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Bjarne Stroustrup on the Problems With Programming

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the blowing-your-whole-leg-off dept.

Hobart writes "MIT's Technology Review has a Q&A with C++ inventor Bjarne Stroustrup. Highlights include Bjarne's answers on the trade-offs involved in the design of C++, and how they apply today, and his thoughts on the solution to the problems. From the interview: 'Software developers have become adept at the difficult art of building reasonably reliable systems out of unreliable parts. The snag is that often we do not know exactly how we did it.'"

15 of 605 comments (clear)

  1. ... but doesn't remember how he did it?? by jarich · · Score: 2, Funny
    "Software developers have become adept at the difficult art of building reasonably reliable systems out of unreliable parts. The snag is that often we do not know exactly how we did it."

    So he doesn't remember how he created C++ huh? That explains a ~lot~!

    ;)

    --
    Agile Artisans
    1. Re:... but doesn't remember how he did it?? by jarich · · Score: 2, Funny
      Only problem with it is it leaves off at 1993 or so, just as the ISO process was getting to its feet.

      Ah ha! I thought so!

      (It's humor! Come on... laugh with me!)

      --
      Agile Artisans
  2. Ridiculous. by sammy+baby · · Score: 5, Funny
    Stroustrup:
    On the other hand, looking at "average" pieces of code can make me cry. The structure is appalling, and the programmers clearly didn't think deeply about correctness, algorithms, data structures, or maintainability. Most people don't actually read code; they just see Internet Explorer "freeze."


    Now that is just ridiculous. I'm using IE7 to post this article, and have been using it since its release, and I can say
    1. Re:Ridiculous. by grammar+fascist · · Score: 4, Funny
      Now that is just ridiculous. I'm using IE7 to post this article, and have been using it since its release, and I can say

      You can say that it's magical, because it managed to post for you just before it crashed. Though that's pretty nifty, I've seen Firefox tack on a "NO CARRIER" before. Maybe you should submit a feature request.
      --
      I got my Linux laptop at System76.
  3. Only my second favorite by jgannon · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is only my second favorite Stroustrup interview. The first is here: http://www.chunder.com/text/ididit.html (Yes, I know it's a hoax.)

  4. Which university is that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Which university is it that teaches Visual Basic? Please let us know the name and location of this university, so we can avoid hiring employees who studied there.

    1. Re:Which university is that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      God damn, they obviously don't teach English.

    2. Re:Which university is that? by jcgf · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why have pascal in there at all? Let it die just let it die.

    3. Re:Which university is that? by Pollardito · · Score: 4, Funny

      starting them out at assembler is jumping the gun. surely they should learn to use an abacus and a slide rule before moving on to Babbage's mechanical computer and then assembler programming on punch cards

  5. please stop him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If Bjarne rewrites the C++ I/O libraries one more time I'm going to hunt him down like a job and stick my C++ Reference Collection (with bookends) up his ass.

    Some of us have real work to do, you know...

  6. Re:In my experience... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    No! No! No! You are posting to slashdot remember? Your post should be a pontificating rant about how all development should be done in C/C++ (or better yet assembler) punctuated with the occasional sneer at VB developers. You would get bonus points if you could some how disparage Web Developers and fit in a whine about AJAX.

  7. Re:Start ASSEMBLY on PAPER, no COMPUTERS by hotdiggitydawg · · Score: 2, Funny

    Paper and pen? Luxury. When I were lad, we had to use papyrus and lump o' charcoal, and compilin' were done by chisellin' machine code int' stone tablet.

  8. Re:Problems with Programming by quigonn · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can you bring a concrete example? In my C++ programming, I never had to cast a pointer, except for maybe a dynamic_cast or two. In my experience, the shitty and ugly code comes from programmers who learned C++ in the early 1990s and didn't have a closer look at modern C++, with features such as RTTI, exceptions, and a usable standard library including (most importantly!) a string class (I have seen so many inferior own implementations of this, it's unbelievable).

    --
    A monkey is doing the real work for me.
  9. Re:Start ASSEMBLY on PAPER, no COMPUTERS by swamp+boy · · Score: 2, Funny

    And we were thankful! Also, we had to walk through 6 feet of snow to the programming "chisel lab" and it was uphill both ways.

  10. Re:In my experience... by tehcyder · · Score: 2, Funny
    No! No! No! You are posting to slashdot remember? Your post should be a pontificating rant about how all development should be done in C/C++ (or better yet assembler) punctuated with the occasional sneer at VB developers. You would get bonus points if you could some how disparage Web Developers and fit in a whine about AJAX.
    You forgot about acting horified at the mere name "COBOL", and also possessing the ability to imply that you are simultaneously a thirteen year old multi-millionaire programming superstar whilst also having been around to help Alan Turing with his soldering and probably Einstein with some of his more difficult sums.
    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it