3 ms·

"I know for a fact practically every piece software I use is programmed in either C or C++." How confident are you that that software will work as expected? H

"I know for a fact practically every piece software I use is programmed in either C or C++." How confident are you that that software will work as expected? How much are you willing to bet? The fact that a language is popular does not prove that the language is good, nor that it should be used, nor that it is not causing us problems. Just the other day on HN, there was an article about a massive number of vulnerabilities in X11 applications -- all resulting from problems that you have in C and C++ but not in higher-level languages. Entire classes of bugs that are common problems in C are just not an issue in other languages. Sure, it is possible to write unreliable code in high-level languages. It is just a lot easier to write unreliable C code, and C programmers are much more likely to do so (even those with years of experience).

Jabbles 13y ago
"There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses" Bjarne Stroustrup http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#really-say-that http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#really-say-that Of course, that just dismisses the criticism of the language. But to say that it "should [not] be used" ignores the current landscape of engineers, employers and problems.
- pjscott 13y ago
  That quote is always annoying, because it applies equally well to all criticisms of any programming language in active use, but not all criticisms are created equal. A useful heuristic would actually help distinguish between reasonable criticism and inevitable kvetching.
asynchronous13 13y ago
Perhaps you should face your fears and learn C ;-)
kmm 13y ago
I'm not betting anything. I'm just saying that it seems to me the advantages of higher level languages do not outweigh the disadvantages. Most of the software I use was written relatively recently, which means other program languages were available, yet C was chosen over them.

Jabbles 13y ago

"There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses" Bjarne Stroustrup http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#really-say-that http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#really-say-that Of course, that just dismisses the criticism of the language. But to say that it "should [not] be used" ignores the current landscape of engineers, employers and problems.

pjscott 13y ago
That quote is always annoying, because it applies equally well to all criticisms of any programming language in active use, but not all criticisms are created equal. A useful heuristic would actually help distinguish between reasonable criticism and inevitable kvetching.

asynchronous13 13y ago

Perhaps you should face your fears and learn C ;-)

kmm 13y ago

I'm not betting anything. I'm just saying that it seems to me the advantages of higher level languages do not outweigh the disadvantages. Most of the software I use was written relatively recently, which means other program languages were available, yet C was chosen over them.