What do you think? Is C++ any good?

C++ is Life. People love to jump on the bandwagon of hating a language. But I always quote Bjarne himself "There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses"

C++ is a superset of C not a subset

I like how people always talk about "which language should you learn" as if we're often given a choice. In my experience, unless you're writing stuff totally from the ground up (or just wading into a new language as a hobby), which language you use is almost always dictated by what software you're developing for, or what your job or school requires you to use.

I am currently learning C++. I learned Python, Java and C for my CSE degree. I can say that I prefer C++ over Java because C++ feels more intuitive for me. Of course, I have yet to learn Rust.

My first language is C++, i've been exposed to pretty harsh concepts before that make the brain fry. C++ did sure fry my brain the first 3 months; but now that I am starting to understand it more, I really appreciate it and other languages are really easy!

I wrote C and then C++ for years as an embedded software developer. As the language grew more and more complex, I noticed developers very purposely wrote more and more complex code which took longer and longer to read, trace and understand. Worse, there was a convoluted arrogance that came along with it. If you couldn't understand their extremely convoluted code, you were a lesser person. Few acknowledged that convoluted code was bad code. And discussions about the language replaced abstract discussions about what the compiler and processor would have to do to accomplish something. It became essentially _wrongthink_ to even consider how a compiler would implement code. While I was constantly striving to simplify the organization of data and the processing of it, my coworkers were constantly building empires of more and more complex code to their own glory. They _hated_ me when it got in my way and I simplified it.

0:20 Bjarne tweeted about c++ 4 years before the invention. the power of his programming

Professional C++ programmer here: The thing is that C++ has a steep learning curve and that most developers just don't want to invest the time to learn the language. Just as you've said: with great power comes great responsibility and rarely anybody wants to be responsible because it is hard. Also C++ is usually taught wrong and rarely do teachers or courses explain that, for example, raw ( C ) pointers are not evil, they just cannot be owning pointers. I agree with your suggestion on how to learn C++, I would just add that after learning C, fammiliarize yourself with the abstractions that the language introduces, by reading books and watching convention lectures. That way you get a bottom up ( learning C and the memory model) and top down (learning abstractions) view of the language. You just need time to understand the language, something that most people do not have today. C++ is not a perfect language, but it does not deserve the hate it gets.

This systems administrator here, used to safe languages like c#, wanted to learn c++ to get closer to the OS. And man, I can't recommend enough. I got a pretty bad beating from memory management, and the community being fairy aggressive, but this language is powerful. Go for it.

The answer to number 2 "avoid sugar" should be "for (auto& num : v) {//code here}". Way simpler.

C++ is C but 1 higher

I study mechanical engineering, so I'm not a typical programmer, but from my point of view C++ is one of the most important languages. It can be found in any application where speed matters, such as CAD modeling software, physics simulation, or real devices such as microcontrollers, control units, etc.

I find that c++ is more intuitive than languages like java, c#, etc. But damn c++ error messages are a pain in the ass.

There is only one real programming language C++, the rest are wrappers written in C++.

I agree ... first C and then C++. Working with object required a extra efford like understanding Inherince, poli, object relationships, notation like UML diagram classes a more... great video by.the way 👏👏👏👏

If you can learn C++ you can learn anything.

I wish I had learned C before C++ (I learned it as a module on my math undergrad), I've gone back to them a little since using OpenCL. Once I get a bit more of a wide overview of what they can do, because I still haven't built that much with them, and once I have looked into assembly and mixing all three, then I think I will finally let go and probably leave them for something like rust... but I want the context first.

nice, perfect timing. was going to make a system project, and was really battling with this question.

C++ is my first language, best benefit of it is after that learning other languages is super intuitive. And about learning C before C++ isn't really needed if you have good resources to learn from. But if you want to learn C++ in a sloppy or playful way you will struggle(unless you are a genius). Most painful part of C++ is build systems, you have to learn the compiler and package management etc. well, as long as you don't use IDE that is, with IDE it's much simpler of course, though still harder than other languages.

As Bjarne once said, "there is more simple and smaller language in C++" and Herb Sutter recognised this language and called it Cpp2 (cppfront)

Just the feature is worth learning C++ over (or in addition to) C, it's better and safer than C arrays, and there's a lot of other good features. Unfortunately, there's always "more" every three years, every new version is almost like a new language, as so many things get (literally and figuratively) overloaded. Even thought the latest tends to be an improvement (as in "for (auto thing : mythings)"), it still leaves a trail of a half dozen previous ways of doing something.

honestly, I've used a ton of languages and I still find C++ to be my favorite language. I do use python for a lot of one-off type things that I intend to work on for less than a few hours, but I genuinely find C++ more fun because I can always find a trick to make my code be better.

I find it really funny how some Rust and some C people hate C++ for exactly the opposite reasons. One side likes safeguards and the other wants the manual memory management. It’s how I know the C++ hate is overblown; if different people contradict each other on why it’s bad, then you know it’s mostly just a hate bandwagon. Feature creep & not being the most safe language ever aren’t crimes in my book. C++’s only crime is not being radical enough - it’s way too loose and lenient for some people but simultaneously too restrictive and abstract for others. It’s a very misunderstood language that I will never not love.

Hating C++ is more like a political view from almost everyone now. They should just start learning it.

About C++ security, I think most of the common problems that Rust solved, C++ already did too. The "problem" is that while in Rust they're there by default (and you can't escape it), in C++ they're opt-in (but highly encouraged by the community) features or patterns like smart pointers, RAII, etc. Smart pointers are, in practice, C++ ownership system. C++ has a legacy of 30+ years, so a lot of legacy code and "legacy programmers" still use the old verbose, unsafe patterns, it's also the style teached at most universities (remember folks, professors usually don't stay up to date with the industry or language features). But I see a lot of effort by the community to enforce these new patterns and document them. For beginners it's a challenge to soak up and distinguish so much legacy knowledge together with the new knowledge. But I'm having a lot of fun in my journey.

what is the github repo name that you’ve showed on the Video at 1:29

ok but what if I'm about to start my journey as programmist and my school teaches me c++ I don't have any experience with coding at all. Should I say f it and learn it anyways or do other languages first?

I think that C++ does solve some of C's problems as a general purpose programming language (although it's questionable whether C should be used as one in the first place when there are languages like Rust) but it creates even more of them. As such, my "personal style" of C++ is basically C with some extra things about C++ that I like (most notably the standard library).

My first language was C++ and I couldn't believe that other languages ain't got the features it has. I remember I was like: so how they do this and that?! Now I know they just don't ;) C++ is the power but only after few brain-aches. I think most of the haters just failed with the language and others are repeating the haters.

in my opinion the most important thing with using cpp is having guidelines in your project, you can accomplice same thing many different ways in cpp so at the beginning of the project you need to decide how you will design everything. For example In my work we just don't use inheritance or most of stl. I also think that rust will have the same story (both are big languages and things like error handling should be clearly defined)

As someone who started with Java, C++ is very rewarding. I get the same OOP and functional features I'm used to plus equally great libraries without the overhead of the JVM. C++ is definitely *not* a "better" C. C is much easier to tinker with and iterate (without worrying about brittle design choices). C++ features and documentation almost always assumes you already know exactly what you want to build before you've written a single line of code. It is the complete opposite of say Python where you are guided towards the correct way of doing things.

The first programming language I ever learned was IBM 360/370 Macro Assembler which is actually rather high-level as far as assembly languages go. They thought we should learn this before moving on to COBOL and CICS. Also, AL was the "washout" class. If you can't handle that you don't belong here. When a friend of mine was in the same program years later he asked me what he should learn after AL. I suggested C because it was the new hotness, the syntaxes of many other languages are similar and it's still low-level enough to let you do whatever you want. It's a good baseline. I've since learned that you can also do object-oriented programming in C using pointers to structures of pointers, but that makes my head hurt almost as much as the SmallTalk-style objects in Objective-C. So much is already written and can be written in C++ that it makes sense to know it. But while it's relatively easy to know C, if not always the best ways to use it, it's pretty impossible to know all of C++, much less how to use it well. C++ is a Very Complex language, though still low-level enough to be one of the fastest languages out there. Rust is more trouble than it is worth. I prefer Swift. It feels much more natural to me. But still, many device drivers are still written in C++ or even C so it's worthwhile to know them.

Learning C first will tend to lead a developer towards a C-like C++ style. This tends to defeat the purpose of C++; See Kate Gregory's talk "Stop Teaching C". Avoiding sugar is also not the best approach, and in fact the range for loop over a std::vector generates less assembly instructions than using a traditional loop variable. You can prove this in Compiler Explorer with -O3 and is mentioned in Bjarne's book A Tour of C++ 3rd Edition. This makes some sugar in C++ what Jason Turner calls a "negative cost abstraction". Also "near zero cost" is not quite right. The language design involves what they call the Zero Overhead Principle, which is often misunderstood. This means not that there is actually zero overhead in using an abstraction, but that if you implemented it manually by hand using only C or assembly, you wouldn't be able to do better. At least, that's the goal...I won't go into how exceptions allocating and Run Time Type Identification are clearly in violation of this.

I tried to use pointer to object as a class's field but when trying to log out to console the pointer does not store accurate data..fed up with the difficulty just use object itself as class's field and copy the whole thing instead of copying memory address

It’s nice getting a video concise and straight to the point. A lot of KZfaqrs would find a way to make this topic 10+ minutes

look at it this way, the ones complaining about c++ are the ones writing articles and not code

C++ is and will likely always remain my main language, and the unique features of C++ can be quite beautiful in some cases. I have been working with the QEngine library for simulation and optimization of quantum physics, and it makes extensive use of templates and operator overloading to allow me to essentially create a Potential or Hamiltonian (a kind of functions which tells us how a Quantum system evolves) as a C++ object, by literally writing it as an equation. But I absolutely agree, if you try to use "advanced" c++ features where normal C would do the jop it gets messy very quickly, and the error messages are not great, especially when templates are involved. I routinely get single error messages so long that they can not fit in my terminal.

Valuable info as usual, thank you my friend, useful info from an experienced engineer is as good, if not better, than a proper engineering book. love your insights, I am currently learning C++, I just finished C. Also learning Python.

2:58 Just curious, is there any advantage to having the "int i = 0;" before the for loop instead of inside the parentheses?

Why does choosing programming languages have to be so hard. My analysis paralysis brain does not help the situation

I think the amount of control c++ gives is double edged sword, but I like it. On one hand, you sometimes have to write a lot of lines of code to do something that other languages would allow with just a few, or sometimes even out of the box. On the other hand, though, I feel I'm in control and it's ultimately up to me to decide what a piece of code will do down to the really fine details. With some other languages it felt like someone took the steering wheel from me and just said "don't worry, I'll handle it" while blindfolding me.

@LowLevelLearning Is it not a superset instead of a subset like you said in the video?

Question: What you can do in C which you can't in c++ and vice versia, I need a real world example not like c++ have oop,pointer and other stuff, I want example for real world problem solving and if C can solve any problem then why should I learn c++

I'm a math and CS student. I've studied various languages such as Python, R, Bash, VBA, etc. When I first encountered C++, it intimidated me. Pointers were difficult to grasp, but at times, I found myself enjoying C++. When I contemplate computers or programs, my thoughts are expressed in C++.. Their power and elegance make me inclined towards C++. I'm young and still have a lot to learn, but I aspire to become a professional in C++. I don't exactly know why. Perhaps it's because C++ is elegant. Perhaps because my mind operates in C++.

C++ keeps amazing me everytime I have to code with it, New Syntax, New Features. I feel I don't know anything about programming at all everytime when I spending tim with it. Its fry my brain, but I love it.

I am little bit confused should I go with c++ or Java any one recommend?

3:05 > _"typesafe language"_ what does that mean?

I think error messages from a C++ compiler is just to complicated. And dont say ”just learn it”, this is what I think: the error messages are to complicated. I got a lot of C++ books, I read them, I still don’t use C++. I happily use C or Java, even C# or Javascript. If a library has a C++ or a C API, I use the C API every single time.

If you are an engineer and plan to do anything related to software within engineering learning c++ is a must. Of course C is also important, but so much engineering work is done in C++. C is good for doing operating system related stuff and embedded systems.

I just wish it were easier to interact with c++ shared libraries from other languages. I like overloads when just working in c++, for example, but then name mangling makes it hard to call some c++ code from something else, and I often have to write a c wrapper around a c++ library just to call it.

currently attending at full sail for game development and trying to learn this was a bigger bite than i could grasp then all the rules against using ai for help or using the built in tools or using an outside source just overwhelmed me more

C++ is awesome, its std:: library that is bloated and bad. Zero cost abstractions, OOP, overloading of operators, auto, quality of life stuff (default function overloads). I use it all the time on my embedded stuff, it's just great if used properly (basically as C with good stuff).

I usually code in Java/angular/R because of my job, but most of my personal projects are in c++, it's a wonderful languaje, and one that i would't like to forget

2:05 can someone explain me this code?

C++ was my first language and I am so happy that it was that way. It forces you to learn about the fundamentals so that you understand what is happening with code under the hood. Also, it has the best syntax. No scope by indentation and it is precompiled.

3:07 Type safe? Or memory safe

I think the scope creep is what makes C++ too broad in features and becoming quite a mess

As a beginner trying to learn c++ and Java at the same time, is that a bad idea?

C++ has some unique features that I like. Templates are one of them. I was caught really off-guard when I was writing some C# and learned that generics had only a fraction of the flexibility

i basically taught myself C++ and when starting college i took a class on it to further increase my skill, and its by far one of my favorite languages right now I basically use it as if it was C with bonus features (as how I personally feel it should be) I frequently mix the syntax where I see fit, using malloc for simple things like making a block of data to copy from a file into, and making a class or struct when I need something more complicated (specifically talking about C++ structs here) Its definitely not the best practice, but im just working on my own personal projects here, so its not like anyone other than me is going to be seeing it lmao

What would you recommend before learning Rust? Is learning C before Rust a good idea? Asking because I'm interested in learning Rust, seems like you can build some really cool stuff with it, and I'm familiar with C but only the very basics (basically what's covered in CS50). Otherwise I'm pretty comfortable coding in any high-level scripting language (JS, Python, Ruby, PHP, etc).

It was the first language we learned at university. For the better part of a year. I never looked back

I love C++. std::vector, std::unordered_map, std::thread, smart pointers - great things. Save so much time, while offering a lot.

This is why I basically just write C, but use C++ classes and objects because they are super useful

I worked in C for about 2 years in total and about 1 year in C++, and while both languages can be pains in the ass in their own ways, C++ was way more convoluted, unintuitive and tedious to work with in my experience. High-level, near-zero cost abstractions sound good but unless you can somehow solve memory safety without GC, you're building on sand. C++ couldn't quite achieve that, though many of its features and libraries are undeniably an improvement over C. Rust managed to do decades later what C++ couldn't back then. In conclusion, I wouldn't use C++ for any new project anymore unless I had no choice, like an Unreal game or a Qt application, though I wouldn't be surprised if both already have viable bindings in other languages.

I've been learning C++ for low level modding. It's been mostly fun, but god I hate having to maintain header files. That's worse than any confusing features.

thoughts on golang?

My main issue with C++ (although I have only played around in it to try and mod games) is that I mainly learned to program in Python and I really take line 14 (and 15 lol) of the Zen to heart, while C++ just has too many parallel ways to do something. It is not obvious which way to use, and it seems that in the same code (e.g. the same game) different developers will use different ways to do essentially the same. Oh, and I have seen an open source software that both had a custom class Color and imported QColor, and mostly used QColor for colors that could update (user settings) and Color for fixed color, but there were exceptions. Why?!

Currently learning C++ (I come form a C# background). Love the language and I think it doesn't deserve the hate it receives. It's powerful, efficient & flexible.

Man... C++ was my first programming language at college and even haven't saw the C programming language first! I always knew that learn C before C++ was the right way, but I saw less than the very basics because was only one semester.

2:10 I think you meant that C++ is a superset not a subset of C

I heard it was efficient, so when I finally decided to learn a programming language, I picked that one. Bad, bad idea, but it's working out ok so far, I got the basic syntax after just about 20 hours of online courses and it feels intuitive enough to use. Can recommend.

Isn't nobody going to point out that the tweet at 0:20 dates back to 2001 when twitter didn't even exist?

I wish I could have been a 90s game programmer. When I was a kid I tried learning C++ a few times, it was this mystically fascinating thing that was used to make every game that I loved at the time, needing to know chip architecture, incredibly complex syntax, that rewarding feeling when you get it to work, no AI assistants to help you just manuals....just wish I could have been part of that. What I would give to be a programmer on a game like Rise of Nations or Battlefield 1942 or console games at the time, or better yet a mainstream 90s adventure game or a Lucas Arts game, or even just Windows 9x software, or a Saturn or Playstation game...Now what do we have? Overabstracted javascript, python, ruby, annoying slow scripting languages, everything needs to be mobile and everything needs to be cross platform all at the same time. We have these annoying leetcode tests at these companies, yet it used to be that you actually had to be smart with working directly with the chips.

If im quite familiar with programming but dont know any C, isnt it a decent idea to just learn Rust as best as I can and ignore C?

c++ is not easily readable i think. c# is best for me. you understand almost everything when you start to read any c# file

0:12 The picture is correct, but I have no idea what you said there. His name is Bjarne Stroustrup.

In what language is Rust built on?

I'm reading Bjarne's book - "C++ Programming and Principles" and he recommends against learning C just to learn C++ afterwards.

Learning both C and C++ for embedded systems in school. The question of which one was better came up and my teacher told us: "Mix and match. If you prefer something in C use it, if you prefer something in C++ use that instead. If it works, it's already a great stepping stone to see which one you'll prefer".

I started programming lessons at my uni with c++ 98 and clean c. It was pain in the ass especially with pointers, but after getting it all, with the templates etc, when we hit later other languages like python it was effortless to learn it, and seemed like a toy for kids. So maybe it was a shock terapy like navy seal camp but it pays of.

C++ was actually the first language I've learned in a computer engineering course and in my opinion, it was better than learning C first. The way that it was taught to us was with the heavy use of STL where you have things that you will find in a more high level languages and because we weren't allowed to use pointers in our assignments, it was somewhat difficult to shot ourselves in the foot. We have of course later been introduced to raw pointers and stuff, and as a result, when needed for programming microcontrollers and stuff, I had kinda knew C already and stuff like Java and Python was really easy to understand since C++ has everything. But yeah, learning and using it for my personal projects (e.g. using it without an OS and having to reimplement some of the standard library), it has now become a never ending rabbit hole of getting to know everything that the language has to offer. Also, C++ is not a superset of C in all, but a language which is 'mostly compatible' since it has a different linking and starting with C99, C has things that are not supported in C++, like designated initializers, some keywords and probably other stuff that I don't know about.

I think C++ is very underrated. IMHO it's the best programming language that I know and I know more than 10 reasonably well. Its STL is a game changer for algorithmic programming. It's the best for competitive programming and makes you understand so many things much better. Maybe not everything should be written in C++ though. I use typescript and java on a daily basis but learning C++ fully made me understand so much more.

A lot of the code shown here is very dated, such as using begin() and end() to construct for-loops instead of range based, as one example. Compiling errors have come somewhat further, too. If you're stuck coding in a C++11 application, then fine, but it's over a decade old in a language that sees major adjustments every 3 years. Sadly, the main point almost applies MORE to modern C++, imo, so I guess it's a moot point...

C++ is a _superset_ of C, not a subset thereof. But that is forgetting the small amount of changes made to C which are not compatible C++.

Out of interest what is your opinion on the C++ vs Rust debate? I do astrophysics for my degree so initially learned python, I then wanted more control and a faster language so initially I thought of learning C++ but then decided on rust instead (which I am currently learning) as it is easier, memory safe, easier to multithread and (On average) just as fast. While I know that currently rust's libraries aren't quite as expansive as C++'s from my limited experience they still seem to be very good and I've usually been able to find a library to do what I want and it's reasonable to assume the gap between the two languages will close. While I know that C++ is used for a lot of stuff and projects will continue to either need to use C++ code or be maintained for a long time. Assuming a blank slate project where the libraries aren't vastly superior in one language or the other would you still choose to program in C++ and if so why?

this video is old but I'm a professional c++ programmer. I basically use C++ as a C plus the basic features I need. Once you can manage memory it's amazing what you can do. I try to not use too many different features so that my code remains very easy to read. that is crucial for me. I also program in c# and I love it but just where I don't have to push performance and memory management.

C++ always performed and still does.

C++ was my first language in 2015 when I started a physics degree: as part of an *introduction to programming*. It was tough. To this day I don't know if the teaching methods were disadvantageous or if the language is genuinely a poor choice for baby's first programs. Because we started with basic control flow and then structs that could have just as well been C, I think they just didn't want to introduce us using another language once the time came for abstractions and other OOP concepts. I've since ditched that degree and just last year restarted uni with a bachelor's in IT. Our first language there was Java. For all the hate and memes, it's an easy language to learn (with lots of often unexplained boiler plate). Now we're doing C for the operating systems module and it's... fun. I'm just at the start of my low-level programming but I'm looking forward to where it takes me, and to the things I can build on it - including C++.

I graduated on telecommunications, so I've seen c and c++ while studying. Then, in my first job (2015), I started working with JS (for a small part of my tasks), until I decided to learn it all the way (2019). Did a lot of courses on webdev and JS and switched jobs to full time web developer (mostly backend, though). Then I started learning Rust, and that made me see how much of a toy language JS can be (although I do still love it). And now I'm learning c++ (I forgot practically everything from university) to help a friend in a project of his. And, to be honest, I am considering learning also c right after finishing with the exercises in exercism and probably checking out your c course.

From my learning experience with C++, I would really like a C++ like language but whitout so many unnecesary features and obscure things.

My introduction to computer programming in school was Visual Basic 4 in year 1 and then C++ in year 2. Granted this was the late 90s, but it was still a trial by fire and a lot of unlearning in the years after. I still like C++ though.

Nice video as a C++ architecture you mention a lot of good points. but you forgot the buffer overflow runtime error

My first project is updating a masm for dos 3.1 16bit. To 64 bit... I don't even know how to start but you seem to be a channel to look over to help me

I love C++, have been using for 10 years now and it is still my favorite language, but I get the feeling that some new features just feel "slapped on" and the language itself just kinda feels "outdated", like most features just get layered on top as an afterthought, which makes the syntax more confusing over the years.

I don't know is c++ hard or pronouncing its creator's name

*Do* use sugar, when it's what you mean. Use `for (const auto& e : stuff)` when you want to do something for each thing in turn.

cpp is very interesting to learn after you have a good grasp in c but what about cccp?

I switched from C++ to C a few years ago and never regretted it. The main reason is C++ is so endlessly complex that takes a big cognitive toll in your head while developing. There is no such thing as not paying for features you don't use, because even if you don't use them, you still have to know about them and deal with them. You can't just ignore knowing about exceptions, move semantics, overload resolution, etc. C++ also likes to hide a lot of code from you in constructors, destructors, operator overloads, etc. so seemingly innocent statements like x = y + z; might execute all sorts of code from all over the code base. You really have to have a good knowledge of the code base to understand what's going on. It makes it hard to ballpark how fast or slow code might be. Switching to C freed up a lot of mental capacity I can now spend on actual problem solving.