Starting a tech startup with C++ • Hacker News Board

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#11

Post by tuyguntn » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

Every word has its own place, every place has its own word

Starting startup with language X depends on how that language were used in industry, starting hardware startup with Python/Ruby is strange, but for web startup its totally fine. Now think about creating web site in C++ with average C++ developer.

There is also cost of talent, if you own expert C++ developer than probably writing web site in C++ can make sense, because you have a talent who can manage and fix every bug/feature. Finding professional Python/Ruby web site developers are easier than finding C++ web site developer.

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#12

Post by Cshelton » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:38 PM UTC

I think you hit the nail on the head early in the post. C++ is what you are most comfortable with. I believe that is the number one reasoning, at first at least (prototype, mvp stage), in deciding that language/stack to use. Use what you know the best as the tech lead, everything else will fall into place.

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#13

Post by dikaiosune » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

bluejekyll wrote: post #9

I'm more curious as to the decision not to stick with Rust. Sounds like there was a prototype. I'm guessing there were some libraries missing. Would be cool to know more about that.

Rust's ecosystem is super young, and up until May '15 the language had breaking changes occurring pretty frequently (daily? I wasn't using it back then so I'm not sure). I've been really enjoying using it, but I imagine that this startup began work before Rust hit 1.0, or very nearly afterward.

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#14

Post by blub » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

jlg23 wrote: post #2

Not to mention the time saved in testing due to the compiler catching many errors only unit tests could catch in python.

I was glad when Python added type annotations, but the Python community is aggressive about preferring dynamic typing. Don't think the chances are that great to use them in a real project.

Perl 6's gradual type system seems interesting and one plus of Go is that it brought some well-deserved attention to concise static typing.

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#15

Post by sgeisenh » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:47 PM UTC

bnastic wrote: post #4

It's sad that you need to justify using one of the most established and longest serving languages/platforms ever.

I don't think it is sad. You explained why it is necessary, C++ has been around for a while, is/was great but there are now languages that can compete in terms of performance with fewer drawbacks in terms of security and undefined behavior.

If you're starting from scratch, it is important to strongly consider which language and platform best suits your needs. Anecdotally, a lot of companies have found success using newer languages because they tend to attract a better proportion of talented people.

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#16

Post by petke » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:52 PM UTC

> Manual memory management is the most popular misconception of C++. Since C++11, it is now recommended to use std::shared_ptr or std::unique_ptr for automatic memory management. There is a small computational cost to maintaining referenced pointers but it’s minuscule and the safety outweighs this cost.

I think another misconception is that you need pointers at all. Smart pointers are still pointers. Its better to use value semantic all the way when you can. And you usually can. Why place something on the heap if it can live on the stack?

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#17

Post by ilya1 » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:53 PM UTC

blub wrote: post #10

ilya1 wrote: post #7

Sounds very inspiring. Any other good places to start learning about C++ 11/14 for complete beginners with JS and other programming languages? I'm very much interested to create proof-of-concept for high performance SaaS services and play with C++ as it might be useful to build Node.js extension later.

Programming - principles and practice using C++[1] should be appropriate for beginners. It's a long book at 1000+ pages, but it is designed for novices and explains subjects such as why one needs functions, how to handle errors, GUIs, testing, etc. The C++ Programming language (4th ed)[2] is for experienced programmers. A tour of C++ is the short version of the former.[3] [1]: http://www.stroustrup.com/programming.ht…

Ohh... thnx! Nothing changed since I graduated in 2001 ... I recollect Stroustrup since then. It's still C++ bible.

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#18

Post by hakcermani » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:54 PM UTC

Wondering how Swift will play in this arena now that is open sourced - and performance ? According to this (http://www.primatelabs.com/blog/2014/12/swift-performance) for some workloads does approach C++.

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#19

Post by steveklabnik » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:56 PM UTC

dikaiosune wrote: post #13

bluejekyll wrote: post #9

I'm more curious as to the decision not to stick with Rust. Sounds like there was a prototype. I'm guessing there were some libraries missing. Would be cool to know more about that.

Rust's ecosystem is super young, and up until May '15 the language had breaking changes occurring pretty frequently (daily? I wasn't using it back then so I'm not sure). I've been really enjoying using it, but I imagine that this startup began work before Rust hit 1.0, or very nearly afterward.

Sometimes more than once per day :)

Crates.io has 3700 crates in stock. That said, there are still gaps, like with any young ecosystem. It's really progressing nicely though. And given Rust's domain, there are packages for really interesting stuff, like OS dev...

Re: Starting a tech startup with C++

#20

Post by samfisher83 » Sat, Jan 02, 2016, 5:57 PM UTC

I would find it hard to believe that c++ can be that much faster for many websites since the bottleneck would be the I/O subsystem. I don't understand how they are getting this 40x speed up. I wonder what the benchmark looks like.