4 ms·

The Great Programming Language Continuum; or why C++ is dying

10 points by steeleduncan 14y ago

twp 14y ago
The article claims that "[human speech] would be the highest level language of all if anyone could write an interpreter for it." What a load of nonsense. Human speech is a lousy language for precise expression, and often fails even for human-to-human communication. This is why we invented mathematics. I stopped reading at that point.
- mikevm 14y ago
  I stopped reading after "; or why C++ is dying".
YuriNiyazov 14y ago
Wow, have you looked at C++11? It brings in everything you love about functional languages and improves on it.
- thwest 14y ago
  I love C++11 but it still doesn't get me lazy evaluation
  - PommeDeTerre 14y ago
    There are a variety of techniques for implementing lazy evaluation when using C++. What's stopping you from using these approaches, or using an existing library like Boost Phoenix?
  - greyfade 14y ago
    It does have `std::async`, which is in the general direction of being close.
- greyfade 14y ago
  I wouldn't say "improves on it." It certainly does bring a lot of really nice functional features to the table (oh, I love async and lambdas, and futures are such a nice tool to have), and it fixes a lot of problems that have plagued the language for decades, but it doesn't "improve" on functional programming any more than Java does.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
CJefferson 14y ago
This article appears to directly contradict its main point, by claiming lisp is the most exclusive language, which everyone would want to use, yet almost no-one uses it.
jes5199 14y ago
"C has retained its popularity because the answer to the question what is the lowest level language I can code in without using assembly has always been C" What a way to miss the point! There are plenty of languages between assembly and C. C wins because it's about as high-level as you can get before you start incurring run-time penalties.
tunesmith 14y ago
Not sure I'd say that human speech is the highest level programming language. Human speech is just too vague. I always wonder when someone will invent a programming language that is built for the mobile programmer. I don't mean mobile devices, I mean the programmer can program while walking around. Transparent hud, microgestures, something like that. That'd be pretty high level.
stewie2 14y ago
I completely disagree. C++ is not perfect, but it's evolving. I started my oo programing with java. I have used c#, go, obj c and many others. But I think C++ is still the best.
gonewest 14y ago
Now let's look at that list again but remove languages that don't have native threads and vectorization.

10 points by steeleduncan 14y ago

twp 14y ago

The article claims that "[human speech] would be the highest level language of all if anyone could write an interpreter for it." What a load of nonsense. Human speech is a lousy language for precise expression, and often fails even for human-to-human communication. This is why we invented mathematics. I stopped reading at that point.

mikevm 14y ago
I stopped reading after "; or why C++ is dying".

YuriNiyazov 14y ago

Wow, have you looked at C++11? It brings in everything you love about functional languages and improves on it.

thwest 14y ago
I love C++11 but it still doesn't get me lazy evaluation
- PommeDeTerre 14y ago
  There are a variety of techniques for implementing lazy evaluation when using C++. What's stopping you from using these approaches, or using an existing library like Boost Phoenix?
- greyfade 14y ago
  It does have `std::async`, which is in the general direction of being close.
greyfade 14y ago
I wouldn't say "improves on it." It certainly does bring a lot of really nice functional features to the table (oh, I love async and lambdas, and futures are such a nice tool to have), and it fixes a lot of problems that have plagued the language for decades, but it doesn't "improve" on functional programming any more than Java does.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

CJefferson 14y ago

This article appears to directly contradict its main point, by claiming lisp is the most exclusive language, which everyone would want to use, yet almost no-one uses it.

jes5199 14y ago

"C has retained its popularity because the answer to the question what is the lowest level language I can code in without using assembly has always been C" What a way to miss the point! There are plenty of languages between assembly and C. C wins because it's about as high-level as you can get before you start incurring run-time penalties.

tunesmith 14y ago

Not sure I'd say that human speech is the highest level programming language. Human speech is just too vague. I always wonder when someone will invent a programming language that is built for the mobile programmer. I don't mean mobile devices, I mean the programmer can program while walking around. Transparent hud, microgestures, something like that. That'd be pretty high level.

stewie2 14y ago

I completely disagree. C++ is not perfect, but it's evolving. I started my oo programing with java. I have used c#, go, obj c and many others. But I think C++ is still the best.

gonewest 14y ago

Now let's look at that list again but remove languages that don't have native threads and vectorization.