Hiding class pointers -- was it a good idea?

[James Dennett]

Walter Bright wrote:
> eao197 wrote:
>>  From my expirience this is a problem of C++ beginners.
> 
> I was talking to a person who is a C++ developer for a major game
> company just today. He told me that it is very difficult to find
> experienced C++ developers, hire them, or even recognize them in a job
> interview. When you are able to hire them, they cost plenty.

An important observation.  And given that programmers starting
out in their careers are often looking at more "modern" languages,
the pool of competent C++ developers isn't growing fast, while
demand is still pretty strong.

> It's true that every problem with C++ can be solved by getting more
> advanced C++ programmers. The problem is getting those C++ programmers.
> And even the best ones have bad days and make mistakes <g>.

I assure you, on bad days I have made mistakes in many, many
languages ;)

> Defining a problem out of existence is preferable, cheaper, and more
> reliable than depending on convention or more training.
> 
> If I was paying top dollar for a programming expert, I'd rather he
> focused his energies on something more productive than dodging C++'s
> potholes.

And if you get an expert who knows C++, she won't spend much
time avoiding its potholes.

> If I was in charge of writing software that absolutely, positively must
> work correctly, I'll prefer a language guarantee over reliance that my
> programmers, no matter how good they are, didn't overlook something.

Yup; I look forward to a future in which correctness proofs play
a larger role in practical situations.

-- James