Battle of the titans: Comparing C, C++, Java and Python

Introduction

Programming languages are tools that are used by the humans to communicate with computers and get their work done. From a simple data analysis to powering a robot, all of these actions are done by coding using programming languages. There have been many programming languages available in the market and some of them had a very limited lifetime and some are in the industry for over 50 years now. Let us take time to understand some fundamental differences between the major programming languages that have been in the market starting with C,C++, Java and Python. We will first get to know the purpose of each of these programming languages and also understand some fundamental differences.

C : C programming language was developed by Dennis Ritchie in the year 1972. It is a very powerful, middle level programming language used specifically for system programming and embedded systems.

C++ : C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in the year 1979 and it is a object oriented programming language with powerful features. It is used for game development and high performance applications.

Java: Java was developed by James Gosling in the year 1991. It is a very versatile, platform independent programming language. It is used extensively for web development and app development.

Python : Python was developed by Guido Van Rossum in the year 1991. Over the years, the programming language’s popularity has grown extensively and it is used a lot nowadays for data science, automation, implementing machine learning and even web development.

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S.NO	C	C++	JAVA	PYTHON
1.	Structured programming language	Object-oriented programming language	Object-oriented programming language	Object-oriented programming language
2.	Compiled	Compiled	Compiled & Interpreted	Interpreted
3.	32 keywords Eg:- case, char	60 keywords Eg:- class, protected	50 keywords Eg:- interface, extends	36 keywords Eg:- False, None
4.
	Rules for naming identifier	Rules for naming identifier	Rules for naming identifier	Rules for naming identifier
	Should begin with an alphabet	Should begin with an alphabet	It can begin with the alphabet, underscore, or dollar symbol. But cannot begin with a number	Should start with an alphabet or underscore.
	Can have numbers, underscore	Can have numbers, underscore	Keywords cannot used as identifiers	Should not contain white spaces. Can be a combination of alphabets, numbers or underscore
	Keywords cannot used as identifiers	Keywords cannot used as identifiers	—	Keywords cannot be used as identifiers
5.	Comments:- /…./ (multi line comment), //(single line comment)	Comments:- /…./ (multi line comment), //(single line comment)	Comments:- /…./ (multi line comment), //(single line comment), /** …. */(documentation comment)	#- Single line comment “””-Triple quotes – multi line comment
6.	Data types :- int, char, float, double, void	Data types :- int, char, float, double, void	Data types:- byte, short, int, long, float, double,char, boolean	Data types:- String,integer,float,complex,list,tuple,range,dictionary,set,frozenset,Boolean,bytes, bytearray,memoryview,None
7.	Bitwise shift operators are : >>(right shift),<<(left shift)	Bitwise shift operators are : >>(right shift),<<(left shift)	Bitwise shift operators are : >>(right shift),<<(left shift),>>>(triple right shift operator)	Bitwise shift operators : >> ( right shift ) << (left shift)
8.	Char is 8 bits wide	Char is 8 bits wide	Java uses Unicode to represent characters. It is 16 bits wide.	No character data types. Character is simply a string of length 1
9.	Preprocessor directives allowed Eg:- #include,#define	Preprocessor directives allowed Eg:- #include,#define	No preprocessor directives	No preprocessor directives
10.	Variables need not be initialized before using it	Variables need not be initialized before using it	Variables must be initialized before using it	No explicit declaration of variables. We can start using it after initialization.
11.	Array should be declared mentioning its size Eg:- int num[10	Array should be declared mentioning its size Eg:- int num[10	Arrays are declared without mentioning its size. int num[]; num=new int[10] (or) int num[]=new int[10];	Use lists Use array module Use numpy module
12.	Explicit string data type not available	Explicit string data type not available	String data type available in java. It is a class	String data type available
13.	Supports pointers	Supports pointers	Does not support pointers	Does not support pointers directly
14.	Structures and unions available	Structures and unions available	Structures and unions not available	Structures and unions not available
15.	—	Supports operator overloading	Does not support operator overloading	Supports operator overloading
16.	—	Programs can be written in c++ without using a class	All the code in java program needs to be written in one or more classes	—
17.	Global variables and functions are allowed	Global variables and functions are allowed	No global variables or functions	Allowed to create global variables
18.	—	Allows default arguments in functions	Not allowed in java	Support for default argument
19.	—	Supports multiple inheritance	Multiple inheritance not supported	Yes. Supports multiple inheritance
20.	—	Supports constructors and destructors	Supports constructors and destructors	Supports constructors and destructors
21.	Supports typedef	Supports typedef	Does not Supports typedef	—
22.	Unsigned integers can be declared	Unsigned integers can be declared	No unsigned integers	No need to specify any data type at all.
23.	Allows goto	Allows goto	Does not allows goto	Does not allows goto
24.	—	delete operator available	No delete operator	del keyword is used to delete objects
25.	—	Objects may be passed by value or by reference	Objects are passed only by reference in Java	Uses Pass by Object reference

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