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“C++ is a language, not a religion.” I swear Stroustrup said this at the beginning of his EE380 (CS Colloquium) talk at Stanford around 1986. At the time we (g
by smarks 3y ago
“C++ is a language, not a religion.”
I swear Stroustrup said this at the beginning of his EE380 (CS Colloquium) talk at Stanford around 1986. At the time we (grad students) were all C programmers and we were sure that C was the best language evar, at least, better than Pascal, which was the language Stanford used for teaching back then. So we all wanted to see this person who had the temerity to claim that he had improved C and who had the audacity to call it “C++” of all things! Skilling Auditorium was packed. When Stroustrup took the stage, a tense hush fell over the crowd. He said the above line fairly quietly, and everyone burst out laughing, breaking the tension. The rest of the talk was a pretty straightforward explanation of C++ 1.0, and I came away fairly impressed.
Several years later at another talk I asked him to inscribe my copy of the C++ book with that quote. He claimed not to remember it, but he inscribed the book per my request anyway.
I think the quote holds up well.
- jesse__ 3y agoI disagree so, so strongly with this. C++ programmers are one of the most religious groups around, eclipsed only recently by the rust community. Try telling a C++ programmer RAII is not a good idea. I dare you. Or smart-pointers. Or that the STL is mostly-garbage.. Trying to honestly have these conversations is typically an exercise in starting a religious flame-war.
- rcxdude 3y ago"Man annoyed no fish wants to have a debate about his position that being wet is evil. Convinced this makes him right by default"
- boris 3y agoI am a C++ programmer and if you told me those things, I would just flip a bozo bit on you and carry on coding, no religious flame-war is warranted.
- Capricorn2481 3y agoI'm not a c++ programmer. I don't see how RAII is a bad idea, or how it's "cult like" to use it. It has obvious benefits
- smarks 3y agoEvery language has its zealots. What I like about this quote is that it embodies Stroustrup’s personal attitude. He’s ultimately pragmatic. Nothing can be perfect — including C++ by his own admission. It’s aligned well with his other writings and with his commentary on the quotes page, particularly where he says that he tries not to be rude about other languages.