Comparison and Difference between Java and C++
Before advent of Java, C++ was very popular and most widely used object oriented programming language. Bjarne Stroustrup developed C++ in the year 1979. Java when comes to syntax, it is quite similar to C++. Java and C++ has many major differences. Java left out C++ complex concepts, modified and added new.
Let us examine few of major differences between the two :-
1. Java is pure object oriented programming language, while C++ supports both procedural and object oriented approach.
2. Java does not support multiple inheritance, while C++ supports multiple inheritance.
3. Java does not support operator overloading, while C++ supports operator overloading.
4. In Java, methods are part of the class, while C++ has stand alone methods which are not part of class.
5. In Java, objects are passed to methods only by reference, while in C++, objects can be passed to functions by value or reference.
6. Java doesn’t support pointer mechanism, while C++ uses pointers extensively.
7. In Java, Strings are objects, while in C++, Strings are null-terminated character arrays.
8. Java has built in string concatenation operator, while in C++ all string operations are performed using functions.
9. Java doesn’t support Templates, while C++ supports Templates for parameterized type.
10. Java doesn’t support default arguments, while in C++ functions can take default arguments.
11. In Java, methods are dynamically bound, while in C++ only virtual functions are dynamically bound.
12. In Java, array lengths in multidimension can vary from one element to the next within one dimension, while in C++ multidimensional arrays lengths are of same sizes.
13. In Java, there is bound checking on the arrays, while in C++ there is no bound checking.
14. Java supports automatic garbage collection, while in C++ there is no automatic garbage collection.
15. Java is a compiled and interpreted language, while C++ is a compiled language.
16. Java has no functionality of structures and unions, while C++ has structures and union.
17. Java doesn’t supports forward referencing, while C++ supports explicit forward referencing.
18. No typedef in Java, while C++ supports typedef.
19. Java provides documentation comments which is missing in C++.
20. In Java, main method doesn’t return any value, while in C++ it can return values.
21. Java supports labels on break and continue statements, while in C++ there is no label functionality.
22. Java is architectural neutral programming language, while C++ is specific to particular architecture.
23. Java supports interfaces which is missing in C++.
24. Java supports multithreading which is missing in C++.
25. No preprocessor is required in Java, while C++ rely on preprocessor.
26. In Java, program name is not included for command-line arguments, while C++ includes the program name.
27. Java supports web based applications such as JSP, servlets and applets, while C++ lacks such feature.
28. Java supports distributed applications such as RMI and sockets, while C++ lacks this functionality.
29. Java also supports network protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP, while C++ lacks those supports.
