ACCU confernece: The Future of C++

As you might expect from the ACCU conference there was plenty of C++. But the language was far from the only one in town – there were at least 8 others. This year most of the C++ sessions looked at the forthcoming C++ 200x standard. It now looks unlikely that this will be completed this year so we might want to rename is C++ 201x. As to exactly when, well, your guess is better than mind.

Some years ago I said that this standard would be “the longest suicide note in history.” I stand by this comment – indeed I found other people repeating it, either to agree or disagree.

I say this because I believe the language is now so big to be un-teachable, and possibly unusable. I don’t see how making the language so much more complicated will encourage more people to use it, indeed I see the reverse. And I believe this standard will only add to the confusion around C++.

I’ve also been saying for the last few years that we have seen the last generation of C++ programmers. A recent meeting made me rethink this position – a recent graduate who has to learn C++ for his first job. But then, at the conference and without promoting from me, Andrew Holmes said he didn’t think anyone would learn C++ after 2006 so maybe I’m not completely wrong.

Anyway, learning the new C++ will only be an academic exercise for the next decade. It will be a while before any compiler implements it and much longer before a substantial code base exists to work in.

I believe things need to be removed from language to simplify it. So I have also been suggesting for a while – to anyone who will listen – that C++ should split in two. There should be one backward compatible version with minor fixes and enhancements. A second version should break backward compatibility, remove features, fix elements of syntax and make it easier to learn.

After speaking to several people at the conference I believe this has now happening. Not officially but by defacto.

Walter Bright’s D Programming Language is gaining traction. This is the simpler C++ which I – and others – have been looking for. Unfortunately I didn’t get to talk to Walter at the conference, I hope he will return next year with more D and I will get the chance to speak to him. (Walter, if your reading this, can you please present D in 180 minutes?)

Its not a forgone conclusion yet but I hope D will succeed. Actually, I think Oracle’s purchase of Sun could help here. Oracle are quite clear why they are buying Sun: to get Java. This means things will change in the Java world – if only because Oracle want to make money out of Java.

Its too early to tell yet how this will plat out but I expect to see many people rethinking their languages choices as Oracle’s plan plays out.

2 thoughts on “ACCU confernece: The Future of C++”

  1. Immo Hüneke

    I wouldn’t use the name D for this language. It seems to have a lot in common with MISRA-C++ (see my comment on your post “The F Language“) and the name D was taken many years ago by Chris Date and Hugh Darwen for their relational query language, which should rectify all the stupidities in SQL if things work out. See Wikipedia for more information.

  2. Hi Allan,

    interesting post, i’d not come accross D. It looks really interesting but more importantly it looks like it could improve developer productivity for systems programming.

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