Thread: To C or not to C

I'm not too sure about programming languages as I'm still a very early beginner... I write in C and VB only for now...

But I did heard from many sources that C is the easiet language of all... isn't it?

I will partially agree with you there, Jerry. C is like a toolbox of raw materials: You can build wonderfully fast programs and the bonus is that you know exactly what went into them. C++ is a bit more like having a toolbox of neat gadgets: You can still build those fast programs, but you are not 100% positive what's inside those gadgets, (often leading to some strange side effects!).
But C++ is a natural extension of C. In C, some aspects of programming can become tedious such as instantiation, initialization, and yes, garbage collection! On the other hand, look at C++, with a simple base class and continuing onward, one can easily build almost self-assembling objects! (Can you tell which side of the fence I"M on?)

Let me give you just a simple example. The other day, I said to myself "I really need an object that will grab program settings from a text file so that I don't have to re-compile each time I tweak a single variable". Now, of course, in C, this is not only possible, but quite trivial. But the class that I ended up writing was so seamless that had I been asked to do it in straight C, I would have preferred not to! Just look:

Code:

int main()
{
 ProgramSettings get("settings.txt");

 int count = get.Int("count:");

 char *title = get.NewString("title:");

 float mantissa = get.Float("mantissa:");

 //...etc...

 return 0;
}                   //...variable "get" automatically shuts down and cleans up

The beauty of this object is that I can "take it anywhere" and reuse it constantly, with so little hassle! I would dare you to write a simpler one in straight C!