Differences between C and C++ programming languages

This tutorial is about the differences between C and C++ programming languages. As we know, C++ is an extended version of C, and hence it has many similarities with its parent language. The purpose of C++ was to bring in some changes that could help to overcome the disadvantages of C such as the concept of namespaces, run-time checking, no object-oriented properties, no exception handling, etc. Thus C++ is different than C in many ways. These differences have been discussed below.

Differences between C and C++

The differences between C and C++ programming languages have been given in the below table.

 

C	C++
C was developed between the year 1969 and 1973 at AT&T Bell Labs by an American computer scientist Dennis Ritchie.	C++ was developed in 1979 by a Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup.
C supports procedural programming paradigm.	C++ supports both procedural as well as the object-oriented programming paradigm.
C is a subset of C++.	As C++ is an extension of C, it can be called a superset of C.
C does not support polymorphism, inheritance or encapsulation as C does not support object-oriented programming.	C++ supports polymorphism, inheritance or encapsulation as it supports object-oriented programming
C has 32 reserved keywords.	As of now, there are more than 60 keywords in C++.
In C, data and function are separated.	In C++, data and function are kept together by encapsulation.
C does not support reference variables.	C++ supports reference variables.
Since C is a procedural programming language, it is function-driven.	C++ is an object driven language.
C does not support function and operator overloading.	C++ supports function and operator overloading.
In C, we cannot define functions inside structures.	In C++, functions can be defined and used inside structures.
C does not have any namespace feature.	C++ provides us with a namespace feature that avoids name-collision in the program.
C does not support virtual and friend functions.	C++ supports virtual and friend functions.
C focuses on methods instead of data.	C++ focuses on data rather than method or process.
C has no support for exception handling.	C++ provides ways to handle such exceptions.
C uses malloc() or calloc() for dynamic memory alloaction free() for deallocation.	C++ uses the new operator for memory allocation and delete operator for deallocation.
C uses functions scanf() and printf() for input and output respectively.	C++ uses cin and cout objects for input and output respectively.

Thank you.