As an example of the power of C++ to reduce complexity, take Glockenspiel C++ (the DOS and OS/2 versions) which
precompilers to Microsoft C. It has with it, a class library of interface routines called Commonview.
Commonview is a forerunner of many like products for sure. Commonview encapsulates the entire Microsoft Windows and Presentation Manager interfaces in just 30 classes of object. The objects cover such user-interface gadgets as:
scrollbars; Push buttons; Radio Buttons; Check Box; etc. Yet Windows has some 400 individual function calls, and PM has over 700, that the straight C programmer would have to contend with.
As an example of the executable code efficiency, Commonview comes with a re-write of the example CardFile application that came with Windows V2.1 SDK coded in standard C.
The C++/Commonview version has one line of code for every five of the C version. The runtime performance of this CardFile is indistinguishable from that original. The size of the executable when running, is actually quite a bit smaller than the C version, due to better use of Windows DDL (Dynamic Link Libraries)!
