Will 2008 be the year for C++?

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1/10/2008 2:36 PM
		Joe: Rogue Wave believes there a lot of great opportunities for C++ in 2008, more than in recent years, but we know that not everybody sees it this way. The reason we issued the press release was to challenge some of the conventions of how developers and architects perceive C++. Enterprise applications do widely use Java and .NET, no question. Managed languages are the right tool for the job for a wide variety of applications. C++ however, (plus C and other native languages) continues a solid, and in many cases, growing presence in several areas: - High performance: for applications that require low latency and/or low memory usage, a large number of architects are choosing C++ in favor of managed languages. These are common in Financial Services, Military and many other applications. An interesting recent example is the team from Carnegie Mellon that won $2mm in the DARPA Urban Challenge for building an intelligent robotic car. According to the project lead, "Everything we did was written in C++." (http://www.sdtimes.com/article/LatestNews-20071115-15.htmlhttp:/www.sdtimes.com/article/LatestNews-20071115-15.html) - Embedded: For embedded and mobile devices, one of the fastest growing areas in computing, C++ is the language of choice over both Java and .NET. Lower memory, tighter power and heat limits and other requirements make C++ a natural choice for optimized application development. According to the Gartner Dataquest report 'User Survey Analysis: Embedded Software Development Tools and RTOS, North America, 2006', "For application development, C and C++ are the most popular development languages. Surprisingly, Java usage dropped in 2006." (Daya Nadamuni, 13 September 2008) - Existing apps: And, of course there are billions of lines of existing mission critical applications built on C++ in enterprises around the world. These are almost all mission critical, and many are also legacy. In my experience, many if not most mission critical applications are also legacy. My favorite quote on this: years ago, one of my dev managers once quipped that the definition of legacy is “anything that has gone into production…” As far as the overall viability of the language, there are a few interesting points worth considering: 1. C++ developers are commanding strong salaries, in many cases higher than developers with Java and .NET. I don't know for sure, but I suspect it's a combination of C++ resurgence and a smaller number of C++ developers available. 2. Universities are starting to reconsider their move to teaching computer science students in Java. Many universities continue to teach in C++ so that students have a solid foundational understanding of how systems work. Some professors contend that teaching Java has contributed to a decline in computer science skills. (http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/08/0348239) 3. The language has a vibrant (and broad) standards community and continues a solid evolution. The C++0X standards effort is creating the next version of the language. The proposed enhancements include modern concepts from Java and elsewhere, but still maintain what makes C++ unique and different. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B0x) Although Java and .NET continue to have significant mindshare for mainstream applications, C++ is the language of choice for many architects in new development projects - probably more than most people think. Patrick Leonard VP, Engineering & Product Strategy Rogue Wave Software
Patrick Leonard

1/20/2008 9:13 AM
		I would have doubted a resurgence in C++ as well, but I think the advent of multicore processors will make a difference. As more homes and offices have powerful multicore computers, it will become possible for individuals to run applications involving complex algorithms and computation functions -- simulations and models -- that previously could only be run on powerful workstations or servers in laboratories or universities. The most effective languages for computation are C++, C, and Fortran; certainly most of today's computation libraries are written in these languages. If these libraries can be multithreaded, then they become viable for operation on the type of computers that will be everywhere in a few years. I work on an open source project that has as its goal making it very easy to multithread C++ applications: Threading Building Blocks (its home is at http://ThreadingBuildingBlocks.org). TBB is a C++ template library that abstracts threading details. Developers don't have to know anything about pthreads or windows threads, or managing thread pools, etc., because TBB takes care of all that. The developers do have to know how to develop thread-safe underlying code. You may ask: who wants to run a bunch of algorithms on a desktop computer? Well, game developers and users are one example. How about doctors who could have access to medical simulations and models that are currently available only in hospital data centers? How about everyday investors, who would be thrilled to be able to run analyses of the markets in order to have the type of capability to spot opportunities that today are available only in Wall Street algorithmic trading boutiques? One thing that has been proven in the past is that software will quickly advance to take advantage of available computing hardware resources. Once everyone has an 8 or 16 processor core system in their home office, applications that utilize that processing power will emerge, and people will want those applications. But back to the main point of your post: will 2008 be the year for C++? I think as algorithms and simulations become more mainstream, C++ will indeed see a resurgence. It will be a specialized resurgence, in my view, where C++ is used as the core multithreaded language for these emerging math simulation libraries -- but a resurgence nonetheless.
Kevin Farnham

1/23/2008 3:48 AM
		I have to agree with Kevin - C++ is more effective for computational problems and applications that require very high performance. With regard to Kevin's other point about multi-threading due to multi-core and eventually many-core processors - this will certainly change the way developers work. White C++ multi-threading is better than Java, this is just not going to be good enough. Kevin's Threading Building Blocks project looks interesting. It's worthwhile looking at Software Pipelines (http://www.softwarepipelines.org/) , which is at a higher level of abstraction than writing treading code.
PJ Murray