General > General Technical Chat
How many people code in C these days, and if so, why?
Kjelt:
--- Quote from: IanB on May 03, 2020, 05:58:18 pm ---I think there is a large space for industrial and scientific software between those two extremes. For instance, would you rather write a Spice circuit simulator in C or C++?
--- End quote ---
I rather would write that in an OS independent language like Python I guess, more customers. But that is not my field of expertise. And I hate that Python is runtime not compile time.
I always stayed close to the hardware, HSI stuff, electronic driver software , motion control, that kind of stuff.
I have nothing against C++ or C# by the way , I takeover good habits like the setters and getters you can use that in C also. I don't see the added value of inheritance outside environments like guis like windows where it is the basic way of doing things.
Oh well we all row with what the boss has used in the past.
coppice:
--- Quote from: IanB on May 03, 2020, 05:58:18 pm ---For instance, would you rather write a Spice circuit simulator in C or C++?
--- End quote ---
We know what Spice was written in. Versions 1 and 2 were in Fortran. Version 3 was released in 1989 in C, but its not clear when development began. C++ compilers were getting common by 1989, but might not have been common when development began. So, it not clear if they freely chose C over C++, or they were constrained. Until the mid 90s there were certainly strong reasons one might want to avoid C++, as it kept changing. Many new compiler releases broke existing code. So, for timing reasons Spice might not be the best candidate for looking at whether people choose C or C++.
splin:
C++ might be better described as a metamorphic (ok, that might only apply to rocks - perhaps it should be 'subject to regular metamorphosis') than OO language. I might eventually manage to get my C++ code from the late 90's past the syntax checker of the latest revision compiler but semantically who knows what it would actually do?
When the language evolves faster than your ability to learn the changes you know it's time to abandon ship and settle back into your comfort zone with straight C, warts and all.
IanB:
--- Quote from: coppice on May 03, 2020, 09:28:18 pm ---We know what Spice was written in. Versions 1 and 2 were in Fortran. Version 3 was released in 1989 in C, but its not clear when development began. C++ compilers were getting common by 1989, but might not have been common when development began. So, it not clear if they freely chose C over C++, or they were constrained. Until the mid 90s there were certainly strong reasons one might want to avoid C++, as it kept changing. Many new compiler releases broke existing code. So, for timing reasons Spice might not be the best candidate for looking at whether people choose C or C++.
--- End quote ---
I was just trying to pick an example that would resonate with people here. Maybe not Spice specifically, but my domain of expertise is in computer simulation software, and it would be hard to consider C as a candidate programming language in a domain that has complex object models, notwithstanding the need for high performance. One has to trade code performance against human performance. Higher level language constructs make things more efficient for the people writing and maintaining the code.
coppice:
--- Quote from: splin on May 03, 2020, 11:54:46 pm ---C++ might be better described as a metamorphic (ok, that might only apply to rocks - perhaps it should be 'subject to regular metamorphosis') than OO language. I might eventually manage to get my C++ code from the late 90's past the syntax checker of the latest revision compiler but semantically who knows what it would actually do?
When the language evolves faster than your ability to learn the changes you know it's time to abandon ship and settle back into your comfort zone with straight C, warts and all.
--- End quote ---
I think some of us were probably so alienated by C++ endlessly changing in the 90s, that we really can't look at it objectively any more.
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