Is it good to mix printf() and cout stream?

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when I coded C++ program, sometime I mixed using printf() and cout stream.
is it a good practice?

I try to get advice from you gurus and experts and see if I need to change my habits.

What I have tried:

this way I did many times and feel it is not an issue for small testing examples...

Posted 15-Oct-20 9:54am

Southmountain

Updated 15-Oct-20 14:24pm

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3 solutions

Solution 3

Quote:
when I coded C++ program, sometime I mixed using printf() and cout stream.
is it a good practice?

No, it is not good practice !
choose 1 and stick to choice, never mix them..

Posted 15-Oct-20 14:24pm

Patrice T

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Southmountain 16-Oct-20 13:04pm

thank you!

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-15T10:23:00

Picking one or the other is OK - though cout is "template friendly", unlike printf - but mixing them is probably not a good idea, as you are using two different buffered systems to output to the same device, so unless the streams are manually flushed between the uses it's possible that the outputs could be "randomly mixed" to an extent.

To be honest, you should probably stick to cout for C++ code, and printf only for C. Mixing them is going to look odd unless you have a very good reason - and some people will assume you don't know what you are doing based on that alone.

CPallini · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-15T10:31:00

Solution 2

I don not consider it a good practice, but that's just personal taste.
Performance, however, could be a issue. See, for instance C++ Core Guidelines: Improved Performance with Iostreams - ModernesCpp.com[^].

Posted 15-Oct-20 10:31am

CPallini

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Southmountain 15-Oct-20 18:48pm

thanks for the good link:)

CPallini 16-Oct-20 2:27am

You are welcome.

Shao Voon Wong 15-Oct-20 23:36pm

Good link!