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It's not totally crazy. I think Meebo's mostly written in C++, for instance, since they're always looking for C++ and JavaScript people but they never mention
by wayne 18y ago
It's not totally crazy. I think Meebo's mostly written in C++, for instance, since they're always looking for C++ and JavaScript people but they never mention scripting in their job ads: http://www.meebo.com/jobs/openings/server/ http://www.meebo.com/jobs/openings/server/ I think they mention in one of these blog posts that they wrote a lighttpd module.
I've written a C++ Apache module for a simple web app before. It's definitely harder than using a scripting framework though, not so much because of the language, but more that frameworks have functions that help you do just about anything (e.g. sanitize input, construct safe SQL). In C++ land you're more on your own since most people aren't crazy enough to build a web app in C++.
Also, if you go down this route and you're particular about C vs. C++, check out mod_cpp for building Apache modules: http://sourceforge.net/projects/modcpp/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/modcpp/
I echo the advice that if you have something performance-sensitive, build it in C/C++, but proxy it through something built with a better-known framework. Thrift is great for this: http://incubator.apache.org/thrift/ http://incubator.apache.org/thrift/
- jgalvez 18y agoThanks a lot, Thrift looks very cool. That's exactly the kind of thing I would see myself doing a lot. Offload stuff out of Python altogether and communicate with a C++ daemon. I heard about Thrift when Protocol Buffers came along but didn't bother to look into it. Is it any better than PB? Does anyone have any experience on this to share?
- wayne 18y agoHere's the big Thrift/PB comparison table: http://stuartsierra.com/2008/07/10/thrift-vs-protocol-buffers http://stuartsierra.com/2008/07/10/thrift-vs-protocol-buffer... Personally, I like Thrift better. More languages and greater community participation.
- wheels 18y agoMeebo's in Java. Or at least so said the founder when on a recent TechCrunch meetup panel. Specifically, he was making cracks at Ian (from Songkick) for Songkick being in Ruby. ;-) http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/09/21/techcrunchtalk-video-startup-young-guns-and-old-hands/ http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/09/21/techcrunchtalk-video-sta...
- wayne 18y agoI think you're confusing Bebo and Meebo. The co-founder of Bebo was on that panel and Bebo is written in Java.
- wheels 18y agoDammit. I swear I'm too old for Web 2.0. ;-)
- michaelneale 18y agoIt's ok, you just had a "senior" moment. Just relax, and don't forget the blood pressure pills ;)
- kingkongrevenge 18y agobloglines is entirely C++. I remember seeing some interview where the guy said it was critical to beating their competitors. They were all busy trying to scale while bloglines already worked.
- quasimojo 18y agoand where are they now
- tlrobinson 18y agoInteresting. That seems to be the exact opposite of pg's view that Lisp was one of Viaweb's main competitive advantages, because it allowed them to rapidly add new features. http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html
- jgalvez 18y agoI think Lisp is reasonably fast, possibly as fast as C++.
- jfarmer 18y agoI doubt the front-end stuff, e.g., templating, is written in C++. Rather, they use C++ because the library that powers their IM client, libpurple, is written in C. Writing a C/C++ bridge to whatever (Java, Ruby, Python, PHP) isn't hard and there are lots of generic solutions out there already, e.g., Thrift.