[Al__Dante]

Great quote: "Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup invented the C++ programming language in 1978, taking the C language invented by the late Dennis Ritchie and adding new features that made it more usable by the masses. “

Yeah, right. :-)

[tzgur8]

I wouldn't use the word 'usable' here, that's true :) However, C++ and those who built it deserve a spot on that list.

C++ gave the programmer tight control over everything that's happening. I see it like driving a car with a manual gear while other languages like Java, Ruby, Python or PHP are automatic gear cars.

[fit2rule]

>C++ gave the programmer tight control over everything that's happening.

I think of it more that C++ decoupled all the knowledge that was required to do things (which C previously required), and thus the purpose of making C++ "easier to use" for new developers maybe did accomplish some sort of goal in that direction.

But I say that as a C developer who has witnessed the world go mad. It is of course, all C's fault, but the fact that we're still using it, somewhere, under it all, is some sort of victory.

C++ "decoupled things" because you no longer needed to actually read code to trust that it was going to work the way it said it was going to work, which is something you do in C (i.e. read all code) .. as well as other languages of course. Well, if you have the ethos of "read all code", no matter the language, there are some where that is easy to do, and others where its a bit of a drag.

(Mostly, its the languages that have IDE support, or which attract insufficiently brain-dead people that they can actually use EMACS to get around.)

If all you have is a simple editor, though, there are some languages that truly shine, and C is thankfully still one of them.