative systems implementation language (meaning it is a programming paradigm that describes the computation terms of statements that are meant to change the state of a program, and puts those terms into effect). Its design is minimalistic in nature – it was created to be compiled with a straightforward and comprehensive compiler in order to provide low level access to memory, provide language constructs that efficiently map to machine instructions, and to require as little runtime support as necessary. As it is was designed with simple constructs in mind, it is very valuable for those applications that were previously coded in Assembly language (a low level language that put into effect symbolic representations of the numeric machine codes needed to program CPU architecture).

C++ is used to design hardware – a process by which a design is initially described with the C++ language, analyzed, architecturally constrained, and scheduled to create a register transfer level hardware description language (that is, an HDL) through high level synthesis. Its characteristics are simple in aim – it is statically designed in order to be as efficient and portable as the C language; it is designed to directly and comprehensively support multiple styles of programming; it is designed in order to give programmers the choices that are best for their goals (regardless if those choices are incorrect), and it was also designed to function without an environment that is particularly sophisticated (simple enough to work through).

C language characteristics are also implemented in order to make the language more accessible to programmers. It allows lexical variable scope and recursion; all executable code is contained within certain functions; and because its structure is also comprised of heterogeneous aggregate data types, it allows data elements that are related to be combined and manipulated as a unit.

Summary:

1. C is a programming language for general purpose computers; C++ is an extension of the C programming language.

2. C is an imperative systems implementation language; C++ is used to design hardware.

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