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This article seems kinda confused. It makes a lot of points, but I'm struggling to extract why that means C++ is more/less fun. The simultaneous description of

This article seems kinda confused. It makes a lot of points, but I'm struggling to extract why that means C++ is more/less fun. The simultaneous description of modern C++ as "extremely high quality" and yet pervasive legacy bs, horrible tooling, etc is confusing. They say unique_ptr is great yet they "really hate RAII". Many of the discussed topics are largely irrelevant or incorrect. Metaprogramming used to be everywhere but now isn't (what?? Take a look at concepts)? C++ has the best graphics libraries (surely not true)? Installing Python is harder than C++? These seems like odd obsessions of the author, with little relation to the argument. I think the author just finds C++ fun for some complex combination of personal factors, which is fine. Perhaps partly due to a "hacker" type personality. Some of the most fun I've had with programming has been C++, due to its performance and technicality. At the same time, C++ is in practice crap for "real" software development where your own short-term enjoyment is not paramount (for a billion reasons we all know). C++ is a deeply conflicted language, scarred by decades of legacy and politics. Ignoring the reality of C++ is the biggest mistake of those who discuss it. My attitude towards C++ these days is of tiredness. I don't want to jump through the hoops C++ has thrown at me for the past many years. We don't need to beat an already long dead horse. It's ok to let C++ be what it is.

mst 2y ago
> I think the author just finds C++ fun for some complex combination of personal factors, which is fine. Perhaps partly due to a "hacker" type personality. I think that sums up the point of the article just fine. To me at least, it's not so much that it's confused as that it's him being excited about having fun and doing his best to share his joy. Which means that, sure, it's not a proper essay at all, it's not really trying to convince you to agree so much as saying "if you find this relatable without me trying to actively convince you, maybe you'd find it fun too." I think given you've been mugged by reality in commercial work to the point of tiredness, your not finding it to make sense at all is completely understandable, though. I'm currently having a blast writing javascript of all things, and I imagine if I wrote up a similar blog post explaining why it'd come across just as badly to somebody burned out on the last decade of commercial javascript too. But I'm glad he's having fun, and I'm glad he decided to share the joy.
- pdimitar 2y ago
  > I think given you've been mugged by reality in commercial work to the point of tiredness, your not finding it to make sense at all is completely understandable, though. OK, I want a job where I have fun and I am programming. Starting at $150K / year. Are you hiring? No deadlines, no commercial targets. Let's have a casual interview during which I'll prove I've been coding ever since 12-year old. Let's go.

mst 2y ago

> I think the author just finds C++ fun for some complex combination of personal factors, which is fine. Perhaps partly due to a "hacker" type personality. I think that sums up the point of the article just fine. To me at least, it's not so much that it's confused as that it's him being excited about having fun and doing his best to share his joy. Which means that, sure, it's not a proper essay at all, it's not really trying to convince you to agree so much as saying "if you find this relatable without me trying to actively convince you, maybe you'd find it fun too." I think given you've been mugged by reality in commercial work to the point of tiredness, your not finding it to make sense at all is completely understandable, though. I'm currently having a blast writing javascript of all things, and I imagine if I wrote up a similar blog post explaining why it'd come across just as badly to somebody burned out on the last decade of commercial javascript too. But I'm glad he's having fun, and I'm glad he decided to share the joy.

pdimitar 2y ago
> I think given you've been mugged by reality in commercial work to the point of tiredness, your not finding it to make sense at all is completely understandable, though. OK, I want a job where I have fun and I am programming. Starting at $150K / year. Are you hiring? No deadlines, no commercial targets. Let's have a casual interview during which I'll prove I've been coding ever since 12-year old. Let's go.