Using C Keywords in C++ [closed]

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Closed 5 years ago.

So I was wondering why C++ allows for C keywords to be used. After all, printf("Hello, World!\n"); does the same thing as cout << "Hello, World!\n";. Is one returned to the processsor faster than the other? Or are there some keywords in C that you may need in C++? (P.S: This question is out of sheer curiosity)

Answer 1

This is because C++ was designed to allow for as much compatability with C code as possible. It allows it to be more extensible, and easily adopted into applications previously written in pure C.

Answer 2

C++ wasn't envisioned as a separate language from C; it grew out of "C with Classes". Every further revision to C++ maintained backward compatibility whenever it was reasonably practical. It's not particularly impractical to keep the C standard library around, so there it is.

Answer 3

Because C++ was supposed to be backward compatible with C.

Answer 4

They're not keywords; they're function and class names from the Standard Library.

The C library (with a few modifications) is available as part of the C++ library; so you can call C library functions like printf from a C++ program if you want.