C++

What is C++

An object-oriented programming language based on the earlier C language that is used for developing applications, including Win32 applications for Microsoft Windows platforms. The standard form of C++ is called ANSI C++ and is defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

C++ is an important language for developing tools and applications for high-speed networking because it is a compiled language whose object code runs extremely fast. For example, a form handler written for a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) form that runs on a UNIX Apache Web server will run much faster if it is written in a compiled language such as C or C++ than if it is written in an interpretive language such as Perl or Microsoft Visual Basic, Scripting Edition (VBScript).

High-performance Internet Server API (ISAPI) applications and dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) written for Internet Information Services (IIS) generally perform best when written in C++.

Powerful distributed Web-based applications for the Internet can be developed using a combination of Active Server Pages (ASP) scripts in VBScript or JScript, with Microsoft ActiveX components and ISAPI DLLs written in C++ using Microsoft Visual C++.

C++ programs for Windows network operating system platforms can be developed using a variety of tools:

• Traditional C++ development tools using editors, compilers, and debuggers support low-level application programming interface (API) access, Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), software development kits (SDKs), and other supporting elements.
• Rapid application development (RAD) tools provide integrated development environments (IDEs) that focus on providing developers with ease-of-use features.
• Component deployment tools take a component-based approach to generating and reusing C++ code for building distributed and multitier applications.

Visual C++ combines the best features of these various classes of tools. It is an excellent choice for developing large-scale distributed networking applications based on the C++ language and Microsoft’s own specific extensions to ANSI C++ that are designed for the Win32 platform.