C++'s Life/ANSI

[Acacia]

a) Does the C++ language never change? I was recommended to upgrade my MSVC
v1.5 to a newer compiler - yet I thought that ANSI C++ was a standardised
language and never changed - so why would i need to upgrade my compiler?
More features?

b) How good is C++? Would it be worth learning for a computer, and possibly
programming, enthusiast? Has it got a long life ahead of it or is it likely
to die out soon replaced by newer languages?

[Ron Natalie]

"Acacia" <ne*******@fatgerbil.co.uk> wrote in message news:bj*******************@news.demon.co.uk...

a) Does the C++ language never change? I was recommended to upgrade my MSVC
v1.5 to a newer compiler - yet I thought that ANSI C++ was a standardised
language and never changed - so why would i need to upgrade my compiler?
More features?
1.52 predates the ANSI standard by at least five years. It's not standard in the least.
1.52's other problem is that it is the 16 bit compiler. Fine if you want to write applications
for DOS, but it won't make WIN32 (that is, modern windows) applications.
b) How good is C++? Would it be worth learning for a computer, and possibly
programming, enthusiast? Has it got a long life ahead of it or is it likely
to die out soon replaced by newer languages?

C++ has plenty of life left in it. As for learning, it depends what you want to learn.
If you want to get down and dirty with the OS interfaces, then it's certainly the way
to go. If you want to develop in other ways, you might want to check a language
like Java or C#.

[Peter van Merkerk]

> a) Does the C++ language never change? I was recommended to upgrade my
MSVC

v1.5 to a newer compiler - yet I thought that ANSI C++ was a standardised
language and never changed - so why would i need to upgrade my compiler?
More features?
MSVC v1.5 is very old and predates the ANSI C++ Standard of 1998 by far. It
is not even close to standard compliance. It lacks many standard features
like RTTI, templates, the standard library, namespaces, exceptions...etc.
These are important features in todays C++. Also some features that were
supported by the MSVC v1.5 compiler have changed; like the behavior of the
'new' operator. All of this makes ANSI C++ radically different from the kind
of C++ that MSVC v1.5 supports. Though C++ was offically standardized five
years ago, even today there are very few C++ compilers that claim to be
fully ANSI C++ compliant, though some popular compilers are getting quite
close.
b) How good is C++? Would it be worth learning for a computer, and possibly programming, enthusiast? Has it got a long life ahead of it or is it likely to die out soon replaced by newer languages?

Whether C++ is good choice or not depends on what your goals are. Learning
C++ may be a worthwhile investment if you are very serious about it and
willing to put a significant amount of time and effort into it; C++ is not
exactly one of the easiest languages to learn. However if you just want to
see if programming is fun, you may want to start with a easier to learn
language, like Python (www.python.org).

I don't think C++ will become obsolete soon (that is within the next 15
years). C++ can be used for a wide range of applications, for both high
level and low level programming. Newer languages, like Java and C# may
replace C++ in some areas as the most popular choice, but to this day I see
no programming language that has the potential to make C++ completely
obsolete in every area.

--
Peter van Merkerk
peter.van.merkerk(at)dse.nl

[Tom]

"Acacia" <ne*******@fatgerbil.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bj*******************@news.demon.co.uk...

a) Does the C++ language never change? I was recommended to upgrade my MSVC v1.5 to a newer compiler - yet I thought that ANSI C++ was a standardised
language and never changed - so why would i need to upgrade my compiler?
More features?

b) How good is C++? Would it be worth learning for a computer, and possibly programming, enthusiast? Has it got a long life ahead of it or is it likely to die out soon replaced by newer languages?

C++ is not suitable for a programming enthusiast. Don't learn it. I am a
full-time C++ programmer, and I intend to remain one if I can, but I
wouldn't recommend it to my friends.

For example, you want to try writing some simple GUI apps. Well guess what?
C++ has no standard GUI, nor anything even close. Personally, I'm a big fan
of wxWindows, but it's got all its own base classes and conventions that are
quite different than standard C++. Pretty confusing for a newbie. The
standards people are on target to have a GUI sometime long after people stop
writing new applications in C++.

Try Python. Both new and experienced developers seem to really like it.
www.python.org

Tom.

[E. Robert Tisdale]

Acacia wrote:

a) Does the C++ language never change? I was recommended to upgrade my MSVC
v1.5 to a newer compiler - yet I thought that ANSI C++ was a standardised
language and never changed - so why would i need to upgrade my compiler?
More features?

b) How good is C++? Would it be worth learning for a computer, and possibly
programming, enthusiast? Has it got a long life ahead of it or is it likely
to die out soon replaced by newer languages?

This is an obvious troll. Please ignore it.

[Kevin Goodsell]

Acacia wrote:

a) Does the C++ language never change? I was recommended to upgrade my MSVC
v1.5 to a newer compiler - yet I thought that ANSI C++ was a standardised
language and never changed - so why would i need to upgrade my compiler?
More features?

I've never heard of a standardized language that does not change. I
don't know where you would have gotten that idea from. Standardization
itself changes the language, then the standard has to be updated from
time to time.

C++ has changed a great deal, and continues to do so. You need a new
compiler. After a while, you'll need another new compiler. And so on...

-Kevin
--
My email address is valid, but changes periodically.
To contact me please use the address from a recent posting.