I got an email from my lecturer today (its the end of the year at college and it shut last Friday).
I posted her the complete transcript of the thread regarding the discussion with Mr. Belmont and myself, particular emphasis on the direction of replacing C with C++ and I got a response back that surprised me.
Everything Mr Belmont reported, my lecturer concurred. That using C++ had several advantages than using C (whatever recent flavor). My lecturer is aware of the project.
So my sincere apologies to Mr. Belmont if I had caused any offense by doubting or questioning his methods. I will continue to ask questions on C and C++, but I shall do some research before proposing them in future.