(02-21-2010, 04:56 PM)-NitroX Wrote: I thought C++ was just a Modified (added to) C#.C# is a managed language that runs inside the .NET virtual machine and features automatic garbage collection. It is a high level language with C++ like syntax.
C++ is an unmanaged language that runs natively on your machine. It is a middle level language and being closer to the metal makes you do manual memory management (although you can use smart pointers are RAII to mitigate this).
So no C++ is not a modified C#, not by a long shot. C++ has been around since the 80's, but C# didn't appear until 2001. It is the fact that C# is run in a virtual machine (so protects you from a lot of errors, or at least makes debugging easier) and the fact that it has automatic memory management that make C# easier to get started with; but by comparison its lack of direct access to memory makes it less powerful if you know how to correctly exploit the features of C++ (which someone starting with programming won't, and will likely just make a mess the first time they see a pointer). I learnt C# before moving on C++ and can comfortably code in both (although I am better at C++, but that's just because I use it more); XNA is a pretty beast too.
The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.