Demise of C++?

fashla writes "Several somber and soul searching threads have been recently posted to the USENET newsgroup comp.lang.c++ such as "C++ is Dead" and "A Dying Era". The reason for this reflective mood is the sudden demise of the magazine C/C++ Users Journal (CUJ) http://www.cuj.com/ that had been published by CMP Media. Participating in the posts have been such C++ luminaries such as Bjarne Stroustrup and P.J. Plauger. While some contributers think that CUJ's demise is due to the general trend away from print, others think something else is afoot..."

Comments

Balkanization

[(1 -sqrt(5))*(2**-1)]

We're witnessing, I believe, the Balkanization of the software industry, where hybrids like C++ are being edged out; the ultimate trend: C where speed counts, and, for everything else, Java.

Though it were hard for me to imagine, for instance, Unreal's engine being ported to Java, Quake seems to have fared well with feral C.

Re:Balkanization

[StrawberryFrog]

hybrids like C++ are being edged out; the ultimate trend: C where speed counts, and, for everything else, Java.

And just a few days ago I was reading on slashdot about Java/C# falling in between C/C++ for low-level systems programming and the "dynamic and/or scripting" languages for highest productivity (e.g Perl, JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, Haskell).

Less C++, more Ruby

[yattaran]

Despite my love for C++ I find myself writing less and less C++ code. Why? Well, I guess it's due Ruby ( http://www.ruby-lang.org/ ) in my case. And whenever I make an extention in Ruby I write it in C, not C++. Why should I spend 5 days writing a tool in C++ when I can write it in 5 hours using Ruby ?

I feel sad about not using C++ more often though, because it really was my favorite language for a long time. I just can't think of any project idea I have where C++ would be better suited than Ruby.

Re:C++ has its place

[LizardKing]

C++ remains as the only proper object-oriented language. Despite all the years of continuous development in languages, there has yet arisen an overall better object-oriented language. Yes it's ugly. Yes it's cryptic. Yes, it explodes often. But there isn't another language that does things better.

C++ the "only proper object oriented language"?!? It started life as a kludged on Modula extension to C. It has evolved into an overly complex language that includes elements of many programming paradigms, but implements all but the procedural ones poorly. The procedural stuff came from C anyway. Objective C is far closer to a "proper" object-oriented language, adding the minimum to C to give it OOP features. Smalltalk itself is the purest OOP language.

Java - Oh wow, a language that inherited the syntax from C++. Also completely controlled by a useless business committee. Tack on the JVM and you have yourself a C++ killer! Oh wait...

It inherited procedural syntax from C, not C++. The OOP aspects were inherited from Objective C and SmallTalk, along with a class library that owes much to NeXTstep/OpenStep. Gosling and other Sun engineers must have been exposed to NeXT's development platform during the brief Sun dalliance with OpenStep. As for being controlled by a "business" committee, my experience of Java's evolution is that it was largely driven byb engineers at Sun. Anyway, Stroustrup and the ISO committees haven't done a great job with C++.

As for being a C++ killer, it seems to be exactly that at my current employer. Our content delivery systems have been rewritten in Java and C, replacing a C++ monstrosity. Our only outsourced application is in the process of being rewritten in Java rather to replace the current C++ version from the same vendor. C++ ain't just dying, it's dead here.

C# - Like Java, but worse. Switch the Java committee for a Microsoft one. Switch JVM for .NET. Stupidity for everyone!

Although it's just Java for Windows, C# is a much more elegant language than C++.

Objective-C - Is it used ever outside of Apple development?

Why's that, doesn't development for MacOS X amount to much then? Plus, the Cocoa APIs are far more elegant than the hideous STL abomination.

Smalltalk - Nice and pretty. And unheard of outside of the niche.

It was ahead of it's time, but obscurity doesn't mean it's a poorer language than C++.

Python, Ruby, etc. - Often considered too slow.

Only in urban myths.

Re:From my point of view

[mellon]

You're repeating some classic received knowledge about C++ that happens not to be true. I have to admit that for a long time I bought into the story that C++ was like C, only more complicated. And that C++ is fundamentally about object oriented programming.

I got over my dislike of C++ about two days ago when I decided to use Qt to do some programming, which pretty much forces you into C++. I was really shocked at how unpleasant it *wasn't*. I've had some really bad experiences with Java - a lot of "model" is forced down your throat. Using C++ felt very natural, and I noticed a huge number of really nice touches that are quite cheap, because they're done by the compiler, but that (a) make your coding less error-prone, and (b) are just horribly convenient.

So my point here is that if you've been hearing for years that C++ isn't worth your time because it's object oriented or because it's just C warmed over, neither of these statements is true. I'm embarrassed to have ever repeated them (sad to say, I have done so in the past).

I really don't think C++ is on the way out. My main complaint about it at this point is that g++ is too verbose when I use an overloaded function that doesn't exist - it prints a list of all the possible candidates, which can get quite long. I don't think that's a capital crime, though. :'}