Monday, March 28, 2011

C++0x: Dead Horse With Jetpacks

So you may have heard that the newest version of C++ (C++0x) has been finalized. I finally took a look over most of the changes they made. You can find a nice, comprehensive list here. God dammit. I can honestly say that I've never seen a language with syntax this ugly. It's much more complicated than it has to be, mostly because it has to retain backwards compatibility. They took an already complex language and added even more complexity to it. I think they should have just let C++ die, and waited for C# to take over. This standard is trying to desperately revive a dieing language by adding random features that other languages have had for years (decades in some cases!). It's like adding jetpacks to a dead horse and saying 'Eh. That should work'.

Should you use C++0x? Well, if for some reason you have to write C++, you should use the features introduced in 0x. Otherwise, I don't see why someone would choose C++0x over something like C# or Java. If you are writing something very low-level, object oriented C++ is the wrong language, and if you're writing almost anything higher level, C# and Java are much better choices. The only possible market for C++ I've ever seen is game design, where the language needs objects, as well as low level access for speed.

So, what do you think of C++0x?

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