[wplug] relevance of C for Apps

Steven A Leach stevenaleach at mac.com
Fri Oct 8 01:42:52 EDT 2004


>I don't want to start a flame war or anything and this is/can be a
>loaded question, but is C still a good language for developing Apps? 
>  
>
For many (I would even say most, but I know I'm a little biased) 
situations, c is the most appropriate language.  Portability, 
effeciency, larger developer base than any other language.

>C++ and Java.  I know that some Java apps can take some time to load
>at first.  If it's already up and running, is it about the same as
>C++.  I'm not familiar with C++ or Java, although I had a class in
>  
>
The "advantages" of Java and C++ center mainly around the idea of Object 
Oriented programming and adding overhead in the form of checks for 
buffer overflows and etc. which the programmer should have taken care of 
him/her-self.  OO is supposed to be a convenience for the programmer to 
make development easier - but it adds overhead that the application is 
permanently saddled with.  (Actually, I think OO 
classes/abstraction/junk etc. make code harder to read and understand 
but that's probably just me) Sortof like legos verses stone and 
mortar... legos are quicker to put together but the end product is 
poor.  The same goes for stripping out important functionality from the 
langauge in order to keep the programmer from making a mistake, like a 
buffer overflow or otherwise causing a function to access memory that it 
shouldn't. 

Should anyone who is incapable of managing memory in their functions be 
writing mission critical code to begin with?

> I guess in the end looking
>in the future does it seem better to use C or some other language for
>app development.
>  
>
Given the vast amount of c code in existance (far more than any other 
langauge) and the enormous developer base, I don't see it ever becoming 
an unimportant language.  As long as portability and effeciency are 
important, we will still have c.




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