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Not really. From a carreer perspective you are 100% certain that there will be a lot of demand for C++ in 5 years (since the whole IT infrastructure is written

Not really. From a carreer perspective you are 100% certain that there will be a lot of demand for C++ in 5 years (since the whole IT infrastructure is written either in C or in C++), whereas for Rust you are taking a huge bet.

hellofunk 11y ago
Exactly, C++ has been around for a very long time, so much runs on it, depends on it, and it is not going anywhere any time in our lifetimes, I'm certain of that. That makes it a very valuable skill. You can always study the newer languages when interested in them (I find them all fascinating), but for a deep leg into the way the industry works at its core, I think knowing C++ gets you very far. Google touts Go a lot, but so much of Google's tools are actually C++ at heart (protobufs and Chrome for example), and Apple touts Swift and has its own frameworks in Objective-C and now Swift, but under the hood, so much of their toolkits and the language of Swift itself are implemented in C++; nearly all cross-platform games we know and love for a wide variety of devices and OS are C++ -- my point is that it is a crucial language and it does not hurt to understand it.
seren 11y ago
Maybe my perspective is biased because I work in a very conservative industry, but a large part of C++ jobs in the next 5 years will likely be about maintenance/evolution of massive legacy C++98/C++03 applications. And you won't likely use a lot of C++14 or C++17, while on the other hand the rare Rust project might be a bit more exciting. But if you're primary motivation to learn a new language is to get a job, Cpp is surely a safer bet.
- pcwalton 11y ago
  > a large part of C++ jobs in the next 5 years will likely be about maintenance/evolution of massive legacy C++98/C++03 applications This is exactly right, and it's been true for many years now. That your old codebase is written in C++ is a totally legitimate reason to use C++.

hellofunk 11y ago

Exactly, C++ has been around for a very long time, so much runs on it, depends on it, and it is not going anywhere any time in our lifetimes, I'm certain of that. That makes it a very valuable skill. You can always study the newer languages when interested in them (I find them all fascinating), but for a deep leg into the way the industry works at its core, I think knowing C++ gets you very far. Google touts Go a lot, but so much of Google's tools are actually C++ at heart (protobufs and Chrome for example), and Apple touts Swift and has its own frameworks in Objective-C and now Swift, but under the hood, so much of their toolkits and the language of Swift itself are implemented in C++; nearly all cross-platform games we know and love for a wide variety of devices and OS are C++ -- my point is that it is a crucial language and it does not hurt to understand it.

seren 11y ago

Maybe my perspective is biased because I work in a very conservative industry, but a large part of C++ jobs in the next 5 years will likely be about maintenance/evolution of massive legacy C++98/C++03 applications. And you won't likely use a lot of C++14 or C++17, while on the other hand the rare Rust project might be a bit more exciting. But if you're primary motivation to learn a new language is to get a job, Cpp is surely a safer bet.

pcwalton 11y ago
> a large part of C++ jobs in the next 5 years will likely be about maintenance/evolution of massive legacy C++98/C++03 applications This is exactly right, and it's been true for many years now. That your old codebase is written in C++ is a totally legitimate reason to use C++.