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.