Why C++ is best for Competitive Programming?
C++ is the most preferred language for competitive programming. In this article, some features of C++ are discussed that make it best for competitive programming.
STL (Standard Template Library): C++ has a vast library called STL which is a collection of C++ templates to provide common programming data structures and functions such as lists, stacks, arrays, etc. that makes the code very short and increases the speed of coding. It is a library of container classes, algorithms, and iterators. For example, std::min is used to find out the smallest of the number passed to it. It returns the first of them if there is more than one.
Program 1:
C++
// C++ program to demonstrate the // use of min() function #include <iostream> using namespace std; // Driver Code int main() { double a = 12.123; double b = 12.456; // Print the minimum of the // two numbers cout << min(a, b); return 0; } |
12.123
Faster: C/C++ is faster than any other programming language in terms of speed. The C++ source code needs to become machine code. Whereas, python follows a different tactic as it is interpreted. The compilation of code is always faster than the interpretation.
Program 2:
C++
// C++ program to measure execution // time using clock() function #include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std; // Function whose time taken to // be measured void fun() { for ( int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { } } // Driver Code int main() { // clock_t clock(void) returns the // number of clock ticks elapsed // after program was launched. clock_t start, end; // Recording the starting // clock tick start = clock (); fun(); // Recording the end clock tick end = clock (); // Calculating total time taken // by the program double time_taken = double (end - start) / double (CLOCKS_PER_SEC); cout << "Time taken by program is: " << fixed << time_taken << setprecision(5); cout << " sec " << endl; return 0; } |
Time taken by program is: 0.000001 sec
Simple Constructs: C++ is a simple language i.e., much closer to a low-level language, therefore it’s much easier to write codes in C++ than in Java. Also, this makes the code-generation process simpler, optimized, and fast in C++ (i.e., like in Java no conversion of code to byte code first and then to machine code).
Widely used: C++ is considered to be the best choice for competitive programming by 75% of the programmers across the world, as it is usually faster than Java and Python and most of the resources are available in C++.
Templates: A template is a simple and yet very powerful tool in C++. The simple idea is to pass data type as a parameter so that we don’t need to write the same code for different data types.
Program 3:
Below is the program to demonstrate templates:
C++
// C++ program to demonstrate template #include <iostream> using namespace std; // Generic function to find minimum // of 2 data types template < typename T> T Min(T x, T y) { return (x < y) ? x : y; } // Driver Code int main() { cout << Min(7, 3) << endl; cout << Min( 'z' , 'a' ) << endl; return 0; } |
3 a
Snippets: Snippets provide an easy way to implement commonly used code or functions into a larger section of code. Instead of rewriting the same code over and over again, a programmer can save the code as a snippet and simply drag and drop the snippet wherever it is needed. By using snippets, programmers and web developers can also organize common code sections into categories, creating a cleaner development environment. It also increases the coding speed, helps in coding contests, etc.
Program 4:
Below is an example of a sample snippet that can be used in competitive programming:
C++
// C++ program to demonstrate snippets #include <bits/stdc++.h> using namespace std; #define MOD 1000000007 #define endl "\n" #define lli long long int #define ll long long #define mp make_pair #define pb push_back void solve() { // Write down your desired // code here cout << "Write your code here" ; } // Driver Code int main() { // Handle t number of testcases int t = 1; while (t--) { solve(); } return 0; } |
Write your code here