Developing in C++

[cojak]

SantaClaus doesn't have a sockie. Unusual for this forum, I know

I think that Spod meant the OP..

[SupremeSpod]

SupremeSpod and SantaClaus - what sort of apps did you develop in C++? Was it just banking (presumably trading & accounting systems)? I could PM you if you'd rather not discuss it on the forum?

Cheers.

I don't know about SantaClaus but my history of C++ is...

Travel Agency Management Systems, Retail Banking, trading, embedded environments, Real-time simulation, O/S development, Millitary Training Systems.

As it says, "SupremeSpod is never on the bench".

Why do you as? Just knowing the language won't secure you the role.

[Bwana]

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[VectraMan]

I'm writing C++ right now. Well that and lots of Javascript.

[Bwana]

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[VectraMan]

I'm not sure about getting into developing purely in C++, but perhaps I could get into a role where I developed the main app in C# and used C++ for a sub-component (maybe to optimize performance) - kindof like the C++ dlls that were used in VB apps back in the 90's. What do you reckon?

I've done that sort of thing before, and C++ .NET integrates quite well with C#. But if the point of using C++ is performance, then that's something you want an expert for, not a C# programmer who fancies having a go.

There's a bit of a resurgence of C++; you see that with the way Microsoft have gone back to C++ for Windows 8 development - okay so it's yet to be seen if Windows 8 amounts to much of anything, but generally with performance becoming more of an issue people are starting to question the overheads involved in things like .NET and Java.

And the other thing is that modern C++ is very different to what people were doing 15 years ago in the MFC heyday.

[VectraMan]

Would you mind stating what industry sector / type of application? PM me if you prefer.

I've mostly worked on graphics/video/multimedia desktop software. Industry is anyone who wants it, but I spent the previous 18 months writing C++ video analysis software for military applications, and the other part of the company were involved in motion capture for movie special effects - again all in C++. I wanted to do some of it in assembler, but they wouldn't let me.

[DodgyAgent]

Is that a trick question?

I developed C++ for 20 years. Some of the code is probably sinking the major investment banks.

FTFY

[Bwana]

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[VectraMan]

I'm surprised by this. I'd have thought that with hardware getting more & more (or should that be moore & moore?!) powerful as time goes on, performance would be less and less of an issue?

Yes but doing something in less CPU cycles means less power, heat and battery usage, which is quite important these days. Even if it's something in a data centre, then C++ could mean you can serve more customers with less servers, and/or save on power and air conditioning (not to mention less of that nasty CO2 I keep hearing about).

And increasingly computers are being used for processing huge quantities of data, where any small speed up can be a big deal. Did I imagine it or did no less a luminary than ATW say he was moving some of his search engine thingy to C++ code?

When you talk about modern C++ and Windows 8, are you referring to straight C++ or C++/CLR?

I was talking about the templatyness of regular C++. Someone who was doing C++ with MFC 15 years ago but who hadn't kept up to date would probably find their skills were not much use today.