David has over 40 years of industry experience in software development and information technology and a bachelor of computer science
Computers are a part of most aspects of our lives. If you don't agree, try to name an electronic item that doesn't contain one. Sure, it's possible. But it's getting more and more difficult, particularly with the recent Internet-of-Things movement. You know, that movement that wants to add everything we use to the connected world of the Internet! We're already seeing appliances like toasters and refrigerators that connect to the internet through your router. What's next? It makes sense that there is a need to control these items and provide them with instructions that define how they operate. One way to do this is through a programming language like C++ or C#.
C++ is an object-oriented computer programming language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1979. By object-oriented, we mean that the language has the ability to define and manipulate a construct known as an object. An object is a collection of information that is combined with a specific set of operations that can be performed on the information. A classic example is that of a queue. Virtually everyone is familiar with this idea. We experience it when we stop for coffee in the morning at our favorite coffee shop. It is a first-in-first-out structure where new items are added at the back (enqueue), and old ones are removed from the front (dequeue).
C# is another example of an object-oriented programming language. Developed by Microsoft and released in 2002, it is much more recent than its older sibling, C++. It is also considered a general programming language, meaning that it can be applied to a number of programming tasks and problems. Today it is still quite popular, particularly for those things that use another of Microsoft's key technologies, .NET. Examples of its use fall into areas like:
These two languages are similar in a number of ways. The three most significant similarities are as follows:
Although they are similar in many ways, there are a number of differences between the two languages. Most are syntax specific and will be caught by the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) you are using, or at compile time, so you don't have to overly concern yourself with them. But there are a couple worth noting because they can affect how you write your programs.
To recap, C++ and C# are object-oriented computer programming languages. Object-oriented means the ability to define and manipulate a construct known as an object. An object is a collection of information and the operations that can be performed on the information. The two languages are similar in that they are C language derivatives, they are object oriented, and they are compiled. They differ in that C# is memory managed, C# is type-safe, C# doesn't rely on pointers, and C# strings are immutable.
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