title: Working with images in C++ or C
body: <p>The first thing is that I am a beginner.  Okay?</p>
  
  <p>I've read related answers and questions, but please help me with this problem:</p>
  
  <p>How can I open an JPEG image file in C++, convert it to a grayscale image, get its histogram, resize it to a smaller image, crop a particular area of it, or show a particular area of it?</p>
  
  <p>For these tasks, is C or C++ faster in general?</p>
  
  <p>What libraries are simplest and fastest?  The running time is very important.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>