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Published: May 29, 2024
Over the last few decades, we have witnessed an exponential growth in programming languages, primarily due to the increase in information technologies and increased software demand. Also, continued research has improved how we program and develop software in the modern information age. This paper aims to is a comparative study of some of the three widely used programming languages, namely Python, Java, and C++. Typically, C-based programming languages have dominated the software development arena and have used to develop sophisticated systems across the globe. Java is estimated to be the most applied programming language around the world, with over 3 billion devices running Java. However, C++ and Java are experiencing reduced popularity with the introduction of Python in the programming arena. Python provides admirable features that solve modern-day programming languages, thus attributing to its extensive popularity. This paper advances through chapter one to chapter five. Chapter one gives a detailed overview, such as the background of the study, the problem statement, the objectives of the study, and to research questions that will guide the study. Chapter two provides a detailed literature review and some of the similar works associated with this paper. Section three describes some of the methodologies used in the study. Chapter four provides an analysis of each language's features, while chapter five provides a summary of the whole paper.
Software engineers, scholars, and programming experts define programming language as a constructed language or computer language designed and developed to help software developers to communicate commands to a computer or a machine. Typically, programming languages are used to control a computing device's behavior by communicating instruction to the machine. Due to the exponential growth in information technologies, there has been tremendous growth in the development of programming languages. For instance, programming languages have five generations from the first time they were introduced in the early 1950s (Oguntunde, 2012). The growth of programming languages has seen software development shift from an era of assembly language to an era where computers are being designed to solve problems in their environment without the programmers.
The Sun Microsystems team lead by James Gosling was the first developer to work on Java in 1991. The original version of Java (Java 1.0) was developed to develop systems for home appliances and was released in 1995. After the release of Java 1.0, the platform promised to deliver a Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA) technology that could eliminate the high-cost runtimes experienced with other typical languages. As of today, Java has released over eight versions of the platform. One of the Java's latest standard editions is Java version 8 released in March 2014, with Oracle indicating on releasing Java 9.0 in a short while. However, Oracle recommends Java version 7 update 51 as the most suitable version for software development and writing of code. Due to the extensive application of Java across numerous platforms, Oracle has produced various configurations to suit each platform's needs and demands. For instance, Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) was developed to primarily support the development of mobile applications, while Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) was designed to ease the development of enterprise applications.
C++ was developed as an improvement of C, and it was first worked on by AT& T Bell labs in 1979. Generally speaking, any C program can be described or considered a legal C++ program, meaning that C++ is a subset of C. C++ combines the features of both the low-level languages and high-level languages, and it is typically considered a middle-level language. C++ is one of the oldest programming languages still in use today. The language is used extensively in numerous domains such as a high-performance server, entertainment software such as video games, system software, embedded software, device drivers, and application software. C++ is also widely applied in research and has had a significant influence on the development of other programming languages such as Java (Oguntunde, 2012). One of C++'s most notable features is its speed and provision of different programming styles to support the development of software and systems. When dealing with large projects, C++ can be configured to support object-oriented programming. Some of the typical features of the language are: C++ supports generic programming, it is case sensitive, it is statically typed and compiled, and it is a free-form programming language.
Although many still consider Python as a scripting language, Python is a dynamic programming language that can be used to develop sophisticated programs. For instance, Python is being applied by developers to write programs for some of the world's fastest computers. Python is derived from many other programming languages such as SmallTalk, ABC, C++, Modula-3, Unix shell, Algol-68, and many other scripting languages. Python was developed between the late 1980s and the early 1990s by Guido van Rossum. The modern-day version of Python was established in the Netherlands by the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science. Python is different from Java and C++ in many aspects. For instance, Python's syntax does not use semicolons, but rather uses whitespace. Also, in other programming languages, the programmer must declare variables and define their datatype (Van Rossum & Drake, 2011). When using Python, the programmer uses variables as objects, meaning that there is no need to declare their datatype. Pythons guide developers into writing readable code and reduces the amount of time required. One of Python's distinguishing features is that the language is easy to read and easy to learn. The language is also scalable and portable from one platform to another.
All programming languages offer various strengths and weaknesses that motivate the programmer to pick them during a software development task. The use of API to implement parallelism is one of the most advanced features that are on some of the existing programming languages. The advancement in technology is making it challenging for young and novice developers to choose the most effective programming language to use. One of the critical challenges is investing time in learning a new programming language and implementing the knowledge in a software development platform under certain constraints.
This paper provides a foundation for programming language paradigms by comparing the three most prominent and extensively used programming languages. This paper also aims to identify the distinguishing features between C++, Python, and Java and analyze which of the three programming languages gives the best performance for any given instance.
As stated above, it is challenging for beginners to distinguish between the three prominent programming languages. Also, it is essential for software developers and computer scientists to distinguish the three prominent programming languages. The insights provided in this article offer a robust preparation for selecting the most appropriate language to learn and reducing the inconveniences of learning an unsuitable language depending on one's needs and requirements. On an overall note, this study will help one to choose and learn a programming language that will fit the needs and requirements of his or her software development demands.
The exponential growth and development in the three programming languages posed a challenge since it was difficult to compare the three languages at any given point in time. I had to compare the latest version of the technologies. Additionally, Python is still an immature technology that is still under development, mainly due to its application in data mining. As a result, I had contradicting perspectives about the language, and I had to research an extensive amount of articles to identify Python's unique features in software development.
In total, there are five generations of programming languages that are described by time sequence.
Machine learning is the first generation of machine learning, and it appeared in the early 1950s. As the name suggests, machine language was written in machine language, that is, ones and zeros, and it was challenging for human-being to understand the language. As a result, the language was prone to errors that limited its functionality. Another critical disadvantage of machine language is machine dependency. The language was developed to meet each specific processor's demands and requirements, meaning that the scientists had to create a different version of the language for every CPU (Ogala & et al., 2020).
The symbolic assembly language is the second generation of programming languages, and it simplified the complexity of machine languages by using symbols to represent the ones and zeros. The assembly language operated at a higher abstraction level compared to machine languages and used number combinations and other symbols such as the dollar, portions of words, and percent to create instructions. The key challenges limiting symbolic assembly languages were their hardware dependency and lack of portability, meaning that software developed using assembly language could not be moved from one processor to another.
The third-generation languages were developed between the 1960s-1980s, and they were the first languages to be referred to as high-level languages. These languages used near-English words to develop commands and relied on compilers to convert the code into machine language. The conversion relied on compilers to match the English words with their machine equivalent. One of the distinguishing features that differentiated third-generation languages from the prior generations is that each programming language in this generation had a compiler or an interpreter. Additionally, the languages were relatively quick to execute after they were compiled (Ogala & et al., 2020). One of the critical challenges in this generation was different types of source code was needed for every different processor.
The distinguishing feature with fourth-generation programming languages is that they are more concerned with the problem being solved than how the actual coding will be done. Fourth- generation programming languages are friendly, are independent of the operating System, and the processor can be used by non-programmers, are portable, and have intelligent options that automate various tasks during the software development process. The most notable programming languages in this generation include MYSQL and SQL.
The 5GL programming languages are still under development and rely on modern-day technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. The 5GL programming languages will automate the generation of code and creating instruction to solve a problem. These languages will require minimal supervision or interactions with programmers. The languages in this generation will have the capacity to think for themselves and address challenges that would otherwise prove to be challenging to solve using programming languages in other generations.
Another study by (AlHeyasat & et al., 2012) provides a detailed study that compares the flexibility of Java and C++ in executing some given tasks. The study focused on determining the time needed to run some given algorithms and determining the execution's swiftness and efficiency. The scholars used the same algorithm to determine which programming language was useful in than the other. in simpler terms, the results of which software is better were based on the time the two software took to execute the same algorithm. The study found that Java took an average of 500 microseconds to execute the algorithm while C++ to an average of fewer than 450 microseconds to run the same algorithm. The conclusion of the study indicates that although Java is a robust language, C++ is more effective in executing programs since it requires less time to compile and run an algorithm compared to Java.
Due to the time limitation in this research, I relied on the comparative analysis to compare the three programming languages. The primary goal of this analysis study is to identify the fundamental and advanced features of Python, Java, and C++ to determine their distinguishing factors and their suitability to be applied in different programming environments. Additionally, I carefully reviewed each language's advantages and disadvantages and the problems each language can solve. This comparative analysis focused on identifying the distinguishing features between the three programming languages using the following criteria:
Software development has advanced exponentially to affect every aspect of our lives. Among the various applications of software development are in business applications, systems programming, and scientific applications. Java and C++ standout as hybrid programming languages since they are used in almost every aspect of programming. As a result, these two languages have been extensively applied in software development and have played a significant role in the development of other programming languages. The two languages have data structures that can be applied in a wide range of applications in the development of scientific and business applications (Foster, 2014). One of the key differences between the two languages is that C is typically used for large projects, while Java is used for relatively smaller projects. For instance, C++ is used in the development of operating systems and other complex software programs such as the Symbian Operating System and Linux Operating system. Java plays a minimal role in the development of such systems, and not a single operating system that has been developed using entirely Java.
Python is also a hybrid language that is typically used as a scripting language for the web application. However, Python also has the capacity to support the development of standalone software programs that can be executed independently. However, Python is not as widely applied as Java and C++, and its yet to be used in the development of a large project such as an operating system.
The programming paradigm of a language provides details on the design characteristics that must be followed during the development process. In other words, the programming paradigm provides details on the styles used to write instructions. Java programming languages support the use of various programming paradigms, such as object-oriented, reflective programming, and structured programming. Typically, Java is used due to its ability to support the object-oriented programming paradigm (McMaster & et al., 2017). In an object-oriented paradigm, messages are passed to objects and the basic unit of the program in the object. Objects have state and can do something within the software. Structured programming means that the programs have nested control. Java also supports the imperative programming paradigm meaning that the commands are written as a sequence of instructions. In imperative programming paradigm, the commands are written step-by-step and are also interpreted in the same format.
The following code samples indicate the difference between the three programming paradigms.
Result = [];
For a in name {
If a.lastname.length>4{ Result.add(a.lastname.toUpper);
}
}
Return result.sort;
Structured programming paradigm
Result = [];
For i=0; i<length(lastname); i++{ A=lastname[i];
If length(a.lastnale)) >5 { addToList(Result, toUpper(p.name));
}
}
Return sort(result);
Imperative programming
Result = []
I = 0
Start:
Numlastname = length(lastname) If I >= numlastnale goto end
A = lastname [i]
Namelength = length(a.lastname)
If namelenght = toUpper (p.lastname) addToList (result, upperName)
next:
i = i + 1 goto start end:
return sort (result) just like Java, C++ and Python are multi-paradigm programming languages that various programming paradigms. For instance, C++ supports generic programming, structured, object- oriented, and functional programming. C++ uses procedural calls to support the imperative programming paradigm. Both C and C++ have similar programming styles. Similarly, Python also supports object-oriented and structured programming styles. Python is a hybrid language and based on its design characteristics, and it supports other programming paradigms, such as aspect-oriented programming and functional programming.
The readability of programming language is determined by the consistency of its rules and the clarity of the keywords used in the language. Java is relatively easy to learn and understand since it requires the programmer to understand only 50 keywords. As a result, the readability of Java is very effective and impressive, especially since the keywords are not complicated and are consistent. The consistency of Java is also extended to its coding rules. The use of operators, coding conversions, importing libraries, and dealing with exceptions in Java is consistent throughout the language. It is, therefore, appropriate to conclude that Java is a highly impressive and readable programming language.
Unlike Java, C++ readability is not very impressive due to the numerous inconsistencies affecting the language coding rules. Also, C++ has multiple rules and an average of 84 keywords, which are relatively difficult to understand. Some of the keywords in C++ include goto, enum, break, struct, bitand, static, auto, alignas, static_cast, case, switch, if, for, explicit, false, delete, xor, volatile, using, union, true, float, bitor among many others. the rules used to handle exceptions in C++ are also not consistent and requires the programmer to cram when to use which rules and when not to use them (Foster, 2014). On an overall note, the readability of C++ is not as impressive as the readability of Java.
Python was explicitly designed to overcome the readability challenges of other programming languages, with Java and C++ being involved. Python has only 35 keywords that are relatively easy to understand and remember. Some of these keywords are true, and, as, del, from, print, continue, while, lambda, is, try, false, return, raise, import, nonlocal, not or, exec, break and many others (Van Rossum & Drake, 2011). All the keywords in Python are English words, meaning that it is easy for the programmer to remember them and understand their use.
Furthermore, Python has a reduced set of rules and syntactic exceptions. These characteristics make Python the most readable programming language among all the three programming languages.
Simplicity describes the simplicity of learning a language and understand how it works. The simplicity of the three languages can be gauged by developing a simple program such as the "Hello World" program. In Java, the program will be a three-part structure with the System.out part, it is printing the message on the screen. For a beginner or a novice programmer, understanding the three parts and their functionality can be challenging, thus making Java a complicated and challenging language to learn (McMaster & et al., 2017).
Similar to Java, developing a "Hello World" program in C++ involves a series of steps that can be difficult to understand. The numerous variables that one must declare in C++ complicate the learning process even further. In Python, the creation of the same program is much simpler since the print command is in natural language. To create a "Hello World" program in Python, the programmer only need to write 'print "Hello World!" this makes Python the simplest language to learn for beginners and novice programmers.
The portability of a programming language defines the language's ability to work in different processors and operating systems. The portability of a programming language relies on the abstraction between the system interface and application logic. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) makes Java a highly portable programming language, meaning that software and systems developed using Java can run on any processor and in any operating system. Java provides abstraction in three distinct ways, namely OS portability, CPU architecture portability, and source code portability (Foster, 2014). Software produced using Java produces a source code called J-code that enables java codes to be run in any CPU architecture. The JVM means that java programs can be run in any system regardless of the underlying java compiler, Operating System, and CPU.
Since C++ is an integral part of all major operating systems, the programming language is highly compatible with most existing technologies and systems. However, different versions of C++ such as C++11, C++98, and C++03 use different compilers, which are not compatible with each other. as a result, C++ can be said to be less compatible compared to Java. On the contrary, Python has impressive portability and can be integrated with the major operating systems such as Windows, MacOS, and Unix.
The programming environment defines the friendliness of the editors used by the programming languages. Java relies on two Integrated development environments (IDEs), namely Eclipse and NetBeans. C++ can also use the two IDEs used by Java since they support extensibility and plugin support. The two IDEs enable the programmer to start new projects and debug the source code during development. The programs also trace errors during development and will allow the programmer to detect them more easily. Additionally, the IDEs provide visual editors that would allow developers to develop GUI more comfortably. Visual studio is the most common option for C++, and most programmers use this tool to develop C++ programs (Satav & et al., 2011). Visual studio, NetBeans, and Eclipse are open source programs, and developers do not have to pay a fee. Pythons have numerous programming environments and can use any environment stated above. Other programming environments used by Python include PyCharm that provides features such as a debugger, unit testing, code navigation, and code completion. Other Python programming environments support Web development with Web2Py, Mako, Flask, and Django.
Some of the costs associated with programming languages include development costs, training costs, marketing costs, program execution costs, and maintenance costs. The usage cost of a programming language is directly proportional to its easy to learn and understand. Python is the cheapest programming language to use since it reduces the costs associated with training, development, and maintenance of Python software programs (Foster, 2014). Since Java is more readable than C++, it is less expensive than C++. C++ is the most expensive language to use between the three programming languages. The usage costs are some of the significant aspects that organizations consider when selecting the language to develop their systems.
Many in the software development industry continue to view Java as the most appropriate language moving forward due to its extensive applicability and portability. Also, many programmers are appealed to Java as the standard programming language for software development due to its advanced features. However, Oracle must strive to develop Java and release versions that are compatible with the requirements of the modern-day requirements such as data mining and the use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning in the development of software. C++ continues to appeal to experienced programmers as the most effective programming language to execute large programs and native coding, such as the development of complex video games. On the other hand, Python is attracting young developers who are passionate about exploiting modern-day technologies fully. Python is surpassing its close competitors such as Ruby, and it is moving forward rapidly to emerge as one of the most applied programming languages across the globe.
Anyone within the software engineering industry can use the underlying programming principles identified in this paper to be able to pick the right language Learning a new programming language is relatively hard, especially if one does not have the skills to distinguish the best language for him or her to learn. Continued research should be conducted to help us identify how the three languages differ in terms of exploiting modern technologies such as Internet of Thing (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning.
References
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