The programming world is full of different languages. Languages each have their uses, advantages, and fans. But for someone who wants to start learning programming, choosing the right programming language is always a big challenge.
Choosing the right programming language depends on various factors. In other words, it is impossible to say for sure whether a programming language is good or bad. Rather, a person interested in programming should choose the right programming language by researching and searching according to his own goal, interest, and motivation.
In this article, a comprehensive comparison of two popular and popular programming languages Python and C++ has been discussed.
Table of Contents
What is C++ programming language?
C++ language is a programming language that entered the world of programming in 1979. It has been a popular programming language for many years because it can be used to program and develop many different types of software. At first, the name of this language was C with classes. Because C++ was introduced as an extension to C language that had class facilities. But after some time, the name C++ was chosen as the official name of this language.
An important feature of C++ is that it is an intermediate programming language; That is, it has the characteristics of high and low-level programming languages at the same time. This feature allows programmers to simultaneously use high-level features for ease of coding and low-level features for finer control over system resources.
What is Python programming language?
Python is a programming language introduced by Guido van Rossum in 1991. Python is an object-oriented, high-level programming language and is one of the easiest programming languages to learn, and is somewhat close to a pseudo-code language.
Python version 2.0 was released in October 2000, which added new features such as memory management. Python is widely used in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analysis, statistics, etc. For this reason, its popularity has increased greatly in recent years. The chart below is taken from Google Trends, which shows the high popularity of the Python language.
Features of C++ language
Intermediate programming
C++ is an intermediate-level programming language that also supports low-level features. This feature makes the C++ language suitable for programmers who need direct hardware management.
Pointers
C++ uses pointers to manage memory. The pointer allows programmers to have precise control over memory resources directly.
Objectivism
C++ is an object-oriented language, which allows programmers to use object-oriented principles such as inheritance.
Standard libraries
C++ has standard libraries that programmers can use to perform various tasks such as input/output management, strings, various algorithms, etc.
Features of the Python language
Readable and simple syntax
Python makes programming easy for programmers with its readable English-like syntax.
Object-oriented and functional language
Python is an object-oriented language. Python also supports functional programming. Functional programming is a programming approach that focuses on functions (specific operations). In this approach, functions are considered the main programming tools. Functional programming emphasizes that programmers should define functions simply and understandably and use them to solve larger problems. In this programming style, the codes are more readable, maintainable, and easier to understand and test.
Support for machine learning and artificial intelligence
Python is widely used in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and various libraries have been defined in the Python language for this purpose.
Multipurpose language
As a general and widely used language, Python is used in various fields from software development to web development, automation, artificial intelligence, etc.
Support for automatic memory management
Memory management in Python is done automatically and programmers don’t need to manage memory details manually.
Application of C++ language
Game development
C++ is used to make video games with complex graphics and 3D. This language allows programmers to develop high-quality and high-speed games using multi-layer network facilities.
Build a compiler
Since C++ is a low-level programming language, it allows programmers to directly interact with hardware details such as memory, registers, and various electronic units.
For this reason, another use of C++ language is making compilers for other programming languages. These compilers are responsible for converting the source code of the program into executable code on the hardware.
software development
C++ is also used to develop complex software programs. Famous software such as Adobe Photoshop, Spotify, and YouTube have used this language for their various components in parts of the program. The power and efficiency of C++ make it possible to develop fast-performing programs.
Development of embedded systems
C++ is used to generate embedded systems. These systems are used in various devices such as smart watches, medical devices, IoT devices, and other devices.
Application of Python language
Artificial intelligence and machine learning
Python is used as a very powerful programming language in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Using Python libraries, programmers build and train complex machine-learning models. Machine learning models are used in various fields such as image recognition, machine translation, data prediction, and many other tasks.
Web Development
Python is also a popular language in web development. Frameworks like Django and Flask allow Python developers to create dynamic and powerful websites at high speed and with optimized code volume.
software development
Python is used as a supporting language in software development. For example, Dropbox developers have used Python to develop their desktop software. This language is used as a trusted and easy language for software projects due to its high code readability and ease of development.
Robotics and automation
In the field of robotics, Python is used as a functional language for automating robotic processes. Since Python is a readable and high-level language, it is much easier to develop and maintain robots and automatic processes in this language.
Comparison of Python and C++ from different aspects
Ease and ease
C++ language is more complex than Python. C++ syntax is more complicated than Python and has rules that programmers must adhere to.
In contrast, Python is known as a simple language. Python’s simple and easy syntax makes it less time for programmers to learn it. In addition, Python language codes are more readable and shorter compared to C++.
Speed
C++ language is faster due to the use of static data (Static Typing). Static data allows the compiler to apply certain optimizations during the compilation phase of the code, resulting in faster code execution.
Python is slower than C++. The reason for this slowness is that Python supports dynamic data (Dynamic Typing). It also uses an interpreter to run programs, which leads to a decrease in speed compared to compiled languages.
Memory Management
In C++, memory management is manual, meaning that the programmer must manually allocate and deallocate memory. This makes C++ sensitive to memory errors such as memory leaks.
In Python, memory management is done automatically. In other words, Python has a garbage collector that automatically detects objects that are no longer needed and frees the memory associated with them. This feature makes programmers not worry about memory management.
variable defining
In C++ programming, to define a variable, it is necessary to determine the type of that data such as integer, decimal number, string, etc.
In Python, there is no need to specify the data type of variables. Python automatically detects the data type associated with each variable.
Application
C++ is a good choice for hardware-level coding. For this reason, this programming language is widely used in the construction of embedded systems.
On the other hand, Python is widely used in technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other advanced fields related to data science.
In addition, Python is also used as a popular programming language in back-end development.