Having just watched this i have to add my 2 cents about the c++0x next generation of c++.
I am a 20+ year C++ programmer. Sometimes i think my brain works in C++ syntax, and everything else looks ugly to me.
Having said that, I think the entire C++0x episode is a total train wreck, a completely bad idea being badly implemented.
Watching that video (and reading the Tech Reports that the c++0x committee releases regularly just cemented that view in my mind).
My favorite cynical part is where Stroustrup says how c++ is being designed by democratic voting and how anyone with $1200 can become a voting member. I think what we have here is a an out of control project which had some nice goals and just became too in love with the beaurocracy.
But leaving aside the issues with the committe, I think what we have here is basically an example of putting million dollar bandaids on a patient that is about to die.
C++ is a wonderful language, plagued by the baggage of being backward compatible with a long like of mistakes from it's past (ps. I highly recommend
The Design and Evolution of C++ book, very educational and entertaining).
Im my view, C++ is dying, and it should be left to die. It's still my primary programming language, and I still love it, but you simply cannot "fix" C++ by adding stuff, which is the ground rules that C++0x is operating under. It's simply not feasible, and the result is ugly.
All programmers are familiar with having to decide whether to keep patching some fundamentally awkward and unsuitable code base, or starting again with a stronger and cleaner foundation. Speaking personally, I'm very much looking forward to the future language which will replace C++ for me. I haven't found it yet, but it's coming. And it'll probably get here before C++0x makes it out of committee.
In truth, the C++0x debacle is going to have some very useful side effects. Their are some brilliant language designers working on C++0x issues, and churning out interesting, detailed, thoughtfull, argued positions. I suspect that many of the ideas that come out of C++0x arguments will find their way into younger, more consistent and more elegant languages.
As an academic challenge (improving upon a dying flawed langauge while keeping it backward compatible), the new changes to the c++ standard are quite interesting. As an actual language for coding in, all i can say is: no thank you.
- carpe noctem
