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I am developing an application for embedded Linux (ARM). It will execute 500 times/sec, therefore speed is important. I would prefer to use C++ but I am afraid it will be slower than C even if I avoid fancy features like virtual functions. Is there a reason to use C or it's just as fine to write in C++?
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It is a structural and general purpose programming language used by the developers to build desktop-based applications. Embedded C is generally used to develop microcontroller-based applications. C is a high-level programming language. Embedded C is just the extension variant of the C language.
C is generally used for desktop computers, while embedded C is for microcontroller based applications. C can use the resources of a desktop PC like memory, OS, etc. While, embedded C has to use with the limited resources, such as RAM, ROM, I/Os on an embedded processor.
Embedded C programming Basics Use following command to get a list of installed compilers. dpkg --list | grep compiler. The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. It comes inbuilt in most of the open source Operating Systems.
Although not originally designed for embedded software development, the C language allows a range of programming styles from high-level application code down to direct low-level manipulation of hardware registers. As a result, C has become the most popular programming language for embedded systems today.
C++ in general suffers no run time penalty over C - (except for a few things like RTTI).
Except in a few odd circumstances the compiler should be able to determine which virtual function to call at compile time and so add no overhead.
Edit: Ok with such a variety of compilers, CPUs, runtime libs, OSes there are some features of C++ that might create slower code, there are some features that might create faster code.
But can we all agree that C++ isn't automatically excluded from embedded use anymore ?
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In C++ you have things like template metaprogramming that resolve in compile time several situations where C or any other procedural programming language would have to do in runtime.
I should say more. Template metaprogramming and some class inheritance tricks are really amazing. It can save you a lot of processing time that you'd spend otherwise by "ifing" and "switching".
This means that C++ can be actually faster than C if well conducted.
Obviously you can program "in C" using C++ and you'd have no penalty at all. If you're not too fond of C++ I'd advise you to do a "C on C++" or "C with C++ extensions" just to take vantage of C++ improvements, but the real advantage you'll have is by programming the C++ way. There you will see that C++ is, good part of times, or faster or cleaner than C or, at least as fast as.
Have no fear. Face C++. After the stdc++ (against libc) there will be almost no overhead in code size. If your application is from median to high in size, it will be diluted.
I use C++ from simple 8-bit ATmega to Marvell's ARM9, passing through AVR32 UC3 and Cortex-M3 and always find it profitable.
If you need specific advise in a given situation, feel free to ask.
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