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Comment by GuB-42 | Hacker News Reader

C++ is like C with extra features, but you don't need to use them.

If you want control over your memory, you can do pointers the C way, but you still have features like templates, namespaces, etc... Another advantage of C++ is that it can go both high and low level within the same language.

Disadvantage of C++ is mostly related to portability and interop. Things like name mangling, constructors, etc... can be a problem. Also, C++ officially doesn't support some C features like "restrict". In practice, you often can use them, but it is nonstandard. Probably not a concern for HPC.

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> C++ is like C with extra features, but you don't need to use them

C++ certainly (literally (Cfront[0])) used to be this, but I thought modern (decade or more) conventional wisdom is to NOT think like this anymore. Curious to hear others weigh in.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cfront

To me, it is not "conventional wisdom", it is what a vocal group of C++ guys who look at Rust and its memory safety and don't want to be left out.

Their way is not wrong, new constructs are indeed safer, more powerful, etc... But if you are only in for the new stuff, why use C++ at all, you are probably better off with Rust or something more modern. The strength of C++ is that it can do everything, including C, there is no "right" way to use it. If you need raw pointers, use raw pointers, if you need the fancy constructs the STL provides, use them, these are all supported features of the language, don't let someone else who may be working in a completely different field tell you that you shouldn't use them.

C++ by comparison doesn't stand in your way too much either. I feel like the biggest gripe Rust has is what happens when you do have to go unsafe. That seems to be a strong point of contention for many folks. Maybe all the reasons that lead people to use unsafe rust go away or the attitude about it shifts in some manner.

For me Rust turned out to be less interesting after I saw the whole ceremony about typing. The amount of things I had to grasp just to get a glimpse into what a library does felt much more involved than any of the things I did with C++. The whole annotation-ting feels much less necessary and more like a proper opt-in there.

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