Re: [ALACPP] Hello?

["Scott M. Anderson" <scottmanderson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It can be difficult to know what the best forum for a particular group can be.

I've certainly enjoyed following what discussions there have been on the list. Perhaps we can at least keep it at that level for the time being, and then if progress lends itself to weekly or monthly meetings, we can proceed from there.

I don't believe I properly thanked all those who responded to my questions earlier this year about how much C you need for C++ in a high school curriculum. So, belated thanks, everybody!

I have a new topic for discussion if anyone's interested.

In prepping my Intro to Comp. Sci. classes this year, I find that C++ is losing steam among some newer programmers. They tend to favor Python and other , newer, interpreted languages.

My department head knuckled down himself this year, and did some C++ .NET tests. He found that, when compiled under .NET, the use of C++ pointers actually resulted in a  loss off performance. I suspect many on this list do not care for Visual Studio, but the fact of the matter is that what Microsoft does, a big chunk of the commercial programming world abides by. (I realize this may change soon with the rise of Linux and the switch by Apple to the Unix-based OSX and beyond, effectively making Microsoft the "odd man out" in the OS world for a change, but that could be a whole OTHER discussion).

While I understand the attraction of portability through the use of language-specific virtual machines ( I'm a Java guy myself), I really feel like things may be going too far. I fear a young generation of programmers who know only how to code, and have no idea of how it translates at the hardware level because that will all be hidden from them so thoroughly they never need to learn it. It strikes me as ultimately counter-productive to progress in our field when some base-level understanding of how the gadget actually functions becomes an esoteric topic suitable only for the truly dedicated freaks.

While I like Java and Python, I still regard C++ as the last great language that isn't completely removed from hardware.

Thoughts?

Yes, certainly in some form. I don't know whether weekly meetings are 
best. I dunno'. Sorry I dropped out of view. New version release, new 
apartment, new job, blah blah blah.


Jon
  

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