I'm motivated by our new host and also because I can now see stats on how often this blog is accessed. So I hope to post more often. Goal driven? You bet.
My day job on sabbatical has been at Exegy (I'd refer to the web page but it's way out of date). There I'm actually programming in C++, and somewhat loving it. Two things I like about C++ are:
- const -- on methods you can declare that the method doesn't mutate the state of an object. How nice. PL/I had a keyword for that, but then PL/I didn't have objects or more than one viable implementation.
- overloaded methods (different signatures) can have different return types. This may seem small but it allows one method to act as a mutator or accessor depending on its signature. Again, nifty.
Finally, if you must program in C++, then ACE is definitely your friend. It's extremely well written and portable, and between the three books (1 set of 2 and another stand alone book) I know of, and the examples that come with it,
it's very easy to use.
You've forsaken Java for C++!? I'm shocked!
Posted by: david at March 21, 2005 9:57 PM
Well, truth be told, I first prototyped what I'm doing in Java. When I compiled it with gcj, it was plenty fast and I could have stopped there. The company likes to deal and deliver C++ code so I did what I had ot do. I found those things I liked about C++ but there is still much to dislike. And if one must do (network programming) with C++, then ACE rules.
Posted by: rkc at March 22, 2005 6:13 AM
What's the third book? I have the set of 2 from CS562 last year.
I use both C++ and Java here at work. I usually do prefer C++ due to const, templates (we haven't moved to Java 1.5 yet), MI, boost, etc. Not trying to start a language war, just saying I like it. It's a TAO/CORBA project so we use ACE, but indirectly.
Posted by: Adam at March 22, 2005 12:01 PM
Exegy = DSSI?
Posted by: James at March 22, 2005 12:07 PM
Wow, what a change in direction. I've always been a C++ advocate, not not much of a Java person. Now I'm beginning to appreciate and use Java, and you're going the opposite of me.
I've started using many more languages, though, and by far my favorite new language is Python.
I'm also beginning to wish that I had paid more attention to CS 101, back in the good ol' scheme days.
Posted by: Chris2 at March 23, 2005 4:02 PM
That other book is the ACE Programmer's Guide, by Steve Huston et al. Amazon link
Posted by: rkc at March 24, 2005 10:52 AM