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Comment by okaleniuk | Hacker News Reader

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Statements like these only serve to polarize people, not encourage them to write safer code / use safer languages.

There are many places where C/C++ (and many other non-Rust languages) are still used, and where it would not be feasible at this time to fully rewrite them in rust.

Modern resources like the OP posted should be encouraged, as they actively teach about proper use of the language, and foot-guns to avoid (e.g. don't use c-style strings + strcpy, use smart pointers, etc).

Proper use of the language is what https://isocpp.github.io/CppCoreGuidelines/CppCoreGuidelines is for. Before that, there were HICPP, JSF, MISRA, ISO/IEC TR 24772, NUREG 6463 etc.

I have been writing in C++ for most of my professional career, I wrote company-wide guidelines, I still teach and consult. I absolutely agree that C++ is not going anywhere anytime soon. That being said, so is smoking. We can't just tell people not to smoke anymore, we live in a free society. But we really shouldn't drag more people in.

Sorry, but Rust is doomed to be forever solely used for meme startups and nth rewriting of basic UNIX utilities.

Similarly, sorry, but C++ is doomed to be forever solely used for (a) maintaining codebases that noone wants to maintain but doesn't have a choice, and (b) organising cpp conferences to maintain self-confidence of a crowd of programmers whose skill set is becoming more and more outdated.

/s /s

at the very least it will be needed to maintain the backend for the rust compilers.

Rust is essentially C++ done right. It isn't as aggravating as C++ but it is the same technology essentially. It doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's yet another LLVM frontend.

We need to look into something far more fascinating like http://www.spiral.net/ Something that creates value a mere compiler, which is a technology from the 50s, can not.

Your comment is just as needlessly inflammatory as theirs. Chill.

Why do you think C++ is like smoking?

They're likely referring to the (not too crazy idea) to slowly deprecate C++ in favor of Rust. There's plenty of extant code to work on, of course.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/programming-languages-its-time...

Because we live in a free society and smoking is a proper right. It is unhealthy and largely outdated habit but if you want to light a cigarette, you can.

Programming in C++ is also an outdated habit. There are better languages, better technologies, and there are generally better ways to create software than writing code, compiling the code, replacing std::abs with abs (real issue, these are different functions) and recompiling the code again. But writing in a horrible language is a proper right as well. People write in Brainfuck for fun and good for them!

Jack Rusher sums up what better programming looks like in his Strange Loop talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ab3ArE8W3s

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