There are many programming
languages to program a computer. The most popular and basic ones are Basic, C,
C++, Pascal, Java, and Assembler. Machine language is a collection of
instructions, which controls the computer's hardware. Many programming languages
are compilers and some programming languages are interpreters. Compilers
translate the entire program into machine language before executing any of the
instructions while interpreters proceed through a program by translating and
then executing single or small groups of instructions such as line by
line or statement by statement.
Actually, both compilers and
interpreters are computer programs. That means C and C++ are computer programs
that accept the inputs and generate an output. They accept source codes as
inputs and generate object codes as an output.
C and C++: A
Short Overview
C is the most popular
structured programming language. It was invented and implemented by Dennis
Ritchie. C builds on BCBL and B, which was developed by Martin Richards and Ken
Thompson.
C grew with a book named
The C Programming Language by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie
(Prentice-Hall, 1978). The most important year is 1983 for C programming
language. In 1983, a committee was organized to create ANSI standards for
C. This standardization process took six years. Finally, first standards were
adopted in late 1989. Also, 1990 and 1996 are important years for ANSI
standards of C. The most recent standard for C was released. This
book includes the full ANSI 99 C standard for C Programming Language.
C is used by programmers to
design and develop any kind of programming. You can write source code for a
system task or high level GUI design with C. Also, you can create your own
source library with C. Even after many years, C has not lost its popularity.
Today many programmers use C to generate their source code for different
programming tasks.
Bjarne Stroustrup created C++
in the 1980s. C++ is based upon C and is a superior set of it. C++ is the
most popular object oriented programming language with C power. Its first name
was C with Classes. C++ offers programmers more power. Object oriented
programming is the primary addition to C provided by C++. Another
important addition is generic programming.
C++ has now been standardized
with ANSI and ISO committees. The final draft international standards of C++
were released in late 1997 and the actual international standards were
adopted in mid 1998.
As I said before, this book is
written to be compliant with ANSI/ISO C and C++. You can compile and run source
codes of this book (You can find all codes and examples in book's CD)
with any ANSI/ISO standard C and C++ compiler tools.
VB.NET:
Another Short Overview
VB.NET is a strong, modern,
object-oriented and type-safe programming language. Also, VB.NET probably will
prove to be the most important new programming language since the
advent of Java. VB.NET brings together Visual Basic simplicity, Java
specification and the power of C++. At this point, I should say Borland at an
earlier date developed products such as Delphi and C++ Builder which have
offer some of the benefits of VB.NET.
The problem for C and C++
programmers was a rapid development combined with the power to access all the
functionality of the underlying platform. Programmers want an environment that
is completely in sync with emerging Web standards and one that provides easy
integration with existing applications. Also, C and C++ developers would like
the ability to code at a low level when and if the need arises.
Under this light, Microsoft
solution to this problem is a language called VB.NET. Basically, VB.NET is the
premier language being promoted by Microsoft for the .NET Platform.
The .NET framework's Common
Language Runtime (CLR) is much similar to Java Virtual Machine (JVM), in terms
of garbage collection, security, just in time compilation (JIT). However, the
fundamental difference arises from the variance in perception of the Sun's Java
design team headed by James Gosling and that of Microsoft's VB.NET designers .
The Common Language Runtime
(CLR) is the runtime environment of the .NET framework, which manages the
execution of code and provides services. The Common Language Runtime (CLR) is
also proposed for ECMA standard. However, The ECMA documents refer the CLR as
Common Language Infrastructure (CLI). It has five components namely
Using VB is required Common
Language Runtime and the .NET Framework class library. It is a new programming
language. Microsoft decided to develop an Object Oriented and Web compatible
programming language derived from C, C++ and Java. The result is VB.NET and
VB.NET is stronger, more advantageous and easier to use than the others.