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The fact that this headline cannot be distinguished from April Fools joke by other commenters seems to say a lot about the direction in which C++ standard commi

by mbel 9y ago

The fact that this headline cannot be distinguished from April Fools joke by other commenters seems to say a lot about the direction in which C++ standard committee is heading.

agumonkey 9y ago
maybe HN should have a colored header line to remind people about this day and prevent reactions
- rndgermandude 9y ago
  The entire point of April Fools is to fool people...
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - oh_sigh 9y ago
    It isn't a world-wide holiday
    - DoofusOfDeath 9y ago
      Maybe it should be :)
    - krylon 9y ago
      I remember reading about China making April Fools illegal after some major mishap where many people took a joke seriously. I was never sure if that was for real or satire.
      - FrankHB 9y ago
        Now they should be surely aware of that. FYI, here was one of Chinese translation of the article, but the contents was just deleted 10 minutes ago: https://www.oschina.net/news/94805/deprecating-pointers https://www.oschina.net/news/94805/deprecating-pointers
- misnome 9y ago
  I don’t think they are disallowed, but think most of them end up getting downvoted out of distaste (the annoying and useless April 1sts was one of the reasons I left slashdot years ago). Obviously this one is either believed, or believed to be amusingly subtle. Either way, I agree it should be at least [Joke] flagged.
dreta 9y ago
If i didn't read this comment section, i would've been convinced it's real.
- Koshkin 9y ago
  Consider it real. (Please.)
codeflo 9y ago
It’s not like the idea is completely crazy; pointer misuse is a big source of all kinds of problems, Rust shows how much can be done without constantly using raw pointers, and what are the C++ Core Guidelines if not an effort in exactly this direction? I finally “got” that this is a joke when they discussed the future alternatives: > For copyable and assignable references you can use std::reference_wrapper. (http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/functional/reference_wrapper http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/functional/referenc...) and thought, ha ha, an “assignable reference” instead of a “pointer”, that’s obviously completely different. :) What a subtle joke! Only now I see that reference_wrapper is apparently completely real and exists since C++11. Why does this even exist? My head hurts from banging it against the desk.
- jopsen 9y ago
  It probably exists facilitate type parametrization of pointer implementations. Just a guess. That still crazy though :)
- _o_ 9y ago
  1. April joke :) The point of c/c++ in comparision to other languages is that you can do anything and having a huge toolbox for that. Pointers are excelent sledgehammer. You can be perfectly fine with not using them but c++ need to have them. The pointers are not source of the problem, the developer is. That's why languages like java are prospering, it prevent incompetent people making stupid mistakes and that is fine. But some people need and want freedom that c++ offers.
  - lucidguppy 9y ago
    Raw pointers are like "transporter scalpel" used by star trek doctors. When used with care it does the job and does it well. You need plenty of tests and valgrind. Its dangerous for most programmers to be cavalier with owning raw pointers. If we aren't we'll get another Java.
  - laumars 9y ago
    Your point may be technically accurate but the elitism of the tone completely undermines it's point because even the best of us can and do write code with errors in it. I mean just look at all the mature code out there written by experienced developers which fails fuzz testing. I've been writing software for close on 30 years and I know damn well how easy it is to make mistakes. Even on days when I think I'm in the zone, there will be occasions when I'll go back to it and think "WTF was I thinking?" when it bombs out of the first round of automated testing.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
chi3 9y ago
Honestly, anyone with C++ experience should understand that it's a joke just from the title. I'm honestly surprised so many people thought this could be true; even Rust has raw pointers (in unsafe mode).

by mbel 9y ago

The fact that this headline cannot be distinguished from April Fools joke by other commenters seems to say a lot about the direction in which C++ standard committee is heading.

agumonkey 9y ago

maybe HN should have a colored header line to remind people about this day and prevent reactions

rndgermandude 9y ago
The entire point of April Fools is to fool people...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- oh_sigh 9y ago
  It isn't a world-wide holiday
  - DoofusOfDeath 9y ago
    Maybe it should be :)
  - krylon 9y ago
    I remember reading about China making April Fools illegal after some major mishap where many people took a joke seriously. I was never sure if that was for real or satire.
    - FrankHB 9y ago
      Now they should be surely aware of that. FYI, here was one of Chinese translation of the article, but the contents was just deleted 10 minutes ago: https://www.oschina.net/news/94805/deprecating-pointers https://www.oschina.net/news/94805/deprecating-pointers
misnome 9y ago
I don’t think they are disallowed, but think most of them end up getting downvoted out of distaste (the annoying and useless April 1sts was one of the reasons I left slashdot years ago). Obviously this one is either believed, or believed to be amusingly subtle. Either way, I agree it should be at least [Joke] flagged.

dreta 9y ago

If i didn't read this comment section, i would've been convinced it's real.

Koshkin 9y ago
Consider it real. (Please.)

codeflo 9y ago

It’s not like the idea is completely crazy; pointer misuse is a big source of all kinds of problems, Rust shows how much can be done without constantly using raw pointers, and what are the C++ Core Guidelines if not an effort in exactly this direction? I finally “got” that this is a joke when they discussed the future alternatives: > For copyable and assignable references you can use std::reference_wrapper. (http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/functional/reference_wrapper http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/functional/referenc...) and thought, ha ha, an “assignable reference” instead of a “pointer”, that’s obviously completely different. :) What a subtle joke! Only now I see that reference_wrapper is apparently completely real and exists since C++11. Why does this even exist? My head hurts from banging it against the desk.

jopsen 9y ago
It probably exists facilitate type parametrization of pointer implementations. Just a guess. That still crazy though :)
_o_ 9y ago
1. April joke :) The point of c/c++ in comparision to other languages is that you can do anything and having a huge toolbox for that. Pointers are excelent sledgehammer. You can be perfectly fine with not using them but c++ need to have them. The pointers are not source of the problem, the developer is. That's why languages like java are prospering, it prevent incompetent people making stupid mistakes and that is fine. But some people need and want freedom that c++ offers.
- lucidguppy 9y ago
  Raw pointers are like "transporter scalpel" used by star trek doctors. When used with care it does the job and does it well. You need plenty of tests and valgrind. Its dangerous for most programmers to be cavalier with owning raw pointers. If we aren't we'll get another Java.
- laumars 9y ago
  Your point may be technically accurate but the elitism of the tone completely undermines it's point because even the best of us can and do write code with errors in it. I mean just look at all the mature code out there written by experienced developers which fails fuzz testing. I've been writing software for close on 30 years and I know damn well how easy it is to make mistakes. Even on days when I think I'm in the zone, there will be occasions when I'll go back to it and think "WTF was I thinking?" when it bombs out of the first round of automated testing.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

chi3 9y ago

Honestly, anyone with C++ experience should understand that it's a joke just from the title. I'm honestly surprised so many people thought this could be true; even Rust has raw pointers (in unsafe mode).