[NBLUG/talk] Java v. C++ in Linux

[Chad Krsek]

--- "William L. Thomson Jr."
<support at obsidian-studios.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2003-05-06 at 23:13, Chad Krsek wrote:
> >
> > For instance, in java, you can't make any system
> > calls, whereas in c++ you definitly can, but they
> are
> > differnet from platform to platform.
> 
> You can most definitely make system calls in Java.
> No different than in
> C++ except syntax differences of course.
> 

I did not know that.

> > If you are making a card game, java may be the way
> to
> > go.  You could create an Applet, and anyone on any
> > machine could run the program throough a webpage.
> > 
> > On the other hand, if your writing a
> multi-threaded
> > search application, you'd really want to use c++,
> as
> > it would be faster, and becuae Java only supports
> user
> > level threads.
> 
> It all depends on intended use and programing
> ability. Java is easier to
> learn and implement things like threads and
> catching. Doing that with
> C++ is not novice stuff at all. Maybe threads, but
> most definitely not
> catching.


Threads may be easier in Java, but as they run within
a single user process, I think they lose most of their
benefit.


> 
> > Further, if you want to do systems programming,
> and
> > say, manage some device, you'd have to use c++, as
> > there are no direct system calls in Java.
> 
> In what manner are you referring to system calls?
> 
> > In general, you could say that java only supports
> high
> > level programing, i.e. many layers away from the
> > actual OS and hardware, whereas c++ supports high
> > level, and low-level, i.e. direct manipulation of
> the
> > system.
> 
> That's not always the case. Java can be used in most
> places C++ can be
> used. Yes Java has a layer of interpretation, but
> you can still access
> "low level functionality"
> 
> However generally when you are working with low
> level things like
> drivers, kernels, etc. you will use C, not C++ or
> Java.
> 
> > Both java and C++ have a large amount of
> supporting
> > libraries.  Sometimes java's libraries can be more
> > helpful, because they are all developed by Sun,
> 
> Not all.
> 
> >  I
> > think, whereas there are a ton of third party
> > libraries for c++
> 
> I would say that with Java you pretty much get all
> the libraries you
> need with your JDK or JRE. With the exception of
> some. With C++ you are
> pretty much dependent on what your env provides you.
> Or what you can
> find or get your eyes and hands on.
> 
> > A case in point, if you need to compute
> > 300^19313mod987 (and you don't know your number
> > theory), you could simply use the modpow function
> in
> > java's BigInteger library.  If you were using c++,
> > you'd probably have to scour the web for a library
> > written by joe somebody that supports such huge
> > calculations, but you may never know for sure how
> > reliable it is, or if it even works.
> 
> I agree on this point. With C++ most of the time you
> want to write you
> own libraries, if they are not part of your
> os/distro or env.
> 
> -- 
> Sincerely,
> William L. Thomson Jr.
> Support Group
> Obsidian-Studios, Inc.
> 3548 Jamestown Ln.
> Jacksonville, FL 32223
> Phone/Fax  904.260.2445
> http://www.obsidian-studios.com
> 
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> http://nblug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk


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