Description of C++
Programs
Nowadays computers are able to perform many different tasks, from simple
mathematical operations to sophisticated graphical representations.
These different tasks are not made by the computer itself, these are performed
following a series of predefined instructions that conform what we call a program.
A computer does not have enough creativity to make tasks for which it is
not programmed, so it can only follow the instructions of the programs which
it has been programmed for. And the ones in charge to generate programs so that
the computers may perform new tasks are the programmers, who use for that the
instructions of a programming language.
Programming languages
When choosing a programming language to make a project, many
different considerations can be had.
First one is what it is known as "level of the programming language".
The level determines how near to the hardware the programming language is.
In "low level" languages instructions are written thinking directly
on the inter-performance with hardware, while in "high level" ones
a more abstract or conceptual code is written.
Generally, high level code is more portable, that means it can work
in more different machines with smaller number of modifications,
whereas a low-level language is limited by peculiarities of the
hardware for which it was written. Nevertheless low level code is
usually faster indeed due to that it is written taking advantage
of the possibilities of a concrete machine.
The type of programming which we must choose for a concrete project
depends on the type of program that we want to make. For example,
when programming a driver for an operating system obviously we will
use low level programming. Whereas when programming great applications
usually a higher level it is used, or a combination of critic parts
written in low level languages and others in higher.
Although there are languages that are clearly low level, like Assembler,
whose instructions vary according to the processor which the code
is made for, and others of high level, like the JAVA, that is
totally independent from the platform. The C++ language is in a middle
term, since it can interact directly with the hardware almost without
any limitation, as well as with the support of suitable specific libraries,
works like one of the more powerful high-level languages.
Why C++?
C++ has certain characteristics over other programming languages.
Most remarkable are:
Object-oriented programming
The possibility to orientate programming to objects allows the programmer to
design applications from a point of view more like a communication between objects
that on a structured sequence of code. In addition it allows the reusability
of code in a more logical and productive way.
Portability
You can practically compile the same C++ code in almost any type of computer
and operating system without hardly making changes. C++ is one of the
most used and ported to different platforms programming language.
Brevity
Code written in C++ is very short in comparison with other languages, since
the use of special characters is preferred before key words, saving effort
(and prolonging the life of our keyboards).
Modular programming
An application's body in C++ can be made up of several source code files that
are compiled separately and then linked together. Saving time since it is not
needed to recompile the complete application when making a single change but
only the file that contains it. In addition, this characteristic allows to link
C++ code with code produced in other languages like Assembler or C.
C Compatibility
Any code written in C can easily be included in a C++ program without
hardly making changes.
Speed
The resulting code from a C++ compilation is very efficient,
due indeed to its duality as high-level and low-level language
and to the reduced size of the language itself.
Courtesy:
www.cpluscplus.com
