Topic: Differences between C++ and Java

 转自：http://www.csupomona.edu/~dlbell/cppexplanationsfa99/23.html

 

Posted by Joan Ng on November 14, 1999 at 18:08:19:

In Reply to: Differences between C++ and Java posted by Approval from Dr. Bell on September 29, 1999 at 22:47:37:

In the evolution of Java, B gave birth to C. C evolved into C++, and C++ transmuted into Java. Java is the language of the Internet. It was conceived by James Gosling, Patrick Naughton, and Mike Sheridan at Sun Microsystems, Inc. in 1990 and took five years to develop.

Java can be used to create two types of programs: applications and applets. The output of a Java compiler is not executable code. Rather it is bytecode. Java run-time system is an interpreter for bytecode. It is simply a highly efficient means of encoding a program for interpretation. It is much easier to allow Java programs to run in a wide variety of environments. Once the run-time package exists for a given system, the bytecode version of any Java program can run on it. Therefore, using bytecode to represent programs is the easiest way to create truly portable programs.

There are two surface similarities between Java and C++. First, Java uses a syntax similar to C++, such as the general forms of the for, while, and do loops. Second, Java supports object-oriented programming, same way as C++.

There are also significant differences from C++, which fundamentally makes Java distinct from C++. Perhaps the single biggest difference between Java and C++ is that Java does not support pointers. Pointers are inherently insecure and troublesome. Since pointers do not exist in Java, neither does the -> operator. Some other C++ features are not found in Java.

 Java does not include structures or unions because the class encompasses these other forms. It is redundant to include them.
 Java does not support operator overloading.
 Java does not include a preprocessor or support the preprocessor directives.
 Java does not perform any automatic type conversions that result in a loss of precision.
 All the code in a Java program is encapsulated within one or more classes. Therefore, Java does not have global variables or global functions.
 Java does not support multiple inheritance.
 Java does not support destructors, but rather, add the finalize() function.
 Java does not have the delete operator.
 The << and >> are not overloaded for I/O operations.
 Java does not support templates.

Java shares many similarities with C++ as it relates to classes, but there are also several differences. By default, members of a class are accessible by other members of their class, derived classes, and by other members of their package. Therefore, class members are 搈ore public?than they are in C++, however, the private access specifier applies only to the variable or method that it immediately precedes. All class objects are instantiated in Java using the new operator. Therefore, all class objects are dynamically allocated. When there are no references to an object, then the object is considered inactive.

Java includes two class-management features that help make using and organizing classes easier. The first is called a package, which defines a scope. Therefore, names declared inside a package are private to that package. Java uses file directories to store packages. Therefore, each package must be stored in a directory that has the same name as the package梚ncluding capitalization.

Java, like C++, supports hierarchies of classes. However, the way that inheritance is implemented in Java differs substantially from the way that it is implemented in C++. Since multiple inheritance is not allowed in Java, then Java class hierarchies are linear. In Java, inheritance is referred to as subclassing. A base class in C++ is referred to as superclass in Java.