NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/comp/lang/cplus/18815

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-07 | 3.1 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Ronald Schoenberg)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Pros and cons of C++
Date: 7 Jan 1993 21:29:44 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
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Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hardy.u.washington.edu

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (John Ross) writes:
>
>// Deleted
>
>#Why then is it becoming so popular?  Why the deluge of texts, articles,
>#magazines, news groups, compilers, etc?  It seems to me that C++ _will_
>#be the language of choice for programmers (except in specialized areas
>#where other languages will continue to be used). It would be nice to get a
>#balanced view of where C++ fits into the scheme of things.
>#Unfortunately, language issues often assume the aspect of a religious
>#war, with rabid supporters and detractors.
>
>I think someone ought to do some sociological research on this. I can agree
>with people claiming C++ is very complex, but I don't know any other OO
>language, so I cannot say if it is overly complex or not.
>
>All we can do is to sit down and face the facts: C++ is here to stay and
>we just have to deal with its complexities.
>
>Someone once said: C++ is the programmers revenge on managers, since C++
>may imply that programmers in the future will once again walk around in
>white coats and be payed handsomly.
>
>Mats Henricson
>Ellemtel
>Sweden


I find programmers to have a generally myopic view of C++.  I do a lot
of numerics programming (and I'm really an applied mathematician, not
a programmer), and I find C++ incredibly simplifying.  I use matrix
classes (M++) which handle all the memory, garbage collection chores
for me so I really don't have to know anything about that to do my
number-crunching.  I build classes that do optimization, linear
programming, nonlinear least squares, basic statistical description,
without having to know much more than how to use the M++ classes.

C++ is really about designing an interface, and that implies a
division of labor - those who design the interface, and those who who
use it.  I let someone else design all the dirty stuff, and then I use
it.  If I were a manager, I'd hire a really good programmer who would
design and maintain the interface, and if it is good it won't require
gurus to use it.  The designer of M++ had to really know what they
were doing to get the memory handling right, to work out the garbage
collection and solve the temporary problem, to design efficient
algorithms for operations on four dimensional arrays.  But the people
who use it don't need to know how to do any of that.  I find using M++
like using any of the array languages, like Matlab or Gauss, except
that I have access to all of the OO features of C++ as well.


--
Ronald Schoenberg                    fax: [phone]
University of Washington           email: [e-mail]