Difference between C and C++

 

Aspect	C Language	C++ Language
Overview	C is a procedural, general-purpose programming language developed in the early 1970s. It is known for system-level programming.	C++ is an object-oriented language built as an extension of C in the 1980s, supporting both procedural and object-oriented programming.
Programming Paradigm	Procedural programming – focuses on functions, sequence, and structured code flow.	Multi-paradigm – supports procedural, object-oriented, and generic programming.
Object-Oriented Support	Does not support object-oriented programming concepts like classes and objects.	Fully supports object-oriented features such as classes, objects, inheritance, encapsulation, and polymorphism.
Data Security	Less secure – data can be accessed from any function, no concept of encapsulation.	More secure – uses classes and access specifiers (public, private, protected) for data hiding.
Code Reusability	Limited – reusability mostly achieved through functions.	High – reusability via classes and inheritance mechanisms.
Memory Management	Manual memory allocation using malloc(), calloc(), and free().	Supports both manual (new, delete) and automatic memory management via constructors/destructors.
Standard Libraries	Smaller standard library focused on basic operations (I/O, math, strings).	Richer standard library, including STL (Standard Template Library) for data structures, algorithms, and utilities.
Function Overloading	Not supported – each function must have a unique name.	Function and operator overloading supported for more flexibility and cleaner code.
Encapsulation & Abstraction	No built-in support for encapsulation or abstraction.	Strong support using classes, access specifiers, and abstract data types.
File Extension	Typically .c	Typically .cpp
Compiler	Uses C compilers like gcc (GNU Compiler Collection).	Uses C++ compilers like g++, but most C++ compilers can also compile C code.
Inheritance & Polymorphism	Not available.	Fully supports inheritance (single/multiple) and polymorphism (compile-time and run-time).
Namespaces	Not supported.	Supported via the namespace keyword to avoid naming conflicts.
Error Handling	Uses return codes or errno values to handle errors.	Supports exception handling using try, catch, and throw.
Approach	Top-down – start from the main function and break into smaller functions.	Bottom-up – objects are created first and combined into larger systems.
Speed and Performance	Slightly faster due to simplicity and lack of object-oriented overhead.	Slightly heavier but more versatile due to features like polymorphism, templates, etc.
Compatibility	Code written in C can be used in C++ projects (with some adjustments).	C++ is backward compatible with C to a great extent.
Use Cases	Operating systems, embedded systems, firmware, microcontrollers, compilers.	Game development, GUI applications, real-time simulations, large-scale software systems.