Use C or C++???

I'm trying to get into Linux more and I'd like to start programming for it. I have a decent background in Linux but not so much in C or C++. What I'd like to build is a RSS reader to be used in the Linux console. I'm debating on which language I should use. I know Java really well, but I kinda want to learn something new. Also, I don't want Java to be a dependency for my users. Whatever I choose to use, the project will be open source, so anybody can check it out and modify it however they want.

In general both languages are used in Linux, if you want to do low level system style programming C will be the beast of choice if you want to just interface with already written libraries C++ is great. For a good introduction to Linux programming see this free book http://www.advancedlinuxprogramming.com/alp-folder I used it to help me learn the POSIX thread standard... but it has other good stuff as well...plus it's free to boot.

For Linux console apps, C is certainly a good choice. C++ is also okay. :)

C++ in some cases can get as low as C, however, object oriented design like C++ will cause a lot of unnecessary over head when writing low level routines...C has traditionally been the *nix language of choice for system level programming. C is considered by some to be a high level assembly language because of it ability to address hardware using some what more readable constructs.

Ok, what happens when C++ is compiled is that all of those class will take up more memory and will compile to more code then when C is used the extra code is just overhead of enforcing the nature of the constructs that's all. It was a while ago when I study the over head problem and the speed gap is closing so it may be not as much of a concern. I can't really give you definitive metrics on the actual amount of overhead and how it affects current day...this is just how it was explained to me.

Quote:

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becasue i don't see the overhead. Could you explain where there overhead would be please?

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Can you see air? Just because you can't see something doesn't mean its not there :)

Example

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
  printf("Hello World");
  return 0;
}

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size when compiled with gcc: 4814
size when compiled with g++: 5156

After being strip-ed
gcc: 3020
g++: 3352

Generally speaking c++ brings in a larger library and produces slightly larger code. If you are writing code that needs to be small then this becomes an issue.

overhead has a lot of different meanings