[OT] Quick intro to C++ for a Python and C user?

[Grant Edwards]

On 2011-12-21, Neil Cerutti <neilc at norwich.edu> wrote:
> On 2011-12-21, Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>>> Templates are how C++ does generics and I'd expect them to
>>>> appear in be used in embedded programming as well as elsewhere.
>>
>> I've only worked on the perphery of a couple embedded projects that
>> used C++, but it seems to be farily common practice to prohibit the
>> use of templates in embedded code.  The problem seems to be that
>> people writing C++ code don't really understand the language, how
>> templates work, or (in general) the implications of the code they
>> write.  So, you have to prohibit anything that can be easily misused
>> or cause non-obvious problems.
>
> I cheerfully agree that programmers ignorant of C++ should not
> write programs in it. But furthermore, they should also not
> define a subset of C++ for use in embedded programming. ;)

I fully agree that programmers ignorant of C++ should not write
programs in it.  However C++ is a vast, complex, and dangerous
language -- and industry doesn't seem to be willing to limit itself to
using the seven people on the planet who understand it.

I'm only half joking...  :)

It seems to me that you need to know far more about C++ to use it
safely than you need to know about most other languages to use them
safely.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! Hey, waiter!  I want
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