Thread: About time Java gave in...

Wait hold on Oracle are actually doing something with the Java platform? OMG...

On a serious note - yeah I can see the benefits of this, and the flaws. But I think anything
Java implements is just another feature to catch up with C#. Java was created years before
yet C# seems to have more updates as Microsoft update it often. Quite a few people I used
to know as Java programmers have jumped ship to C# because of Oracle.

A piece of C# that works:

Code:

namespace ForEpy
{
    class Program
    {
        public static void Main(String[] args)
        {
            System.Console.WriteLine("Yay i'm a C# program!");
        
            System.Console.ReadKey(true);
        }
    }
}

Oh and I do get what your saying - but the problem is that manual memory languages
such as these two are going to be praised to the high heavens all the time. Java has
become the "college bicycle" as everyone and his cat are being taught in most schools.

The problem I have with that, and always have had - is students are never exposed to
lower level programming unless they seek it out-of-class. There is nothing wrong with
learning Java/C# as a first language, in fact both are standard and fairly simple to learn.
It would be nice if more school's went back to teaching C/C++... but hey that is a
personal gripe.

Originally Posted by MutantJohn

The reason I say "not C++" (sorry, Elysia) is because I straight-up think that C++ needs literal years to learn effectively. So what happens more often than not in schools is that kids will take a programming class in C++ and they won't learn anything useful or anything they couldn't have done better in C.

The university course behind Accelerated C++ is a counterexample. Now, that academic course was specifically to teach C++ to students with some programming background, but there's no reason why the content couldn't be rearranged a bit and split into two to support an introductory programming module (e.g., chapters 0 to 5, 7, 9, and additional material for general computer science, compiling/debugging, problem solving skills, and recursion) followed by a data structures and algorithms module (e.g., chapters 6, 8, 10 to 16, and additional material specific to certain data structures and algorithms, and of course complexity analysis). Of course, what I propose requires two semesters, but it wouldn't just teach the fundamentals of C++, but rather would use C++ to teach programming methodology, data structures, and algorithms to students with no programming background.

Sorry MutantJohn, you are failing to see the trees among the forest. Yes, C has less material to teach, but oh how much harder it is. How many students are going to scratch their heads when learning pointers? How many students are going to fail writing the linked list? How many are going to double frees, buffer overruns or just allocate something large and hope it works? Are those qualities you'd like to see in real world applications? I for sure as heck am not!

Yes, C++ is a complex language. So is Java. So is C#. There's no way around that. But you don't have to teach students everything. Instead of spending time to teach them meta template programming, you could spend time on teaching them how to use the standard library effectively to make faster, robuster and more bug free applications. Yay, right? Accelerated C++ is an excellent book that taught us that C++ is not a horrible monster. It can be taught effectively and used effectively, as well. Just take mind at how--and what--you teach.

Originally Posted by Epy

Not trolling or anything, but can anyone actually give an example of something done with .NET that isn't total garbage? It doesn't seem that .NET itself is garbage, rather that too many programmers using it produce low quality code. No offense to anyone here, just been my observation so far.

I could say the same about pretty much any language. 99% of C++ I see here are just students using char arrays and other crap. Everyone seems to think that average Joe can produce a program these days. Well, it's time to wake up, because programming is not trivial, and we shouldn't let average John Doe make our programs. It should be professional programmers (and I don't mean garbage "professional" programmers who were taught to use C in C++ or cheated their way through their programming exam).

Originally Posted by Elysia

It should be professional programmers (and I don't mean garbage "professional" programmers who were taught to use C in C++ or cheated their way through their programming exam).

That's debatable. It would highly trend when the program was created and by which people in the team.
Quite a lot of professional C++ code I have seen does contain C-style syntax, especially string
manipulation. American Mcgee's "Alice" was built on top of the Quake Engine, and "Madness Returns"
sampled some of that mixed in with mostly C++.

The point is - I think that the "vast majority" of professional code will have a hybrid of C/C++ mashed
together - because that is how they were taught. C then C++ (in the early days). Again, that is not
the fault of the individual, but may boil down to teaching/learning resources available at the time.

Originally Posted by Elysia

How many students are going to scratch their heads when learning pointers? How many students are going to fail writing the linked list? How many are going to double frees, buffer overruns or just allocate something large and hope it works? Are those qualities you'd like to see in real world applications?

People who make it into the real world - without understanding pointers or data structures of any kind, beyond arrays - suck. They make ........ty .NET programs.

The vast majority of students suck at everything, no matter what language it is.

Originally Posted by Elysia

Well, it's time to wake up, because programming is not trivial, and we shouldn't let average John Doe make our programs. It should be professional programmers (and I don't mean garbage "professional" programmers who were taught to use C in C++ or cheated their way through their programming exam).

OK. You stop writing programs first.

Originally Posted by swgh

That's debatable. It would highly trend when the program was created and by which people in the team.
Quite a lot of professional C++ code I have seen does contain C-style syntax, especially string
manipulation. American Mcgee's "Alice" was built on top of the Quake Engine, and "Madness Returns"
sampled some of that mixed in with mostly C++.

The point is - I think that the "vast majority" of professional code will have a hybrid of C/C++ mashed
together - because that is how they were taught. C then C++ (in the early days). Again, that is not
the fault of the individual, but may boil down to teaching/learning resources available at the time.

That's what I meant by "garbage professional" programmers. Maybe that's a bit harsh. Maybe they just don't have the education, but the fact remains that those aren't the type of programmers we should have writing our software.

What I find interesting is that Java is moving toward an AOT model, while C++ programmers are increasingly embracing the JIT environment of Clang and LLVM.

Originally Posted by MutantJohn

I actually think being a student is the perfect time to scratch your head about pointers and data structures. Implement some primitive data structures in C, gain an appreciation for how awesome the more robust languages are.

It's one thing to do it when learning data structures. It's another thing completely when learning an introduction to computer science. There's no reason to use C as an introductory language and algorithms and datastructures are language independent, so C holds no advantage here either.

It's one thing to do it when learning data structures. It's another thing completely when learning an introduction to computer science. There's no reason to use C as an introductory language and algorithms and datastructures are language independent, so C holds no advantage here either.

What is computer science other than this? I'm sorry but every foray into the computer science department for me was basically learning how to program.

C does give you a reason to actually implement the data structures though. You might actually learn how they work and use them appropriately in other places, in other languages. Data structures might be language agnostic, but people sure aren't. In C++ for instance the wonder is always "why aren't you using the STL?" Personally I don't think people understand anything until they study it inside and out.