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Why wasn't the Linux kernel written in C++?
- Jun8 16y agoLinus Torvalds' popular comment is dissected here (http://warp.povusers.org/OpenLetters/ResponseToTorvalds.html http://warp.povusers.org/OpenLetters/ResponseToTorvalds.html): "C++ is a horrible language. It's made more horrible by the fact that a lot of substandard programmers use it, to the point where it's much much easier to generate total and utter crap with it. Quite frankly, even if the choice of C were to do nothing but keep the C++ programmers out, that in itself would be a huge reason to use C." You know the clip I'd like to see: Linus vs Stroustrup, discussing the pros and cons of C++. The hotheaded hacker against the calm language developer. Who'd win?
- yaks_hairbrush 16y agoI'm not such a great programmer, but it seems obvious to me that you'd want to write a kernel in the most minimal (as in close to the hardware) but portable language possible. Further, a language as expansive as C++ on a collaborative volunteer project probably wouldn't work so well. (Don't folks complain all the time about how everyone uses a different C++?)