Tell HN: C++ Still Does the Job
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Just search for HFT jobs or any software-based automotive positions, and you'll still find C++. I am confident that some experienced people don't care about the technology used; all that matters is domain knowledge and getting things done.
However, I'm concerned about "rookies" (those aspiring to become programmers); they might face decision paralysis because some high-level people share strong opinions, and they seem to follow them blindly.
I've sensed some common dogmatisms: "never use goto," "OOP is the way," "FP is the way," "use design patterns everywhere," "always avoid code duplication," ...
Are you telling me that software development (as typically done) is an exact science (like math)? Why are you striving to abide by those rules as mathematical theorems (things that require rigourous proofs), when those rules break or make less sense in specific cases?
I'm here to remind those folks to learn to solve problems in different domains. Language is a tool; use it as one.
Arguably, that is far more important than syntax and language details.
As Naval suggested, learn fundamentals (e.g., math, domain knowledge) and leverage them (e.g., through programming).
Here's another listing:
Proficient in at least one of C/C++/Objective-C/Swift
Experience with Python/Lua/Bash
Even if Rust gets more exposure in the industry, no big deal, once you know the hang of programming, you can just hop to another tool (i.e., programming language).
That being said, I've definitely seen Rust in production and even have close friends who are paid fulltime to work on it. If you can find an employer with the demands for it, Rust can be equally as lucrative as C++. Purely from a market demand perspective, there's ample reason to learn both.
Going forward though, I think you're going to see less people starting new projects in C and C++. Clang and g++ are both less intuitive than Cargo and rustc (imo). Dependency management is far and away better with Rust, and I'd argue it's a lot harder to fall into design antipatterns using it's defaults. If you're a new programmer that wants to leverage a compiled language, the on-ramp to Rust is simpler.