'printf' vs. 'cout' in C++

Question

What is the difference between printf() and cout in C++?

Answer 1

With primitives, it probably doesn't matter entirely which one you use. I say where it gets usefulness is when you want to output complex objects.

For example, if you have a class,

#include 
#include 

using namespace std;

class Something
{
public:
        Something(int x, int y, int z) : a(x), b(y), c(z) { }
        int a;
        int b;
        int c;

        friend ostream& operator<<(ostream&, const Something&);
};

ostream& operator<<(ostream& o, const Something& s)
{
        o << s.a << ", " << s.b << ", " << s.c;
        return o;
}

int main(void)
{
        Something s(3, 2, 1);

        // output with printf
        printf("%i, %i, %i\n", s.a, s.b, s.c);

        // output with cout
        cout << s << endl;

        return 0;
}

Now the above might not seem all that great, but let's suppose you have to output this in multiple places in your code. Not only that, let's say you add a field "int d." With cout, you only have to change it in once place. However, with printf, you'd have to change it in possibly a lot of places and not only that, you have to remind yourself which ones to output.

With that said, with cout, you can reduce a lot of times spent with maintenance of your code and not only that if you re-use the object "Something" in a new application, you don't really have to worry about output.