| In addition to what James says, there is a reason (other then speed) that C and C++ are used so extensively, and that is since it has such a large base of use, things like C compilers will exist for some time. One of the things that always has me worried about using a language like SuperCollider is, at what point will I no longer be able to execute code in it? Certainly, since the underlying base is in C, I imagine I will be able to run some version for some time, but it is rather limited in its life.
What I have wanted to do for some time, actually, is create a way to take a chunk of code that I consider finished, and actually render it out into C or C++. Then I can have the source code for a finished piece, and save it and compile it. This is a pretty big task though...
Josh On Mar 7, 2009, at 3:34 PM, James Harkins wrote: On Mar 7, 2009, at 1:34 PM, Miguel Negrao wrote: I'm not very informed about these things as you can notice. I was just curious why so many people use c,c++,java etc, when their appear to much nicer languages possible.
I think a lot of it is the marketplace.
Companies, whether producing software for release or just internal tools, have a couple of incentives to stick with Java or C++. One is that they have been around for a while and it's easier for project managers to estimate risk if they don't have to factor in technologies that they don't know as well. The other is that they can count on a steady flow of Java and C++ programmers coming out of universities and IT schools (whereas it's probably harder to find talent if you want to build your project in Ruby or, say, Haskell). What happens when your ace Haskell consultant moves on to the next gig, and then you need to find someone else to maintain the project? You're hosed. But if it's all in Java, hey, J2EE developers are no further away than $100K/year.
Computer science departments, of course, want their students to be able to get jobs, so they have to teach Java and C++. It may be more fun to teach more powerful, higher-level dynamic languages, but who's going to hire a kid coming out of school who goes into an interview saying, "Java sucks, why aren't you using Haskell"?
We're lucky -- we can choose our poison! hjh
: H. James Harkins
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