To put C++’s growth in context:
Compared to all languages: There are now more C++ developers than the #1 language had just four years ago. Compared to Rust: Each of C++, Python, and Java just added about as many developers in one year as there are Rust total developers in the world.
Whoa. That are some carefully selected numbers. It is like saying that I am earning much better money than my 16-year-old nephew (who just finished school), and that, because my job is installing and servicing coal stoves and coal stoves are still used in large part of the country, the coal stove industry is in a totally healthy state.
Hmm. Sounds like C++ is losing ground to Rust - which is much younger - fast.
Especially considering that according to the Stack Overflow surveys, young programmers tend to get into C++, but experienced developers clearly prefer Rust.
Of course, C++ isn’t going to dissppear. It will continue to be used for a long time, especially in old, mature code bases. But the same is true for COBOL. And very few new projects use COBOL. In the same way as some scholars and archeologists need to know Latin, but very few publish research or write new books in Latin - even if it was the language of science just a couple hundred years ago.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the guy who wrote this has been a 20 year long C++ coder. The tone feels like “NA NA NA NA NA NAAAA C++ IS THE BEST LANGUAGE EVER CAN’T HEAR ANYTHING YOU SAY NA NA NA”
disclaimer: I am not a rust user or C++, I use python and C
If I am not mistaken, he is more or less Microsoft’s top C++ evangelist and participates for the company in the C++ standard commitee. If even his arguments do not come over as particularly convincing, this tells us something about the state of C++.
(Though the most entertaining defense of C++ is probably Stroustrup’s text “Remember the Vasa”, which refers to this historic, somewhat, eh, over-engineered warship that, having too many cannons, sank before it could leave the harbour it was built in.)
Nice read thanks. Though I am not sure how this is a defense of C++. He seems to be complaining about extending C++ too much without solidifying the foundation enough.