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First, all the compilers already implement pretty much all of it. I'm not sure if by widespread you mean "included in a distribution" but you can use these feat

First, all the compilers already implement pretty much all of it. I'm not sure if by widespread you mean "included in a distribution" but you can use these features today, if you want to install a compiler. Second, C++ is popular by pretty much every measure I could think of. Whether you want to measure lines of code, or number of projects, or number of developers - it is very high on the list. It is true that is not popular with web developers and gets shouted down in those echo chambers, but the web entirely runs on C++ because all browsers are written in C++.

wmu 10y ago
> First, all the compilers already implement pretty much all of it. I'm not sure if by widespread you mean "included in a distribution" but you can use these features today, if you want to install a compiler. Of course, I can install any compiler, but my employer might not allow me to use it. Porting to a new compiler is not an easy task when a code base is large; we postponed porting due to lack of time. > Second, C++ is popular by pretty much every measure I could think of. Whether you want to measure lines of code, or number of projects, or number of developers - it is very high on the list. More interesting measure would be the number of new projects. > It is true that is not popular with web developers and gets shouted down in those echo chambers, but the web entirely runs on C++ because all browsers are written in C++. In web backend C++ is not used. You find there C#, Java, PHP, Python, maybe Go.
- pjmlp 10y ago
  C++ is surely used in the backend, but as library languague integrated into the languages that you mentioned. Every now and then, I integrate a native library into our Java and .NET projects.
- fnj 10y ago
  If you have to "port" your code from one C++ compiler to a new C++ compiler, then they are not both true C++ compilers per standards, or your code is not pure standard C++.
  - wmu 10y ago
    Sometimes compilers have bugs or are not fully-compliant. For example MSVC two or three versions ago didn't understand =delete. Standard library also might have errors. Moreover, we use third-part libs that are not always up to date (for various reasons), we have some legacy parts, and so on and so forth. I wish switching compiler required only setting another CXX. :)
- rrdharan 10y ago
  Except at Google, Microsoft and Amazon. As far as I know the three biggest public clouds are all implemented with C++ as one of if not the primary backend language.
  - tmccrmck 10y ago
    Depends on the task ;) A significant amount of code for Google/Amazon is Java and Microsoft uses C# for a lot of infrastructure.
diegocg 10y ago
>the web entirely runs on C++ because all browsers are written in C++. Not entirely true - Firefox is rewriting some components in Rust. They already included the first Rust code in Firefox 48, and Firefox 53 will require Rust to compile.
- mastax 10y ago
  It's absolutely valid to say Firefox is written in C++. It has 3.7 million lines of C++ and 67,000 lines of Rust [0]. Even if Mozilla uses Rust for everything, it'll take much more than that for it to come anywhere near the popularity of C++. I say this as a Rust aficionado. [0]: https://gist.github.com/mattico/a5e5f9d58a3991d0e3e844e97fa0e3ad https://gist.github.com/mattico/a5e5f9d58a3991d0e3e844e97fa0...
  - steveklabnik 10y ago
    For the latest news on this, see https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/618p54/webrenderer_landed_in_firefox_nightly_here_is_how/ https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/618p54/webrenderer_la... That is, preliminary WebRender has landed, but is being done incrementally, so the gains aren't big yet due to some copying that won't be necessary in the long run. You're totally right that it's just a start. This stuff takes time!

wmu 10y ago

> First, all the compilers already implement pretty much all of it. I'm not sure if by widespread you mean "included in a distribution" but you can use these features today, if you want to install a compiler. Of course, I can install any compiler, but my employer might not allow me to use it. Porting to a new compiler is not an easy task when a code base is large; we postponed porting due to lack of time. > Second, C++ is popular by pretty much every measure I could think of. Whether you want to measure lines of code, or number of projects, or number of developers - it is very high on the list. More interesting measure would be the number of new projects. > It is true that is not popular with web developers and gets shouted down in those echo chambers, but the web entirely runs on C++ because all browsers are written in C++. In web backend C++ is not used. You find there C#, Java, PHP, Python, maybe Go.

pjmlp 10y ago
C++ is surely used in the backend, but as library languague integrated into the languages that you mentioned. Every now and then, I integrate a native library into our Java and .NET projects.
fnj 10y ago
If you have to "port" your code from one C++ compiler to a new C++ compiler, then they are not both true C++ compilers per standards, or your code is not pure standard C++.
- wmu 10y ago
  Sometimes compilers have bugs or are not fully-compliant. For example MSVC two or three versions ago didn't understand =delete. Standard library also might have errors. Moreover, we use third-part libs that are not always up to date (for various reasons), we have some legacy parts, and so on and so forth. I wish switching compiler required only setting another CXX. :)
rrdharan 10y ago
Except at Google, Microsoft and Amazon. As far as I know the three biggest public clouds are all implemented with C++ as one of if not the primary backend language.
- tmccrmck 10y ago
  Depends on the task ;) A significant amount of code for Google/Amazon is Java and Microsoft uses C# for a lot of infrastructure.

diegocg 10y ago

>the web entirely runs on C++ because all browsers are written in C++. Not entirely true - Firefox is rewriting some components in Rust. They already included the first Rust code in Firefox 48, and Firefox 53 will require Rust to compile.

mastax 10y ago
It's absolutely valid to say Firefox is written in C++. It has 3.7 million lines of C++ and 67,000 lines of Rust [0]. Even if Mozilla uses Rust for everything, it'll take much more than that for it to come anywhere near the popularity of C++. I say this as a Rust aficionado. [0]: https://gist.github.com/mattico/a5e5f9d58a3991d0e3e844e97fa0e3ad https://gist.github.com/mattico/a5e5f9d58a3991d0e3e844e97fa0...
- steveklabnik 10y ago
  For the latest news on this, see https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/618p54/webrenderer_landed_in_firefox_nightly_here_is_how/ https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/618p54/webrenderer_la... That is, preliminary WebRender has landed, but is being done incrementally, so the gains aren't big yet due to some copying that won't be necessary in the long run. You're totally right that it's just a start. This stuff takes time!