The Next Big Language

[Walter Bright]

Peter Alexander wrote:
> On 18/10/10 11:03 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
>> Unfortunately, a lot of the programmers I know
>> tend to react negatively to templates (probably primarily due to how 
>> nasty they
>> can be in C++), so sadly, it can be hard to sell powerful templates 
>> as  a _good_
>> feature to some folks.
> 
> I think it has very little to do with the syntax (although it certainly 
> plays a part).

I think it has a lot to do with the syntax. What templates do is actually very 
simple, but in C++ that simplicity is buried in an impenetrable syntax. I wrote 
a compiler for C++ templates, and I still have to look up the syntactic details 
whenever I write a template.


> The real problem with templates (in my opinion) is that they require a 
> higher level abstract view of programs that most programmers simply 
> lack. I think this is the same reason why functional programming escapes 
> the masses, and why C is still so popular.

Passing a type to a function is conceptually no more difficult than passing the 
number 7.