I'm getting tired of using chars, though, I know strings are just arrays of chars, it is just a lot easier for me pass arguements and copy one string to another, and do all other sorts of complex string manipulation that otherwise would have been too time consuming with chars.

From what I understand, c has libraries that mimic (or are. someone clarify?) c++ libraries. (such as stdlib.h, which [from what I understand] is cstdlib, or vice versa) So I may just be able to use a library (if one exists) that can deal with strings, in c, if I ever have to code in it.

My questsion is: Is it really needed that I use chars (I'm still going to learn more I can about it, along with c/c++ in general), or do you think that I could get by in many(if not most) programs with just string types. I realize that functions in SDL seem to need char*'s, but I know how to convert a string into a char, so that should not be a problem for me.

C++ has a string class. As C lacks support for classes, I'm not sure exactly what type of string you have in mind.

That being said, if working with c-strings (char arrays/pointers) is too troublesome for you, you might wish to explore just using C++ or some other higher-level language. Is there a particular reason for using straight C?

if you are using c++ you are better off to use std::string as much as possible. it is safer, and writes alot quicker. there is no reason that you have to use c strings, and if there was some reason that came up, like you said you know how to convert a std::string to a null terminated string so you would be ok.

As an aside note, the std::string class stores data internally as a cstring and internally uses much the same functions as you would use manipulating a cstring (strcpy, etc.). Its advantage revolves around the fact that buffer management is handled and it reduces the risk of off-by-one errors.

I'm not sure what your question is but in "c" you always use characters.

String is just an array of characters...

There are function such as strcpy, strcat, strlen which is just functions which is used to manuplate array of characters. You never need to do any sort of characters.

I'm not familiar with c++, so I can't comment on that.

sorry i overlooked this part earlier.. actually you have it backwards, the cstdlib is a c++ version of stdlib.h, which is just stdlib.h in the std namespace.. the same as cstring is string.h, ctime, cmath, etc..

you can make c++ use c style programming, but there is no way to make c use the functionality of c++.. when you introduce c++ to c, you no longer have c, you have c++.. but once again like i mentioned before, if c++ is an option, then by all means use all the things it has to offer.. including std::string and the STL.. it makes life much easier and safer..

Before the poor char get discarded to the wastebin of life, it still has a valid role when you only want a single character. Otherwise if you are using C++ then yes, by all means, go with the string class. However character arrays can be useful if you are doing very little in the way of manipulation and you wish to avoid the overhead of a class.