Why You Do Not Love C or C++

You might have dabbled in C or C++ before. It is versatile, ubiquitous and fast. But it can easily become fragile, cryptic and frustrating.

Have you been hit be one or more of the following:

• cryptic compiler errors
• mysterious segmentation faults
• so called 'undefined behavior'

You are not alone.

C and C++ give you big power with minimal safety rails. And unless you understand what is going on under the hood, you are going to trip over things that feel invisible.

Common Mistakes That Burn Newcomers

• Returning a pointer to a local variable
• Forgetting to free allocated memory (or freeing it twice)
• Accessing memory after it has been freed
• Buffer overflows while using char*
• Using new without delete, or mixing with malloc and free
• Using int* as if it where a Java reference
• Assuming arrays know their size (they do not)
• Ignoring return values from malloc, fopen, etc.
• Believing nullptr will save you

What If It Did Not Have to Be This Way?

What if you had:

• A clear mental model of how memory really works
• Some simple rules to avoid 80% of bugs
• Tools that show you where your program is breaking
• A way to write C/C++ that is not just fast—but simple and safe

Coming Soon: A Mini-Series for Beginners

Topics that are often glossed over when you need to learn a language quickly. Knowledge that is not only useful for C or C++ but will help make you a better programmer in many languages.

You will learn:

• How the stack and heap really work
• Why memory bugs happen (and how to catch them)
• Tools like Valgrind and AddressSanitizer
• How to write simpler, safer code using modern idioms

No heavy theory. Just practical examples and clear takeaways.

Stay tuned!

Contact

I am a university lecturer who enjoys helping developers understand how things work under the hood. If you are learning programming or struggling with C or C++, transitioning from Java, or just want to chat about memory, debugging, or low-level programming, feel free to reach out. You can contact via <my username>@mailbox.org, or leave a comment below. I am happy to offer friendly advice or tutoring. If you are looking for 1:1 help or tutoring on C/C++, systems programming, or debugging, I'm exploring offering support sessions. Reach out and we can see what works.