Why Use a Language Like C++
At its core, a computer is just a processor with some memory, capable of running tiny instructions like “store 5 in memory location 23459.” Why would we express a program as a text file in a programming language, instead of writing processor instructions?
The advantages:
1. Conciseness: programming languages allow us to express common sequences of commands more concisely. C++ provides some especially powerful shorthands.
2. Maintainability: modifying code is easier when it entails just a few text edits,instead of rearranging hundreds of processor instructions. C++ is object oriented (more on that in Lectures 7-8), which further improves maintainability.
3. Portability: different processors make different instructions available. Programs written as text can be translated into instructions for many different processors; one of C++’s strengths is that it can be used to write programs for nearly any processor.
C++is a high-level language: when you write a program in it,the short hands are sufficiently expressive that you don’t need to worry about the details of processor instructions. C++does give access to some lower-level functionality than other languages(e.g. memory addresses)