Both of these are programming language types, and one can use them for developing applications. There is a major difference between C and C++. The C language is a procedural one that provides no support for objects and classes. On the other hand, the C++ language is a combination of object-oriented and procedural programming languages.
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What is C?
It is a machine-independent procedural or structural oriented programming language used extensively in several applications. C is a basic programming language that one can use for developing from the OS like Windows to sophisticated programs like Git, Python interpreter, Oracle database, etc.
You can also call the C programming language to be God’s programming language. It is so because it forms the basis of various other programming languages. If a user knows the C language, then they can feasibly learn any other programming language. Dennis Ritchie- the great computer scientist at Bell Laboratories developed the C language. It has a few additional features making it unique as compared to the other programming languages.
What is C++?
It is a subset of the C language. C++ is object-oriented, designed as an extension to the C language. Thus, apart from the features of procedural language from C, C++ provides support to object-oriented features as well. For instance, polymorphism, inheritance, encapsulation, abstraction, and more.
The C++ language is very similar as compared to the C language. This language is so compatible with the C that it is capable of running about 99% of the C programs with zero requirements of changing the source codes. C++ programming language is object-oriented. It is more well-structured and safer as compared to the C language.
Similarities Between C and C++
- Both languages have the same code structure.
- They both have a similar syntax.
- They both have a similar compilation.
- Their basic memory model is very close to the hardware.
- Both the languages share the same basic syntax. Also, almost all the operators and keywords of C are present in C++ as well, and they do the same thing.
- Similar notions of heap, stack, static, and file-scope variables are present in both of these languages.
- As compared to C, C++ has more extended grammar. But the basic grammar here is the same.
Difference Between C and C++
| Parameter | C | C++ |
| Definition | It is a structural programming language that doesn’t provide any support for classes and objects. | It is an object-oriented programming language, and it provides support for the concept of classes and objects. |
| History | Dennis Ritchie developed the C language at the AT&T Bell Laboratories in around 1969. | Bjarne Stroustrup developed the C++ language in 1979-1980 at Bell Labs. |
| Type of Programming Language | C primarily supports procedural programming for developing codes. Here, it checks the code line by line. | C++ supports both programming paradigms- procedural as well as object-oriented. It is, thus, known as a hybrid language. |
| Support for OOPs Feature | C has no support for the OOPs concept. Thus, it does not support encapsulation, polymorphism, and inheritance. | The C++ language supports encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism because it is an object-oriented programming language. |
| Supported Features | C has no support for functions and operator overloading. It also does not have any namespace feature and functionality of reference variables. | C++, on the other hand, supports both of the functions and operator overloading. It also has the namespace feature and the functionality of reference variables. |
| Driven Type | The C is a function-driven language because it is procedural programming. | The C++ language, on the other hand, is object-driven because it is OOP (object-oriented programming). |
| Data Security | C is vulnerable to manipulation via outside code. It is because it does not support encapsulation- leading to its data behaving as a free entity. | C++, on the other hand, is a very secure language. It supports encapsulation of data in the form of objects- thus hiding the information and ensuring that one uses the structures and operators as intended. |
| Type of Subset | It is a subset of the C++ language. It cannot run the codes used in C++. | It is a superset of the C language. It is capable of running 99% of the C language codes. |
| Segregation of Data and Functions | Since C is a procedural programming language, the data and functions stay separate in it. | In the case of C++, the data and functions stay encapsulated in an object’s form. |
| Hiding Data and Information | C does not support the hiding of data and information. | C++ language hides the data through encapsulation. This process ensures that a user utilizes the structures as operators as intended. |
| Built-in Data Types | The C language does not support built-in data types. | The C++ language supports built-in data types. |
| Function Inside Structures | In the case of C, it does not define the functions inside structures. | In the case of C++, it uses functions inside a structure. |
| Reference Variables | It does not support any reference variables. | It supports reference variables. |
| Overloading of Functions | Function overloading allows a user to have more than one function with different parameters but the same name. The C language does not support it. | The C++ language supports function overloading. |
| Overriding of Functions | Function overriding provides the specific implementation to any function that is defined already in the base class. The C language does not support it. | The C++ language supports function overriding. |
| Header File | C language uses the <stdio.h> header file. | C++ language uses the <iostream.h> header file. |
| Namespace Features | The namespace feature groups various entities like objects, classes, and functions under a specific name. No namespace features are present in the C language. | The C++ language uses the namespace features to help avoid name collisions. |
| Virtual and Friend Functions | The C language does not support virtual and friend functions. | The C++ language supports virtual and friend functions. |
| Primary Focus | C language focuses on the process or method instead of focusing on the data. | C++ language focuses on the data instead of focusing on the procedure or method. |
| Inheritance | The inheritance feature assists the child class in reusing the parent class’s properties. The C language offers no support for inheritance. | The C++ language provides support for inheritance. |
| Allocation and Deallocation of Memory | The C language provides calloc() and malloc() for dynamic allocation of memory and free() for deallocation of memory. | The C++ language provides a new operator for the allocation of memory and a delete operator for the deallocation of memory. |
| Exception Handling | It does not provide any direct support for exceptional handling. C language requires the usage of functions that support exception handling. | It provides direct support for exceptional handling. The C++ language uses a try-catch block. |
| Access Modifiers | The structures in C have no access modifiers. | The structures in C++ do have access modifiers. |
| Type of Approach | C language follows a top-down approach. It functions to break down the main module into various tasks. Then it breaks these tasks into sub-tasks, and so on. | C++ language follows the bottom-up approach. It means that it first develops the lower-level modules and then moves on to the next-level modules. |
| Function for Input/Output | The C language uses the scanf() and printf() functions for the input and output operations. | In the C++ language, it uses the cin and cout for the input and output operations. |
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