Why C++ is best for Competitive Programming? - GeeksforGeeks

22 Jun, 2021
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 Codeint 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:
 
Below program to demonstrate how to measure execution time using the clock() function:
 
C++
// C++ program to measure execution// time using clock() function #include <bits/stdc++.h>using namespace std; // Function whose time taken to// be measuredvoid fun(){    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {    }} // Driver Codeint 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 typestemplate <typename T>T Min(T x, T y){    return (x < y) ? x : y;} // Driver Codeint 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 Codeint main(){    // Handle t number of testcases    int t = 1;    while (t--) {        solve();    }    return 0;}
  
Write your code here
 
 
simmytarika5
Technical Scripter 2020
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