Thread: C or C++

Of all the people I've met who would feel comfortable writing an OS/kernel in C, I can't say that any of them struck as being a good interface designer! The difference I see is that in one you're basically writing an interface to control the hardware, and any advantage counts, where as in the other you'll probably err on the side of faster development, and you're more likely to take a much more OO approach and use a language that lends itself to such a purpose. Additionally, I sometimes find that the libraries you use affect the "style" and feel of your code just as much as the language you choose.

But I don't think using C will lead to an inferior interface, that is really up to you. An "OO approach" could just as easily lead to gimpy cookie-cutter style stuff.

Yeah - I agree with that. You definitely can make an excellent interface in C, and I generally like the more linux-y interfaces - but that's because I choose functionality and keyboard usage over animations and effects any day. I'm just saying that if your primary purpose if making a nice interface to a typical program, C probably wouldn't be your first choice unless your were already intimately familiar with it - like most of the GNU folks, I'm sure!

C || C++?

I guess it really depends on how far you want to go with programming.
If you want to learn computer science, C is by far better choice. Mostly because it's so transparent, easy to translate to machine code in your head (some call it "portable assembly").
Also its strong relationship with Unix and Unix-like systems....all the code, manuals are written in C...so if you want to study OS....C is the way. Then there's just a large amount of code out there written in C..it's syntax is practically used as pseudo code in many books, tuts...
Also, it makes so much more sense to learn procedural programming before any higher level, OO language.
I started with C++, then realized that I don't understand what it does...sure I wrote some Hello World programs, but was not sure how it worked. Then bought KNR, moved on Unix platform and my knowledge began to grow rapidly.
C is the culture.

C++ and others are practical need to write less code faster. More acceptable for bigger applications, programs where efficiency is not that important, easier to understand and maintain....really great languages. And if you don't care about the "black box" and you just want to see the window floating on the desktop or you only care about solving practical problems...C is not the best choice.

There...I hope I made a choice a bit easier.

Originally Posted by sean

I was just reminded of my all-time favorite Linus Torvalds quote:

I really like that - because it's exactly what I like about C. A good C programmer ought to be able to look at any construct and have a good idea how that command would be represented in Assembly - and yet you can combine those constructs into a higher-level programming style. I think that makes it the perfect OS language. Using it for a user-friendly end-user app, however - is probably not the best choice - but one that I think everyone should at least be able to understand.

I completely agree with Linus here.
Like I wrote in the post before....if you did some assembly before, C seems like an "upgraded" ASM.
If ASM codes are 1:1 related to machine codes, then C is like 1.5:1.

Originally Posted by dotunix

C || C++?

Actually I prefer C | C++