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Was Linus Torvalds Right About C++ Being So Wrong?

Posted by Soulskill on from the harsh-language-about-a-harsh-language dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes: Perhaps the most famous rant against C++ came from none other than Linus Torvalds in 2007. "C++ is a horrible language," he wrote, for starters. "It's made more horrible by the fact that a lot of substandard programmers use it, to the point where it's much much easier to generate total and utter crap with it." He's not alone: A lot of developers dislike how much C++ can do "behind the scenes" with STL and Boost, leading to potential instability and inefficiency. And yet there's still demand for C++ out there. Over at Dice, Jeff Cogswell argues that C++ doesn't deserve the hatred. "I've witnessed a lot of 'over-engineering' in my life, wherein people would write reusable classes with several layers of inheritance, even though the reusable class wasn't actually used more than once," he wrote. "But I would argue that's the exception, not the norm; when done right, generic programming and other high-level aspects of C++ can provide enormous benefits." Was Linus going overboard?

6 of 757 comments (clear)

  1. Flamefest thread by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 4, Funny

    What comes next, a thread on "is Emacs better than Vi"?

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

    1. Re:Flamefest thread by sconeu · · Score: 4, Funny

      You mean that EMACS is now a good OS because it finally has a decent text editor?

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  2. WHAT HAPPENED TO SLASHDOT!? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 1, Funny

    You're all talking about C++ and not LINUS TORVALDS! Have you all LOST your MINDS!? ;-)

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:WHAT HAPPENED TO SLASHDOT!? by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're all talking about C++ and not LINUS TORVALDS! Have you all LOST your MINDS!? ;-)

      Hey! He didn't even pick up a chair!
      It's not a rant 'till someone has to place a furniture order with Staple's...

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  3. Re:Write-only code. by ChrisMaple · · Score: 4, Funny

    The(nice(thing(about(Lisp(is(I(don't(have(to(use(it))))))))))).

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    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  4. Re:Aren't all (but one) popular languages like thi by Wootery · · Score: 3, Funny

    Vala is surely the most ironic language yet.

    GObject: because we don't want to use a whole new programming language just to add objects to C.

    Vala: because GObject is better approached using a whole new programming language.