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Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

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Re: Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

#31

Post by iExploder »

definitely learn C++ if you are interested about how computing works "under the hood" of modern high level languages

even if C++ went away next year (which it won't, and you can be sure c++ will be here until eventually quantum computing takes over ;) the concepts and understanding of computing you'll learn is still valuable

in terms of advancing your career as a developer, realistically speaking it will advance your career most probably only if you make a switch to jobs that require real time / embedded / high performance / security. for other fields of programing today, c++ level of understanding will not advance your career as much as being a good communicator, acquiring connections and brown nosing

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

#33

Post by server_bot »

Hmm...I think a lot of this discussion is missing two important points:

1. Regardless of whether or not C++ is going away, your team needs help now. You have an opportunity to get up to speed and add value in the present. That could pay off in social capital, promotion, or just plain old appreciation of your efforts.

2. Say you don't care about your team's needs at all (for the sake of argument, I'm sure you do!). Learning C++ will teach you concepts and patterns that can help you be a better engineer, even if you move on to Rust later (which IMO will be C++'s replacement for new projects eventually). Growth happens outside your comfort zone, this could be a good growth opportunity.

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

#34

Post by the_monocle »

travv0 wrote: post #30
faoileag wrote: post #19

Just a few things you should consider: - C++ is highly complex. The poster lower down claiming you already know 90% if you know C#/ObjC is simply wrong. The learning curve is steep. - Your stated experience sounds a bit like "App developer" and while that gives you plenty of experience, the projects tend to be a bit smallish. C++ projects on the other hand can be huge and extremely complex. Think 4 hrs for a clean bu…

> C++ projects on the other hand can be huge and extremely complex. Think 4 hrs for a clean build, with 10+ people working on the same code base. I'm not sure what this has to do with the language itself or why you think other languages don't also have large projects written in them.

OP sounds like an app developer. They are saying that apps typically aren’t projects of that size

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

#35

Post by mraza007 »

yen223 wrote: post #24

Forget what HN likes. A large proportion of software that people actually use, like the browser they're using, is written in C++. It isn't going away anytime soon

I agree on this, most of our software is also powered by C++ such as trading systems,our defense software,popular databases such as MySQL and even popular games

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

#37

Post by travv0 »

the_monocle wrote: post #34
travv0 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> C++ projects on the other hand can be huge and extremely complex. Think 4 hrs for a clean build, with 10+ people working on the same code base. I'm not sure what this has to do with the language itself or why you think other languages don't also have large projects written in them.

OP sounds like an app developer. They are saying that apps typically aren’t projects of that size

And plenty of C++ projects also aren't projects of that size. I'm not sure what that has to do with whether or not OP should learn C++. Should OP not learn C because the Linux kernel is written in it?

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

#38

Post by spacechild1 »

travv0 wrote: post #37
the_monocle wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP sounds like an app developer. They are saying that apps typically aren’t projects of that size

And plenty of C++ projects also aren't projects of that size. I'm not sure what that has to do with whether or not OP should learn C++. Should OP not learn C because the Linux kernel is written in it?

Don't know why you're downvoted because you're absolutely right. Just because some very large C++ projects can take hours to build, I'd say this is not true for the majority of projects.

Re: Ask HN: Should I learn C++ in 2021?

#40

Post by abhijat »

mraza007 wrote: post #36

My question is that lets say if someone does want to learn C++ what are some good resources out there that someone can consume, considering video courses or even books

There's the c++ crash course book from nostarch. It's very comprehensive and teaches modern c++ nicely. For video courses Kate Gregory has some well received courses on modern c++ on pluralsight.
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