There once was a time that it seemed like C/C++ was going to slowly die out and be replaced by other languages such as Java, Ruby and JavaScript. But now C++’s future is looking brighter than ever. John D. Cook, who once asked whether C++ had jumped the shark recently wrote a post enthusing about the support for lambdas and closures in the newest C++ standard.
Meanwhile, Mike James makes the case that your next language had better be C++. James notes the uncertainty surrounding Java following Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, and the uncertainty around .NET as Microsoft seems to be de-prioritizing it in Windows 8.
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I can’t see Microsoft deprecating C# anytime soon, but as James notes the Visual C++ team is hard at work and C++ is clearly going to be central to Microsoft’s developer strategy in the future.
And although Java is finally moving forward again, and frameworks like Spring are pushing it into the future, I can certainly see the case for being weary of Java in the Oracle age.
And James didn’t even mention NaCl, which will bring C++ into the browser.
The one place that it seems deficient is in mobile, and it seems all but certain that the HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript stack will rule the majority of mobile development. But there will be some cases in which developers will want to develop native apps, and Android now supports the creation of native apps in C++. Apple may never allow this for iOS, but there it’s Apple’s way or the highway anyway.
What do you think?
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