From C++ to C

[Mazer]

I'm starting computer science in University tomorrow, and for some reason we're going to be doing C. Stupid prof. He/she wrote the textbook that we're using, so it seems to me that there's a bit of an ego problem here. I've never actually used C before but some of the things I've heard is that there are no classes, and the structs only let you have member variables (no functions). What are the advantages of C? What else do I need to know?

[Catalyst]

well c++ is a superset of c, so you lose a bunch of nice features (such as classes, templates, new and delete, among others). But you supposedly gain a small speed increase. The reason they probably start with c is to avoid diving into oop right away

[Mazer]

I figured as much. Which is just dumb. OOP is easier. So I no longer get to use new or delete... what is it now malloc() and free() or something? Bleh. At least it's not turing?

[rizzix]

yea well look at it this way.. it has been tested that c++ is much slower than C. thats why c++ is never used for creating realtime OS's or programs.. u know stuff used in robots/spacecrafts// etc... wherever performance is crucial. it is important u know C.. some stuff is a little different for the normal C++ way of doing things.

PS: after learning C, objective-c is a piece of cake.. u should take a look at it.

PSS: i dont really see a diff in performance in C++ and C.. but statistically there supposed to be

[wtd]

C as a language is actually much better suited to teaching than C++. C++ features a byzantine syntax with a lot of rules, and even more exceptions to those rules. C is much simpler.

This doesn't mean that C is necessarily a better language, but it makes it easier to learn.

A quick translation:

code:

// C++ #include <iostream> int main() {    std::cout << "Hello, C++" << std::endl; }

code:

/* C */ #include <stdio.h> int main() {    puts("Hello, C"); }

[Acid]

I remember hearing a quote that went something like, "Programming with C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. In C++ it's harder, but when you do you take the whole leg."

[Andy]

and that is relevant to his question how?

[rizzix]

well you dont want to C a shot foot.. even worse is Cing plus plus the rest of your body damaged.

[Andy]

LOL nice... very nice rizzix

[Acid]

dodge_tomahawk wrote:

and that is relevant to his question how?

I was just saying. It wasn't supposed to be relevant to the question.

[bugzpodder]

personally i am having a lot of trouble with that also (dont ask me why i want to write my programs in C)

some of this are compiler dependant

first of all, this wont work: int f(int &a, int &b)
secondly this also wont work

.....//some code
int a;

as intializations must be placed on the top

and one more problems, it doesnt like // comments. i think /* works */

as well as a lot of other things i dont know

[Andy]

so what are you supposed to do in the case of int f(int &a, int &b)?

[Catalyst]

use pointers probably

[Andy]

argg..... not that i dun like pointers, im just lazy

[bugzpodder]

Catalyst wrote:

use pointers probably

yes, something like int f(int *a, int *b){ *a^=*b^=*a^=*b;} //doesnt work if a=b