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> Do they not know that basically every important piece of software today is still written in those languages? A blatant overstatement. There's lots of import

> Do they not know that basically every important piece of software today is still written in those languages? A blatant overstatement. There's lots of important work done for the CLR (MS, many others), Java (Sun, Google, Amazon, bits of Facebook, IBM, etc, etc) or in Python (Dropbox) or in Cobol (banks...sigh). Yeah, there's plenty of important C/Cpp code but it's probably in a minority of "important", even if important just means "commercial" or "popular".

alayne 14y ago
I disagree. Most operating systems, desktop applications, web browsers, and fundamental Internet services (web servers, BIND, MTAs, etc) are written in C/C++. Dropbox is not in that league of important.
- rayiner 14y ago
  Most of those applications were written decades ago.
- calpaterson 14y ago
  So you're arguing with me over what "important" means. If "important" means nearer the bottom of the stack, then yeah, you win. I doubt many people see it that way though.
  - paul-woolcock 14y ago
    If by "bottom of the stack" you mean "the code that the top of the stack depends on in order to run at all," then I would say that he is correct in what "important" means.
    - kbutler 14y ago
      Infrastructure only exists to enable applications, though it's easy to lose sight of this as a software engineer.
adamnemecek 14y ago
Pardon my impudence, but what piece of software did you use to post this comment? And what was that piece of software running on?
- jawr 14y ago
  It seems to me that people seem to magic away these things... The only type of context they can place programming/using languages is within in a web application and anything under that is irrelevant.
codex 14y ago
Aren't the CLR, Java, and Python runtimes written in C/C++?
- calpaterson 14y ago
  Yes. So? Does that mean that the programs written for them are written in C/Cpp too?
  - codex 14y ago
    No, but presuming that the best language was used to implement these runtimes, these languages would be worse off it it weren't for C/C++. And the runtimes qualify as important software in their own right, simply because they inherit from the importance of all the software that runs on them written in other languages.
    - calpaterson 14y ago
      > these languages would be worse off it it weren't for C/C++. Definitely. > And the runtimes qualify as important software in their own right, simply because they inherit from the importance of all the software that runs on them written in other languages. Also agreed. The only thing I'm trying to disprove is the thesis that "basically" no important software is written in languages other than C/Cpp.
      - adamnemecek 14y ago
        "thesis that "basically" no important software is written in languages other than C/Cpp", yeah, not one person in this thread said that.
        calpaterson 14y ago
        > Do they not know that basically every important piece of software today is still written in those languages [C and Cpp]?
  - 14y ago

alayne 14y ago

I disagree. Most operating systems, desktop applications, web browsers, and fundamental Internet services (web servers, BIND, MTAs, etc) are written in C/C++. Dropbox is not in that league of important.

rayiner 14y ago
Most of those applications were written decades ago.
calpaterson 14y ago
So you're arguing with me over what "important" means. If "important" means nearer the bottom of the stack, then yeah, you win. I doubt many people see it that way though.
- paul-woolcock 14y ago
  If by "bottom of the stack" you mean "the code that the top of the stack depends on in order to run at all," then I would say that he is correct in what "important" means.
  - kbutler 14y ago
    Infrastructure only exists to enable applications, though it's easy to lose sight of this as a software engineer.

adamnemecek 14y ago

Pardon my impudence, but what piece of software did you use to post this comment? And what was that piece of software running on?

jawr 14y ago
It seems to me that people seem to magic away these things... The only type of context they can place programming/using languages is within in a web application and anything under that is irrelevant.

codex 14y ago

Aren't the CLR, Java, and Python runtimes written in C/C++?

calpaterson 14y ago
Yes. So? Does that mean that the programs written for them are written in C/Cpp too?
- codex 14y ago
  No, but presuming that the best language was used to implement these runtimes, these languages would be worse off it it weren't for C/C++. And the runtimes qualify as important software in their own right, simply because they inherit from the importance of all the software that runs on them written in other languages.
  - calpaterson 14y ago
    > these languages would be worse off it it weren't for C/C++. Definitely. > And the runtimes qualify as important software in their own right, simply because they inherit from the importance of all the software that runs on them written in other languages. Also agreed. The only thing I'm trying to disprove is the thesis that "basically" no important software is written in languages other than C/Cpp.
    - adamnemecek 14y ago
      "thesis that "basically" no important software is written in languages other than C/Cpp", yeah, not one person in this thread said that.
      - calpaterson 14y ago
        > Do they not know that basically every important piece of software today is still written in those languages [C and Cpp]?
- 14y ago