Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Comparison of Java and C++

Comparison of Java and C++

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Comparison of Java and C++ (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)

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Although this article's been around for a while, I don't see it as encyclopedic. None of the cited sources explicitly contrast the two languages, so it's mostly original research to compare them beyond face value. In that respect, any meaningful comparison beyond a table would just be a special case of "pros/cons of garbage collection, native code vs bytecode..." which can be better dealt with at each feature's respective article. More generally, comparing two vastly different languages like this isn't Wikipedia's job. "Comparison of C and C++" would arguably make sense, for example, because they are closely related and the difference between them is important (some valid C is not C++, etc), but that's not the case here. Even if Java and C++ are both old, popular and object oriented, that's not a particularly compelling reason to dedicate an article to comparing them. Cheers, Ovinus (talk) 16:43, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Computing-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 16:49, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete per nom. This should be a YouTube video, not an encyclopedic entry. Waddles 🗩 🖉 17:42, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep, some of the sources in the article do explicitly contrast the two languages.^[1][2] There are also many more sources which do the same.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} So the comparison is notable.

References

1. Robert C. Martin (January 1997). "Java vs. C++: A Critical Comparison" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
2. Hundt, Robert (2011-04-27). "Loop Recognition in C++/Java/Go/Scala" (PDF). Stanford, California: Scala Days 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-17. Java shows a large GC component, but a good code performance. [...] We find that in regards to performance, C++ wins out by a large margin. [...] The Java version was probably the simplest to implement, but the hardest to analyze for performance. Specifically the effects around garbage collection were complicated and very hard to tune; 318 kB
3. Prechelt, L. (1999). "Technical opinion: comparing Java vs. C/C++ efficiency differences to interpersonal differences" (pdf). Communications of the ACM. 42 (10): 109–112.
4. Ghosh, D. (2004). "Generics in Java and C++ a comparative model". ACM SIGPLAN Notices. 39 (5): 40–47.
5. Mayrand, J.; Patenaude, J.F.; Merlo, E.; Dagenais, M.; Laguë, B. (2000). "Software assessment using metrics: A comparison across large C++ and Java systems". Annals of Software Engineering. 9 (1). Springer: 117–141.
6. Gherardi, L.; Brugali, D.; Comotti, D. (2012). "A java vs. c++ performance evaluation: a 3d modeling benchmark" (pdf). International Conference on Simulation, Modeling, and Programming for Autonomous Robots. Springer: 161–172.
7. As’ad Mahmoud Alnaser; Omar AlHeyasat; Ashraf Abdel-Karim Abu-Ein; Hazem (Moh’d Said) Hatamleh; Ahmed A. M. Sharadqeh (2012). "Time Comparing between Java and C++ Software". Journal of Software Engineering and Applications. 5 (8). doi:10.4236/jsea.2012.58072.

SailingInABathTub (talk) 21:10, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@SailingInABathTub: Wikipedia is not for comparing things though, regardless of how comparable the two products are. Wikipedia's an encyclopedia, not a buying guide. Waddles 🗩 🖉 22:16, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What about Comparison of programming languages, Category:Programming language comparisons, and Category:Comparison of individual programming languages? SailingInABathTub (talk) 22:23, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@SailingInABathTub: I'm slightly indecisive on what I think of these. On the first hand, those seem different from the one in this discussion. I'd say they are more encyclopedic list rather than guides like this one is. On the second hand however, they are still somewhat more of an answer to "what should I use?" versus an encyclopedia entry and I don't see any other use of those for anyone besides people looking for what they should use, and really only serve people outside of Wikipedia. I'd say I lean more towards deleting them all, because the only other comparisons on Wikipedia that I know of involve languages, like Portuguese vs Spanish and US English vs UK English. Waddles 🗩 🖉 23:28, 17 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There is also Comparison of top chess players throughout history, Comparison of the AK-47 and M16, Comparison of web browsers, Comparison of American and Canadian football, Comparison of Macintosh models and many, many more. I think notable comparisons are pretty ubiquitous on Wikipedia. I agree though that this particular article requires improvement. SailingInABathTub (talk) 00:55, 18 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It is a reasonable position to take that Wikipedia is not for comparing things, but it would need a wider discussion than this for us to accept that principle. I find 780 pages in article space with "comparison of" in the title. Phil Bridger (talk) 11:02, 18 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]