> C++ may eventually fade in arenas where java or C# are adequate. I
> don't
> see how you can characterize those arenas as having belonged to C++.
> But
> I'm way outside my competence, or the interest of this list.
C++ was the dominant language of general applications development for
many years, and is still widely used. But there is no question it is
quickly losing ground to other languages, and with good reason.
>
> I've been nearly caught up in acrimonious debates with people who
> consider
> it obvious that only Microsoft managed languages should survive.
The only 'serious' microsoft language I can think of is C#, and that is
just a java ripoff. There are lots of good languages that have nothing
to do with MS.
> If you consider that Fortran has been
> dying a long slow death since the advent of Algol 60, with each event
> along
> the way being a symptom, be my guest. Even Microsoft has bragged from
> the
> beginning of MSIL that Fortran was among the languages committed to be
> supported. I don't see that as evidence that Fortran will continue to
> "die" or even that JITted implementations will replace compiled ones.
> More
> as evidence that Fortran has done the best job of adapting to new
> requirements while continuing to support existing ones.
I think this is really what the petition is about: competition for
Fortran. My experience doesn't go back to Algol 60 --- I was probably
wearing diapers back then --- but in my recent programming experience,
I have not really seen any serious challenge to Fortran in the realm of
scientific programming. There are lots of new languages, but non of
them have really taken serious aim at scientific number crunching. I
would welcome a challenger. Competition is healthy.
Drew
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