What is C++

Introduction to C++

Computer is an electronic device used for data processing. Data is processed in the light of instructions given to the computers. Computers do not understand human or natural languages.  So we need to use a language understandable by computers. A language which can be understood by a digital computer is called a computer language.

There are a number of computer languages ranging from low-level to high and very high-level e.g. Assembly, FORTRAN, COBOL, C, BASIC, Java, Python and so forth. All these languages have their own pros and cons. C has been one of the most popular computer languages being used since 1973 for developing different kinds of software in general and system software in particular.

As mentioned earlier, every computer language has its own strengths and weaknesses. C language is no exception. For example, objected oriented programming (a strong and popular approach of programming) was not supported by C language. Visual programming and building GUI (Graphical User Interface, sometimes pronounced goyee) was not easy while programming in C language and many more.

Based on the strengths and syntax  of C language, a number of other computer languages are developed in order to write modern software and using up to-date programming approaches. C++, Java, Visual C++, C# are some of the languages which are using basic constructs of C language but are much powerful than C. All these languages have their own strengths and purpose of use. The language which is more nearer than others to C language in C++.

The first official version of C++ was developed in 1985. Apart from many minor differences, the main difference between C and C++ is that C++ supports the concepts of object-oriented programming. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a very powerful approach of programming based on classes and objects.

Almost all the modern computer languages support the OOP approach and so as C++. We will discuss about OOP later in this tutorial. At the moment you can say that it is a style of computer programming and is widely used by professional programmers.

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