What are C and C++?

A computer programming language is a language which can be written in by humans and understood and executed by a computer. C and C++ are computer programming languages. They're the language of choice for for many programmers due to their portability and compatibility with a variety of platforms and with the needs of the programmer to use them.

C was developed by Dennis Ritch in 1972. C is a very straight forward, structured programming language. C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1983 as an extension to C which eventually grew into it's own language. Unlike C, C++ is an object oriented programming language. While C++ can be written in a structured, straight forward manner like C, its object oriented properties encourage programmers to program around objects (or clases, in C++).

C++ is perfectly compatible with C, and many programs written in either language will most times include at least a few files written in the other. Both languages offer low level access to the system they are run on. Homebrewers (of all kinds) will almost always program in these languages because of their portability and low level access.

If you are going to learn the languages, I suggest learning C++ first. From a high level standpoint, C is basically a version of C++ with less features and syntax and endian changes. It is far easier for most people to later "downgrade" a bit and learn C then to "upgrade" and learn C++ which will then make C++ feel like learning an entirely new language.