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Bjarne Stroustrup Reflects On 25 Years of C++

Posted by timothy on from the stroustrup-plus-plus dept.

eldavojohn writes "Today roughly marks C++'s first release 25 years ago when about six years of Bjarne Stroustrop's life came to fruition in the now pervasive replacement language for C. It achieved ISO standardization in 1998 and its creator regularly receives accolades. Wired's short interview contains some nice anecdotes including 'If I had thought of it and had some marketing sense every computer and just about any gadget would have had a little 'C++ Inside' sticker on it' and 'I'll just note that I consider the idea of one language, one programming tool, as the one and only best tool for everyone and for every problem infantile. If someone claims to have the perfect language he is either a fool or a salesman or both.' There's some surprising revelations in here, too, as his portable computer runs Windows."

17 of 553 comments (clear)

  1. Olde Saying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny



    C++ is to C as Lung Cancer is to Lung.

    Truer words have never been spoken.

    1. Re:Olde Saying by pelotom · · Score: 2, Funny

      I like this one (can't remember who said it): "C++ is an octopus made by nailing extra legs to a dog."

    2. Re:Olde Saying by fbjon · · Score: 2, Funny

      More like a big nuke missile, but with the warhead removed. It's still big, bulky, and not very nimble, but it goes exactly where you want it to go, and it doesn't blow everything up.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  2. Reflect? by ciscoeng · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, no. You're thinking of C#!

    1. Re:Reflect? by Xiph · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, but those are the Exception

      --
      Blah blah sig blah blah blah irony blah blah
  3. read with a fake Scots accent by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    Only 25 years? When I was in college, we learned C. No "plus plus", no "objective", no "sharp"... just "C".

    Aye, as a matter of fact, I am feeling than a wee bit like Scotty in the TNG episode "Relics".

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  4. Re:For some critical views of the language... by turgid · · Score: 4, Funny

    My favourite quote: c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */

    --
    Stick Men
  5. What I want to know is... by Black+Art · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does Bjarne Stroustrop think of women as objects?

    --
    "Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
    1. Re:What I want to know is... by physburn · · Score: 2, Funny

      but men fit even less, because function dick(), changes from private to public to not function, depending on the value of the blood alcohol variable.

    2. Re:What I want to know is... by Bazouel · · Score: 4, Funny

      Only if they don't have class ;)

      --
      Intelligence shared is intelligence squared.
  6. Re:Alan Kay said it best... by russotto · · Score: 2, Funny

    C++ seems like an awful stopgap solution that got out of control.

    Yeah. And then they added templates.

  7. Re:Programming Machismo by gmurray · · Score: 2, Funny

    There's that machismo again. Zip your pants back up, I don't have a ruler on me.

  8. Re:the best. by Xtifr · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...the slowest sorting algorithm

    Bubble sort's not even close. The shuffle sort beats it hands down:

    do {
        random_shuffle(container);
    } while (!sorted(container));

    The initial shuffle helps avoid good performance even when the data is pre-sorted. :)

  9. Re:A tool for when you need to get the job done by sjames · · Score: 2, Funny

    But keep in mind the joke "Eat shit! A trillion flies can't be wrong!"

  10. Re:Relative by cheesybagel · · Score: 2, Funny

    Depends on which assembly you are using. If it is X86 assembly, sure, it is baroque.

  11. The Real Headline by brsmith4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bjarne Stroustrup Reflects On 25 Years of C++: My bad

  12. Re:Objective C by eric-x · · Score: 2, Funny

    How is that superior to -1?