3 Advantages of C++

• C++ provides easy access to the operating system API and other low-level resources.
• Because the native code compilers for C++ are more mature than those for Java, it is often possible to write more efficient digital signal processingDigital signal processing DSP is the study of signals in a digital representation and the processing methods of these signals. DSP and analog signal processing are subsets of signal processing. It has three major subfields: audio signal processing, digita and other arithmeticArithmetic Arithmetic or arithmetics in common usage is a branch of (or the forerunner of) mathematics which records elementary properties of certain operations on numerals, though in usage by professional mathematicians, it often is treated as synonym fo-heavy code in C++ than in Java.
• You don't incur overhead for features you do not use. For example, automatic garbage collection and mandatory virtual members make Java performance unsuitable for some applications.
• It's possible to fit a C++ runtime library into a small memory and storage footprint, letting C++ code run on tiny embedded systems where even Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition won't run.
• The C++ language is defined by an open ISO standard, while Java is proprietary.
• C++ can be compiled for more platforms than are supported by the Java VM (though porting to a different architecture often requires extensive refactoring of the code).
• C++ has a much more robust model for enforcing constants, as well as provides stricter and more specific casting keywords.
• C++ provides pointers and inline assembler, which can at some times be easier than the high-level workaround.

4 Disadvantages of C++

• The presence of hardware pointers makes it easy to write a program that will inadvertently overwrite code in memory with data. This leads to buffer overflow security holes. A workaround is to always check that the data fits in the specified buffer.
• The programmer must specifically free any dynamically allocated memory, or else create a memory leak which can eventually exhaust all available system memory. The risk can be reduced by prudent selection of third-party libraries and the use of features such as STL and smart pointers.
• C++ takes longer to learn and the syntax is less forgiving. However, the basic syntax of C++ is almost equal to that on Java. The differences arise only when moving towards advanced features.

5 Differences between the languages

• C++ has operator overloading. This was not included in Java in order to keep code more readable. While there can be little doubt that this feature is often misused in C++, decreasing readability, there are also numerous good uses, such as in mathematical and scientific programming, where its use improves readability. Because the biggest application area for the Java programming language is business software, operator overloading is still considered by the language designers to be unnecessary, though many hold this position in contention.
• All objects in Java are pass-by-reference , and are dynamically allocated.
• Java has no global constants, variables, or functions.
• C++ has flexible support for pointer manipulation, while Java only allows one to assign object references.
• There is no "goto" in Java (though it is a reserved keyword and barred from use.)
• C++ supports multiple inheritance, while Java uses " interfaces". They each have their advantages and disadvantages. Multiple inheritance is often more logical and representative of how one conceptualizes a problem. However it also complicates member overloading and inheritance, and even its proponents only recommend its use sparingly. Java interfaces significantly simplify its single inheritance model syntax, but can result in larger and less intuitive source code.
  • Some degree of multiple inheritance functionality can also be gained by using "inner classes"
• Templates (C++) and generics (Java) are handled differently. In C++, each instantiation of a template generates its own code. In Java, generics only exist at compile time, which means at run time there is only one copy of the code.

See also: Comparison of C# to Java

6 External References:

• How Java Differs from C -- excerpt from Java in a Nutshell by David Flanagan

Programming language comparison

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