Bjarne Stroustrup interview about C++

http://www.artima.com/intv/goldilocksP.html

The bottom line is that he says C++ is abused by both the C-level programmers (new is just like malloc) and the uber-object-oriented people and their stinking templates.

malloc()
Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Actually he doesn't say that C++ is abused by C-level programmers, and the word 'template' is not in the article that you linked to.

Are we looking at the same thing?

NC
Tuesday, October 14, 2003

From the article:

> To get out of writing low level code ... start using facilities provided in libraries. The standard library is the first ... but there are also good libraries for things like math or systems programming.
> You don't have to do threading at the C level. You can use a C++ threading library. There are quite a few of them.
> If you want callbacks, don't use just plain C functions. Get libsigc++ ...

That seems to indicate part of the problem: my multithread application that wants to use callbacks and do some system programming now needs to use a number of disparate libraries.  Using one might be fine, but getting N libraries to work together always causes headaches.

Don't get me wrong - I program low level stuff in C++ daily and think it is a great tool, but for any new project I would need a compelling reason to use C++ over the alternatives (.NET/Java/Delphi) that provide a more complete and consistent set of abstractions, even at the cost of flexibility.

Rob Walker
Tuesday, October 14, 2003

It was actually a pretty good article on design.  Since I've found myself in both of the traps he describes, I took his advise to heart.  It's worth noting that the optimal route he describes matches pretty well with the code that I have been most satisfied with.  I tend to either follow that route in the end, or abandone the code.

Clay Dowling
Wednesday, October 15, 2003

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