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Defective C
Jun. 5th, 2008 10:30 pmIn the classroom, C++ seemed like a modern language. When I took Java, I thought it seemed rather like C++. When I took C, I thought it seemed rather messy. When I saw C++ again, this time in real code, I was shocked. Every time I've seen C++ code in actual use, it seems far more messy and incomprehensible than Java or even C. Brushing up on C++ for work, I've come to agree with the author of the C++ FQA: C++ is a horrible language.
An interesting question: How critical should a programming reference / guide / source be of the language it discusses? One of my favorite programming books is Effective Java, which I feel improved my Java skills immensely. That book contains a very detailed account of all the weaknesses of Java and notes patterns to avoid copying from the Java standard library, yet the book is very positive about Java as a whole. I'm just starting a book called Let Over Lambda, whose author apparently thinks lisp-style macros are the very definition of win, and it's very interesting so far. And the above FQA is proving quite useful in getting myself reoriented for hacking C++.
An interesting question: How critical should a programming reference / guide / source be of the language it discusses? One of my favorite programming books is Effective Java, which I feel improved my Java skills immensely. That book contains a very detailed account of all the weaknesses of Java and notes patterns to avoid copying from the Java standard library, yet the book is very positive about Java as a whole. I'm just starting a book called Let Over Lambda, whose author apparently thinks lisp-style macros are the very definition of win, and it's very interesting so far. And the above FQA is proving quite useful in getting myself reoriented for hacking C++.
