Can c,c++ be used for developing web applications, if not why ?

Mike Steward

i am keen to know that being early developing languages why the features of developing web application are not used in c,c++ ??

4 Replies

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Vulpes15y ago
It seems to me that the managed version of C++ has had poor support from Microsoft from the beginning.

The first incarnation, Managed Extensions for C++, was so horrible that most C++ developers preferred to use C# for managed applications.

The current incarnation, C++/CLI, is much nicer having had input from such C++ luminaries as Stan Lippman and Herb Sutter and was initially championed as "the system programming language for .NET". But, no sooner was it out of the door, than MS relegated it to use for interop scenarios where, of course, it excels because it can mix managed and unmanaged code in the same application.

Currently, C++/CLI doesn't even support Intellisense in VS 2010, let alone ASP.NET development!

I also gather that C++/CLI won't be able to be used to create managed Metro applications in Windows 8 - just C# or VB, initially.

On the other hand, the new C++/CX dialect for creating unmanaged Metro applications using WPF has very similar syntax to C++/CLI so may be it was considered to be too confusing to support both.
Sam Hobbs15y ago
I think the ultimate explanation for why C++ is not supported in ASP is that Microsoft has never provided as much support for C++ as they could have.

.Net is designed in a manner that is difficult to support using C++. Of course if Microsoft wanted to solve that problem, they could have.

Unmanaged C++ does have potential security problems. So the best security would be provided by limiting C++ to managed code only. Well, that is so close to what C# is that there is no need for C++. Or at least that is the likely explanation; I am sure it is true somewhat (at least) and probably more than somewhat.
Javeed M Shaikh15y ago
Hi Mike,

Its a nice thought, I found the following link which explains on usage of c,c++ in building web applications:

Develop Web Applications with c++ --> http://www.webtoolkit.eu/wt
gSOAP Toolkit for SOAP Web Services and XML-Based Applications using c++ --> http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~engelen/soap.html

Also please look at this presentation on C++: A language for next generation web apps:

http://stevehanov.ca/blog/index.php?id=95

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Vulpes15y ago
Well, you can use C or C++ to write Internet Service Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) dlls.

These are windows dlls that are hosted by Microsoft's web server software, Internet Information Services (IIS) and are referenced by URL just like HTML files.

IIS forwards HTTP requests to an ISAPI dll by calling a special function exported by the DLL which then generates HTTP responses.

However, I doubt whether any one in their right senses would develop web applications in this way today. Most people who frequent this site write their web applications using ASP.NET and the design tools for this only support C# or VB.NET.