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C++ Creator Confident About Its Future
bonch writes "Bjarne Stroustrup is confident about the future of C++. He says there is a backlash against new languages like Java and C#, and that developers are returning to C++." From the article: "He claimed the main reason why people are not aware of this is because C++ doesn't have a 'propaganda campaign.' Sun Microsystems has touted the use of Java in the Mars Rover program, for example, but Stroustrup asserts that C++ was also used.
"...Stroustrup asserts that C++ was also used.
I bet he also trys to catch all the code NASA uses.
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However, it's a double-edged sword. It has been said that C lets you shoot yourself in the foot. C++ provides a dozen ways to shoot yourself in both feet and your own back, simultaneously. Be carefull.
Many have tried to design languages to protect the programmer from themselves, i.e. by providing native garbage collection, disallowing bald pointers, etc. However, this is short-sighted. It presumes what is "hard" and prevents the skilled programmer from replacing the default implementation. C++ new and delete member functions provide no-fuss custom memory management... and probably account for probably half of those ways of shooting one's self in both feet and back.
A language that is complete in the sense of permitting the coding of fundemental facilities is seductive. It provides an assurance that one can implement "low-level" stuff like memory management, or even the bulk of an O/S kernel in it. The lack of I/O facilities in C, for example, is an intentional feature, and not an oversight. Never have to learn another language again.
Other languages may provide the convenience of built-in capabilities that are useful for a particular task at hand: awk, perl, and the rash of modern scripting languages come to mind. When the shoe fits, the adaptable programmer will take the path of least resistance. Languages like Java and C# attempt to bridge the general-purpose languages with the protection and features offered by application-specific ones, the latter via extensive run-time libraries (.NET, anyone?). They tend to return to the pseudo-compiled small-interpreter model to provide hardware portability.
The problem is, that one has do do things the C# "way", or the .NET "way", or the Java "way". Multiple inheritance? Oooh, it's so hard to implement right, and can be so confusing, and, admitedly can be expensive at run-time, so we'll not provide it. Mixin becomes a hack, with language keyword support. Over time, syntactic sugar in the language provides clever support for things like iterators, but binds language features to what should be artbitrary types (Lists are special in C#, for example).
Well, I want it all.
A programming language that will let me shoot myself in the foot any way from Sunday if I dare to try... but, with the flexibility to let me say, "Nope. No bald pointers here." Segregation of programmable expressiveness by program, not language, design.
A programming language that is mutable, so I can invent my own brand of syntactic sugar, and the support to let me quickly find out what mutations a particular piece of code uses.
A programming language that lets me choose when to evaluate things. Do I want this figured out at compile time? Link time? Load time? Run time? Sorry, C++ templates, though Turing-complete are about as maintainable as APL, if one uses them for anythng clever.
It's too bad Mary2 never caught on.
Many will argue that mutable languages result in unmaintainable code: which mutation is in force? I would counter that programs written in non-mutable languages are equally unmaintainable if one does not understand the design of the application. Sure, one can see the "trees", but not the forest: I know x = a + b adds a and b to yield x, but what is that for? The effort to undestand what mutations are in effect is likely similar to the effort to understand an application's design. Except, one has the advantage of a known meta-syntax for expressing the mutatations, instead of having to rely on a design document (which may not exist), likely poorly written or out of date
You could've hired me.
Isn't this copied from http://www.adequacy.org/public/stories/2002.7.4.18 3710.3582.html?
See objective C with GnuStep as base for the next gen C based frameworks and low level languages, than having that monster without decent classlib C++ rising again.
Sorry, been there, done that, but the widespread usage of C++ was one of the biggest history jokes ever. A language, as bloated as a language could be, with lots of cool features on the language level, but ommitting the two most important aspects, a good standardized classlib which covers all important application scope aspects, and a language which is actually usable without having to fight with it for years before being able to master it to a certain degree. There was a reason why people flooded to java in 97-98, it was less the hype, it was more the fact, that people tried to implement big long running systems in C++ and saw it was not really feasable in a decent timeframe, due to constantly crashing problems thanks to the missing boundary checks, memory leaks thanks to the missing garbage collector, and general programming errors and unreadable code, thanks to the byzantine bloatware the language in fact really is. Add to that the compiler bugs caused by the 1200 pages of language specs and you could see why people were fleeing from C++.
And up to date, whenever I have to talk about C++ I only can give the advice, limit yourself in the usage of features and only use a readable subset of it (which would be similar to java and C#), try to omit the C heritage entirely if possible, do not use preprocessors, do not use extensive operator overloading or templating. And check out the KDE/Qt API, they so far have been the only ones to master the language on a design level which in fact results in readable and maintainable code.
I'v been coding in Perl, Java, C and C++ for the past few years and although I prefer using perl and bash I must say that I've learned to think like a programmer having learned C++ first.
,C++ should be taught before Java.
I also eneded up taking a C++ course in High School, and I found that many of my classmates started to think and analyze problems differently. A year later the school changed from C++ to Java ( because the CollegeBoard changed it's CS exams to Java). I also took that class and I noticed that the kids that only took Java, even after completing the course did not learn much - and especially not to think like programmers. I think that this is most likely because Java has so many libraries within that the kids never actually learn what occurs in the "back end." Many fail to understand what a string is, and the majority did not understand algorithms at all, I dont want to mention efficency. Although Java is probablly used more widely, I think that for beginners to learn to think like programmers it would be better to learn a language from which they can learn the basics behind programming, and although I would suggest PASCAL (better for learning algorithms)
Learning DSA with Java is a bit funny, how is having a garbage collector efficent and how will that inspire programmers to write more cautius and efficent code?
Just my opinion, I'd like to learn more.