Are there any advantages that C strings have over C++ strings?

 

Are there any advantages that C strings have over C++ strings?

C doesn't have strings. It has arrays of characters and all the null pointers, memory leaks, and buffer overflows that go along with that.

C++ has a string class which overcomes many of the deficiencies of C's arrays -- but at a run-time performance cost.

 

Are there any advantages that C strings have over C++ strings?

Assuming by "C string" you mean nul-terminated arrays of char values, then the advantage is performance, both in terms of memory and speed. There are a lot of disadvantages, too. So it all depends on what is important to you.

 

I think he's asking the difference between the "CString" class:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa300688(v=vs.60).aspx

and the "String" class:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string(v=vs.113).aspx

 

I think he's asking the difference between the "CString" class:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa300688(v=vs.60).aspx

and the "String" class:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.string(v=vs.113).aspx

Then why mention "C"?

 

Hi,

You can write your own C String Class or just regular C string functions and then you'll get a first hand look at what is involved and what it helps you with and what it may cause as a result.

There are some operations on strings that are often needed when dealing with a lot of strings. These involve replacing sub strings in a larger string, selecting a range of characters in a string, and of course sorting to name a few. Sorting can be done with your own algorithm or what i think was called "bsort" or something like that.

I had a program a long time back that i had to write to store file names and sort them and retrieve them for various purposes. I ended up writing a "C String Array" class that would automatically allocate memory and keep track of pointers and stuff like that. It made life much easier because i had functions like Append, Prepend, Sort, Replace, stuff like that, but you make whatever you need. If i remember right, one of the Microsoft Foundation Classes is a C String Array, but i was happier writing my own.

 

Then why mention "C"?

I was thinking he was confused and got "C" from the class name "CString".

Sometimes I think beginners get confused and think strings are actually part of the language, as opposed to just a library someone wrote for convenience. I also think a lot of guys now are starting with C++, skipping C and not realizing the difference. i.e. the class is named CString so it must be the string implementation for the C language, as opposed to a C++ class. I could be wrong, just the perception I got.

 

I was thinking he was confused and got "C" from the class name "CString".

Well, he never came back to get his answer (or to thank us for our efforts). I suppose it wasn't all that important.