Difference between programming language C, C++ and C#

Today we are going to talk about the difference between C, C++ and C# because they share the same letter 'C' in their name and sometimes newbie programmer gets confused. Well we know that these are programming language, but why do they have the same identical name. Are they almost related to each other? Such questions keep coming up from many youngsters who are new to programming field. So let’s get started,

C Programming Language

C is a programming language that was created 49 years ago (i.e. in 1972). C programming language has influenced other programming languages like PHP, Python, Java, JavaScript, Go and many others. C is a language which considered being a very important language in the history of computer and is taught to everyone who is in the beginning of their programming learning phase.

As said earlier that C was created 1972, that means back then computers were not good as good they are right now in this era. So C is very good in working on machines that don't have other resources in been as close to the hardware as possible. For example things that are made using C language are: 

Mars Rover Curiosity:

Image Source: mars.nasa.gov

Can you believe that, the thing which was sent to space, to Mars, that landed on Mars and moving around and also taking pictures of Mars and sending those back to NASA over satellites. That thing is programmed with 2.5 million lines of C language code. Just the raw C code. Because the Mars Rover doesn't have much memory and enough processing power. So it was required to have as much as speed it can in as little space as possible.
So this is what C language can do.

Source: softwareengineering.stackexchange.com

C++ Programming Language

C++ is just like C but with classes. Even the creator of C++, Bjarne Stroustrup says that C is obsolete. When he created C++, he intended C++ to be a superset of C. Sperset in the sense, that C++ extends C Language and made certain addtions. Just like JavaScript and TypeScript, TypeScript extends Javscript and it adds 'Types'. It is just like extension of the previous product with some new features.

C++ was supposed to be C but with classes because C does not classes (Object Oriented Programming). OOP is very-very important when you have to organize large code.

This is what was intended by creator of C++, Bjarne Stroustrup, he wanted C++ to be a replacement of C programming, and also didn’t wanted to totally replace the whole C Language, and they should use all language unified all together.

Why do we do programming in C++?

Well there is no difference in speed comparison between C and C++, and there is no such difference between hardware compatibility as well. But people sometimes chose C++ over C because it has Object Oriented Approach which allows making large programs and also makes programming easier,

Programs developed using C++

VLC Media player is developed using C, C++ and Objective-C

VLC Media Player Github Link

Image source: Google Image Search

C# Programming Language

C# or C Sharp is a whole different programming language than C and C++. C# is more similar to java than C++. C# is like Java of Microsoft, and was created for the enterprise applications. Microsoft spent a lot of money and time in developing this language because C# works on the Dot Net (.Net) ecosystem.

Java by Oracle is one thing and C# with .Net by Microsoft is another thing. In some countries Java is more preferred and in some countries like US and Europe, C# ruled the most.

What C# can do?

C# / C Sharp is very powerful, you can make backend and frontend. With C# and ASP.Net you can develop full stack website. Developers also use it develop IOS applications. Also now a day’s C# is preferred the most and has high increase in usage because of Unity3D. Unity3D is a video game engine, so with C# and Unity you can make video games for Xbox, PlayStation, IOS or Android.

Image Source: Google Image Search

So far we talked about the pros of C#, here are the cons: 

C# is not as fast as C and C++, because in C# we don’t do things manually, the whole program and compiler automatically does certain stuffs on its own to help the developer. Things like Just-in-time compiler.

Also while developing a project in C#, the program continuously checks for errors, while the development of the project. So errors can be found and rectified by the developer a soon as possible.

Unlike in C and C++, where the errors are only be detected while compilation of the source code. This ability which makes C# very good also gives a burden on the machine that runs it.

Using C and C++, the priority is given to the specs of the machine, and using C# the priority is given to the developer. Using C++ the computer runs fast and using C# the developers works fast. C# is language where many developers are satisfied with it, because it is hassle free as developers don’t need to do things manually and it also allows developing different stuffs. C# is more similar to Java, so if you know Java, you can learn C# very fast, maybe like one or two weeks to get accustomed with the programming user interface.

In my case, I use C# because I like to make stuffs with Dot Net, for developing Active Server Pages (ASP) for website development. I never worked with Unity but I hope I will definitely work it in the future. Check out my project: Online Election System using ASP.Net
I think that learning C# is a very good career choice, as many MNCs want a full stack developer who knows and has experienced with Dot Net (.Net) framework.

So that’s it, here is the summary of this article:

We discuss three programming languages C, C++ and C#. All three have their own benefits. C and C++ similar to each other works best for machines with low specs to provide best processing speed. On the other hand, C# is similar to Java not C and C++ and developed for more enterprise related work. Developer’s productivity is on top using C# but working with C# does not fits with low specs machines.

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