When you hear me speaking about C++, you probably notice the passion. I might expose a similar passion when I pinpoint some of Java’s weaknesses. Maybe I do sound like “Dick” in the article Java is Slow! at The Daily WTF?
From GW-BASIC on my first computer I went through QBasic, QuickBasic, QuickC and Turbo C++ until “reaching” Visual C++ in high school. It is more than 10 years since I wrote CalcEm, the first Open Source emulator for Texas Instruments calculators TI-82 and TI-83. It is hopelessly outdated now, but it was a great achievement for me at the time. (I’m actually sitll proud; the last CalcEm version is ranked as 102 on the all-time top downloads list at ticalc.org with 43556 downloads.)
Maybe C++ entered at a sensitive point of my life? When learning Java at the university it only felt crippled when I already knew C++, so I only used Java when I had to and C++ (as in g++) when I got to choose. Sometimes the choice was bad, but it was about learning after all. I remember that our Kalah C++ implementation ruled the competition!
C++ made me feel in control! I never felt as much in control when using Java, and I still don’t. But I’ve learned not to demand so much control.
My friends may have heard me dreaming of working at Tandberg. I don’t languish for ThoughtWorks so much these days. (They do have Martin Fowler, but they also use Lotus Notes. Go figure.)
This is why I never applied for a job at UIQ. I like C++ so much that I cold not stand the horrible subset of C++ that Symbian has inherited from Psion. Instead I got stuck with a stone-age C++ compiler on Tru64. But I got away and now I’m your Java man!
Just let me do a little PHP, Python, Ruby, Scala or Groovy too! And wouldn’t C++ be great for something? 🙂