- cross-posted to:
- cpp@programming.dev
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I really doubt that such a large change can come before C++ lost all its momentum. (And you could even argue that that already has happened)
I’m currently stuck at work with C++14 as we need certain compiler qualifications (for safety in automotive). Even if that proposal would be in C++26 I could maybe use it in 2035 (
$current_year - 2014 + 2026). In 2035 I doubt anyone in that domain will still write C++ as Rust is already making headway.I definitely gave up on C++ when trying to refresh on it you’re me too go learn C++8 before jumping in to 14.
If learning something requires learning an old version of it before moving on to the current version, something went very wrong.
It is perfectly ok to start with C++14, in fact probably preferable to starting with anything before C++11. The idioms changed a lot in C++11. I think changes since then have been minor and incremental by comparison.
Sure, today it is. In 2014, though, that wasn’t the advice.
When C++11 came out, there was an immediate feeling that the language had received a major overhaul and the best ways to do most things had completely changed. Everything from before that was legacy code, though a lot of it was around. I expect it is still mostly like that.
Or do you mean about Rust? Yes that is new. I still don’t understand the attraction of Rust over Ada that well.
No, I mean in 2014 the advice was not to start with the latest. Every source I found on the topic recommended getting familiar with 8 and then increment my way up to 14.
I think the C++11 edition (whichever it was) of Stroustrup’s book TC++PL suggested using C++11 immediately. That is what I would have suggested. I used C++ by necessity in a few projects before that, but I didn’t start actually somewhat liking it until C++11. Everything before that was ugly legacy code.
I don’t think it’s possible to make C++ safe without strictly limiting the user program to a subset of the language. There are guidelines for that (https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines) but even when I try to code in that style, I get to debug crashes the usual way. C++ makes some optimizations possible through e.g. move semantics that are absent from Rust and Ada but I wonder if it really matters these days. Rust seems to be displacing C++ for lots of new projects going forward.