C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

neilk — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 18:07:44 GMT

I started off with Algol 60, then extended Basic - extended meant it had data capture facilities, on Varian mini - then Fortran IV, Fortran V, various assemblers, MUMPS - I bet that not many of you have heard of it - which later became M and finally C/C++ but only within the Arduino IDE. Oh and I looked at Python but I couldn't think of anything useful to do with it, relevant to me,

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

shabaz — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 00:43:50 GMT

I find these lists are useful to see what languages could be worth learning, since one language is never enough.

C was my first 'real' language after home computer BASIC, and then C++ for my first real programming job, and for careers it is invaluable today too. Also, as much as I love C and C++, I can see that some things could never be developed in these languages in a practical time, because the amount of debugging/test effort could be huge, if it takes (say) a dozen lines to replace something that can be done in one line in a higher-level language that may exist (but having said that, I don't like Python - but have accepted it is worth learning enough of it to get by - and it is a convenient language for sharing demos/ideas with non-software-engineers too, since the Pi's popularity resulted in many people learning it).

Also another cool thing worth keeping an eye on is frameworks and popular libraries, to see what is hot for developing applications these days. But there are so many! If someone mentions one to me in conversation, I tend to write the name down, so I can check up on it later.

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

dougw — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 00:20:43 GMT

Does the "resurgence" of C++ have anything to do with people getting their feet wet with Arduino?

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

tariq.ahmad — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 23:38:55 GMT

Agree. If you are going to learn a programming language why not start with C/C++? If you can master those then you should be able to pick up any language you get thrown at you.

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

jomoenginer — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 23:08:37 GMT

I've seen Python used in quite complex automated test environments where one would think it would not be a good fit. However, it is still a scripting language and is not memory friendly. Pickling is fun though.

Basic? When getting my Electronics degree the choice for a higher level language above Assembly or Machine language, which were used for controlling stepper motors via an EPROM, was QBasic. However, another local school had a newfangled language called Visual Basic that I ended up opting for. The odd thing is, is that it is still on the list and I know some folks that still use it for automation.

I keep getting an image of Dana Carvey from SNL saying "In my day ..." when making these statements though.

As far as Verilog or VHDL, the folks I know that are hard core FPGA folks would not consider these programming languages, but rather Hardware Description Languages, thus they need their own list. It's fun calling these Engineers Software folks though.

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

Fred27 — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 20:20:02 GMT

Python has never really felt like a "proper" language. Fine for running scripts and maybe for devops, but it doesn't seem right for production quality code.

@DAB If assembly is the gold standard, where would you put Verilog/VHDL? it has the potential to "run" quicker. [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-93ef91d1-c025-46c9-b4ae-31480de29513/contentimage_5F00_3.png:16:16]

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

genebren — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 19:16:44 GMT

It is nice to see the popularity of C++ rising. As [mention:4966e6ad97f64dac9ea8919abb220e1d:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] points out there is a real performance gain when using a fully compiled language. Further more, by optimizing your code, you can achieve even more performance. For years, I worked with several new software engineers and I was always in shock as to how little they knew about the performance costs (memory and cycles) of language choices and poor coding styles. They all learned to code on PC's where there was always more memory, or you could just buy a faster computer. I had to re-educate these fresh grads and show them how to get the most possible performance from their code.

Gene

RE: C++ knocks Python out of top three most popular language

DAB — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 18:39:04 GMT

It makes sense.

Python is good for quick implementation, but as an interpreted language it is slow.

C++, despite some of its overhead gains you a lot of speed for advanced processing and system response.

Assembly is the gold standard for anyone needing to squeeze the most possible performance from a given hardware suite.

This same tier existed back when BASIC was a good intro language, then you moved to C and finally to assembler for full capability.

I went directly from BASIC to assembler back in the 1970's for my real time applications. Back then we had sub MIP computers, so you needed to do some very creative coding to meet your timing requirements.

DAB