Why C++ is so popular among game developers?

C++ was created in 1983, by Bjarne Stroustrup. That means it has had 3 decades worth of improvements. Most of the popular game engines like CryEngine, Unreal, Unity etc. use C++, because they do not prefer any other language to develop a game. C++ is the best choice for them. It's an old beast with tons of cumbersome issues and has compilers for every single platform ever. C++ has something more which are can't afford any other language.

So, let’s find out what C++ has and why it’s the most widely used language by the professional game developer.

• C++ is a language with a relatively high entry barrier and it allows more direct control over the hardware and graphical processes.

• It's low-level programing language with OOP supported, means it uses internal structures to better organize code into reusable blocks. When dealing with a huge project OOP is a real help and C++ has excellent support for this.

• Most games are written for Windows and C++ language has been heavily supported by Microsoft.

• It's trivial to embed a game engine scripting language like Lua.

• It offers an easy upgrade path.

• More companies looking to hire bright coders with a background in C++.

• It's portable,  fast and simplifying ports your game engine to iOS, XBOX, PS3, PS4.

• It supports all the SDKs natively.

• Lots of libraries are available in C++.

• Its standard library offers a broad array of containers and algorithms. So, implementation any given task can be done with less code in C++.

• Everyone over the world who writing games, are also familiar with C++ undoubtedly, so it's easy to hire experienced games devs for your team and work.

• It supports a variety of different coding styles and supports procedural programming for more CPU intensive functions.

• In the combination of templates, the function allows C++ to easily generate efficient inlined custom code at compile time.

• In C++ you can allocate local variables that disappear after the function ends.

• It has a direct translation to executable code.

• The speed benefit of C++ is due to its ability to use your own custom-written memory manager for heap allocations.

• The different programming languages like C# might be just as suitable for games development, but it came after C++.

• Games programmers have mostly been comfortable with C++, possibly because they grew up with C and C++, and it met their needs.

• C++'s design allows for compatibility with C, a huge codebase has been built around C or C++.

• There is a point where you make a call to trade off performance for maintainability and speed of development. Generally, that point is C++ these days.

• C++ gives better performance than C#.

• C++ is faster than C# in every case, though the .NET Framework and the optimisations that the runtime/compiler apply to the IL code are quite unique and fast.

• C++ is also an order of magnitude greater than the step in programmer efficiency between C and C++, or C++ and C# or Java.

• C++ gives you a finer grain of control over the actual hardware and bit pushing.

 

That’s enough reason to figure out why C++ is the first choice for game developers. Hope you like this article. Thank you!