In the 80s computers had limited memory space. There was a demand for languages that would be light for a processor but still very quick and effective. That’s when C++ was created. It was written by Bjarne Stroustrup over 30 years ago but it’s still very commonly used in the programming world.
What is C++?
To find out whether C++ will be useful for you, it’s necessary to learn what it has to offer. C++ is an object-oriented programming language that allows you to write a very low-level operating system modules as well as embedded systems. It can be used in a backend of a web app, but usually for the bigger scale projects. Moreover, it’s very commonly used in game development. It’s a very strong language that allows you a very deep and advanced programming. But is it better than the competition?
Benefits of C++
We decided to set apart the best advantages of C++. Bellow you can find what we believe are the strongest points for this language.
- When it comes to performance, C++ is like no other. Because of such low-level programming, written system can be extremely fast.
- When compiling C++, compiler finds errors and unused modules and cleans them for you.
- Thanks to header files, you don’t always have to compile the whole code.
- Sometimes you have to develop a program for a device that has limited capabilities. C++ allows you to manage the memory usage and minimize file size.
- It allows you to create a very efficient and advanced program for big apps, games or embedded systems.
- It’s used by many developers and it’s widely supported by the community.
- When you know C++, it’s easy to learn other similar languages. Many of them inherit a lot of functions from it.
- You can write programs for a lot of different hardware platforms.
Internet of Things (IoT) written in C++
C++ is often being used in IoT. It does a really good job with advanced programming. With the technological progress, there was created an Internet of Things (IoT) concept. Basically it means creating connection, exchange, processing and storing informations between devices without human interaction. It’s a very general term that describes all of the embedded devices that originally didn’t have an Internet connection. C++ is very commonly used in IoT since its very powerful capabilities. In the last few years IoT market has registered an enormous growth. More and more companies invest in newest technology to improve their businesses. C++ can give you an access to many interesting IoT projects.
source: https://labs.sogeti.com/9-graphs-on-how-businesses-are-using-the-internet-of-things/
Disadvantages of C++
It’s an extremely powerful language but let’s be real, it’s not always worth using.
- Really complex and difficult to learn.
- Very time consuming. Sometimes it’s better to choose a higher-level language that allows you to write pretty much the same thing, just way quicker and easier. Java, Python or PHP can sometimes be a better option for you.
- To write in C++ a developer sooner or later is going to have to learn how to use pointers. It can definitely cause some nerves and time. Quite often you can encounter an infamous “segmentation fault” that can make a developer go crazy.
- Java and C# has Garbage Collector that cleans the memory for you. C++ doesn’t offer that.
- You really need to get to know the hardware platform you’re writing the code for. Sometimes it’s just not necessary and choosing other languages would be a better option in that case. For example Java with Java virtual machine.
Summary
There’s quite a few options when it comes to writing an app or embedded system. The whole difficulty lays in choosing the right one.
You can use C++ to write an app, but what’s the point. It would be unnecessarily difficult, when you can use Java or other simpler languages. C++ is going to be the most effective on big projects when there’s a lot of data to manage. That’s when it shows its power.
C++ might be a 30 year old language but there’s still plenty of jobs for developers with this skill. Moreover, when you’ll master C++, it’ll be super easy for you to jump into Java, C# and pretty much most of similar languages. Many of them inherit a lot of functions from C++ so it’s definitely useful to learn it. But it’s not that type of a language that you want to start learning programming with. There’s a very steep learning curve so be realistic with your capabilities. If you feel strong enough and feel like you can do it – go for it.
