4 ms·

I used to be c++ "guru" some years ago, but right now code like this scares me as hell. The language is getting less-used and it's a good thing http://www.tiobe

I used to be c++ "guru" some years ago, but right now code like this scares me as hell. The language is getting less-used and it's a good thing http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/paperinfo/tpci/C__.html http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/paperinfo/tpci/C__.html How many years would you give it to stay ubiquitous? I bet on 15 years

udp 14y ago
I was just about to make a similar comment. There isn't much about C++98 I don't know, but having ignored C++11 for too long I feel utterly lost looking at stuff like this now. What concerns me even more is that it must be pretty much impossible for a beginner to pick up C++ today.
- pjmlp 14y ago
  Anyone can pick it up if they really care. They don't need to know the complete language on day 1.
  - fceccon 14y ago
    As a beginner programmer (a.k.a. CS student) I was able to pickup the basic of the language in the last 2 months and work on a real world (not a school project, it's a library that other universities use) cuda c++ project. I read a book so I have an idea of what can and can't be done, but when I need to implement something unusual (ie function object) I need to lookup it in the book or ask for help to my mentor. I still need help to understand gcc errors, cuda uses an "old" version (3.4 I think) so we don't get the improvements of the new versions.
    - pjmlp 14y ago
      Yes, you always need to look things up. In the projects I take part on, with teams from 20 - 100 developers, you cannot know everything regardless of the language.
- fafner 14y ago
  > What concerns me even more is that it must be pretty much impossible for a beginner to pick up C++ today. There certainly are issues when learning C++. But I don't think it's impossible. A major concern is the fact that there was never a centralised website collecting good information and filtering out the crap. There never was a central Tutorial or Reference. All the knowledge is hidden in very expensive books and worst of all there are many publishers simply spitting out piles of bad C++ books. http://isocpp.org/ http://isocpp.org/ and http://en.cppreference.com/w/ http://en.cppreference.com/w/ are a huge improvement. Stroustrup's book is a great introduction: http://www.stroustrup.com/Programming/ http://www.stroustrup.com/Programming/ I wish he'd made it freely available. A lot of programming beginners aren't happy to pay $50-$70 for a book when they can go to other languages offering great beginner tutorials for free. And C++11 is pretty new. So of course there is a transition period with books, articles, references catching on.
pjmlp 14y ago
I am still waiting to see a language that can fully replace it.
- indeyets 14y ago
  I'm not sure that's needed. It would be much better if parts of it are replaced by different languages (and that's exactly what's happening) haskell, python, erlang, clojure, scala, d, go, lua… take the tasks one by one. the glue is C (but something like llvm-assembly might take it's place eventually)
  - pjmlp 14y ago
    A language able to do multi-paradigm programming while giving the ability to do low level stuff as well as high level programming, while compiling to native code. I really miss the ability to compile to native code in most implementations for mainstream languages nowadays. I am looking forward to D and Rust, but it will take ages before any of them really get into mainstream. C, well I haven't touched it since 2001.
    - lmm 14y ago
      >I really miss the ability to compile to native code in most implementations for mainstream languages nowadays. What's your use case for it? Is it covered by .net's (often overlooked) native compilation capabilities?
      - pjmlp 14y ago
        True, but it is one specific case and not multi-platform (Mono does not run everywhere where C++ does). If you need to make C# work in all scenarios C++ is used, then a compiler with static linkage is also required for scenarios where deploying CLR is not possible. A compiler like Bartok. Specially if you would like to replace C++ everywhere where it is being used. So I've learned to make use of "Worse is better" philosophy and keep using C++ for my native code needs.

udp 14y ago

I was just about to make a similar comment. There isn't much about C++98 I don't know, but having ignored C++11 for too long I feel utterly lost looking at stuff like this now. What concerns me even more is that it must be pretty much impossible for a beginner to pick up C++ today.

pjmlp 14y ago
Anyone can pick it up if they really care. They don't need to know the complete language on day 1.
- fceccon 14y ago
  As a beginner programmer (a.k.a. CS student) I was able to pickup the basic of the language in the last 2 months and work on a real world (not a school project, it's a library that other universities use) cuda c++ project. I read a book so I have an idea of what can and can't be done, but when I need to implement something unusual (ie function object) I need to lookup it in the book or ask for help to my mentor. I still need help to understand gcc errors, cuda uses an "old" version (3.4 I think) so we don't get the improvements of the new versions.
  - pjmlp 14y ago
    Yes, you always need to look things up. In the projects I take part on, with teams from 20 - 100 developers, you cannot know everything regardless of the language.
fafner 14y ago
> What concerns me even more is that it must be pretty much impossible for a beginner to pick up C++ today. There certainly are issues when learning C++. But I don't think it's impossible. A major concern is the fact that there was never a centralised website collecting good information and filtering out the crap. There never was a central Tutorial or Reference. All the knowledge is hidden in very expensive books and worst of all there are many publishers simply spitting out piles of bad C++ books. http://isocpp.org/ http://isocpp.org/ and http://en.cppreference.com/w/ http://en.cppreference.com/w/ are a huge improvement. Stroustrup's book is a great introduction: http://www.stroustrup.com/Programming/ http://www.stroustrup.com/Programming/ I wish he'd made it freely available. A lot of programming beginners aren't happy to pay $50-$70 for a book when they can go to other languages offering great beginner tutorials for free. And C++11 is pretty new. So of course there is a transition period with books, articles, references catching on.

pjmlp 14y ago

I am still waiting to see a language that can fully replace it.

indeyets 14y ago
I'm not sure that's needed. It would be much better if parts of it are replaced by different languages (and that's exactly what's happening) haskell, python, erlang, clojure, scala, d, go, lua… take the tasks one by one. the glue is C (but something like llvm-assembly might take it's place eventually)
- pjmlp 14y ago
  A language able to do multi-paradigm programming while giving the ability to do low level stuff as well as high level programming, while compiling to native code. I really miss the ability to compile to native code in most implementations for mainstream languages nowadays. I am looking forward to D and Rust, but it will take ages before any of them really get into mainstream. C, well I haven't touched it since 2001.
  - lmm 14y ago
    >I really miss the ability to compile to native code in most implementations for mainstream languages nowadays. What's your use case for it? Is it covered by .net's (often overlooked) native compilation capabilities?
    - pjmlp 14y ago
      True, but it is one specific case and not multi-platform (Mono does not run everywhere where C++ does). If you need to make C# work in all scenarios C++ is used, then a compiler with static linkage is also required for scenarios where deploying CLR is not possible. A compiler like Bartok. Specially if you would like to replace C++ everywhere where it is being used. So I've learned to make use of "Worse is better" philosophy and keep using C++ for my native code needs.