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C++ is changing way too fast to be useful anymore. I spent the first 15 years of my life loving C++ but in the last 8 years or so, the C++ committee has vastly

C++ is changing way too fast to be useful anymore. I spent the first 15 years of my life loving C++ but in the last 8 years or so, the C++ committee has vastly outpaced its supply lines. I've been out of the language since then and I might as well learn a new language rather than try to re-understand the differences between C++ back then and now. The only people that can keep up are the hobbyists and the language purists. It's become a circle jerk and that's a shame because they are modernizing themselves out of existence, in my opinion. No one in real software can keep up with the biannual changes and it's getting to the point where migrating to another language like Go or Java is a lot more stable and less risky.

slededit 8y ago
C++11 was the big change these are more window dressing. If you like your current language that's fine but as a C++ programmer who had to learn C++11 it was well worth it. The more recent additions are more along the lines of "I can't believe that wasn't already in the standard!" rather than new things to learn.
pjmlp 8y ago
Then good luck keeping up with those languages as well, which release new versions every 6 months nowadays. Programming languages are just like any other software product.
- nikbackm 8y ago
  C seems to be pretty stable at least. Even if it too has a new version in the works.
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    C is mostly confined to UNIX derived OSes and embedded devs that won't change to anything else even at gun point. Yet, even C just got ISO C17 this year, even though it was a minor update. https://www.iso.org/standard/74528.html https://www.iso.org/standard/74528.html Languages either die or get updated to fulfill their customer requirements.
ketzu 8y ago
The good part is, you can (mostly) still program as if it was c++03, but you can move on from that part by part. Start adding auto, continue to lambdas, start using range for loops. Or you can go on and, whenever you have a question about c++, start googling it as "c++17 <question>" instead of "c++ <question>" to find more modern answers, you might actually like, as some of them are safer to use, e.g., less off-by-one errors, and easier to read. I personally felt overwhelmed from all the changes, but watching some videos I saw syntax I really liked and wanted to use! For the most part it was easy to understand, too. Being able to gradually change (at least in smaller projects) was a really nice experience.

slededit 8y ago

C++11 was the big change these are more window dressing. If you like your current language that's fine but as a C++ programmer who had to learn C++11 it was well worth it. The more recent additions are more along the lines of "I can't believe that wasn't already in the standard!" rather than new things to learn.

pjmlp 8y ago

Then good luck keeping up with those languages as well, which release new versions every 6 months nowadays. Programming languages are just like any other software product.

nikbackm 8y ago
C seems to be pretty stable at least. Even if it too has a new version in the works.
- pjmlp 8y ago
  C is mostly confined to UNIX derived OSes and embedded devs that won't change to anything else even at gun point. Yet, even C just got ISO C17 this year, even though it was a minor update. https://www.iso.org/standard/74528.html https://www.iso.org/standard/74528.html Languages either die or get updated to fulfill their customer requirements.

ketzu 8y ago

The good part is, you can (mostly) still program as if it was c++03, but you can move on from that part by part. Start adding auto, continue to lambdas, start using range for loops. Or you can go on and, whenever you have a question about c++, start googling it as "c++17 <question>" instead of "c++ <question>" to find more modern answers, you might actually like, as some of them are safer to use, e.g., less off-by-one errors, and easier to read. I personally felt overwhelmed from all the changes, but watching some videos I saw syntax I really liked and wanted to use! For the most part it was easy to understand, too. Being able to gradually change (at least in smaller projects) was a really nice experience.