quote "Bjarne Stroustrup, who invented C++, explains in this interview  
that he still stands by the language he built, and thinks that most  
programming being done now is below par. While there is quality software  
out there, like Google, he says, "looking at the 'average' piece of code  
can make me cry. The structure is appalling, and the programmers clearly  
didn't think deeply about correctness, algorithms, data structures, or  
maintainability." Rather than being sure of a system's quality and why it  
works so well, Stroustrup says programmers are "in a constant state of  
grasping at straws to get our work done. The snag is we often do not know  
how we did it: a system just 'sort of evolved' into something minimally  
acceptable." In order to remedy this situation, he thinks that education  
must be improved, using "more-appropriate design methods, and design for  
flexibility and for the long haul." However, this fix is difficult to  
achieve because computer users do not want to be inconvenienced by abrupt  
changes; only a gradual, wide-ranging effort toward change will be  
effective. "Software developers have neutralized the astounding  
performance of modern computer hardware by adding layer upon layer of  
over-elaborate [software] abstractions," says Stroustrup, whose solution  
is that more experts should be trained to use C++, as it as fallen out of  
the mainstream, rather than simply "dumb[ing] down" programming languages.  
He says the generality built into C++ was the result of his "view that to  
do higher-level stuff, to build complete applications, you first needed to  
buy, build, or borrow libraries providing appropriate abstractions."  
Stroustrup believes that "======>" the large amount of criticism that has  
been aimed at C++ is a testament to how useful it really is "<======"."  
unquote.

Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of the C++ programming language, defends  
his legacy and examines what's wrong with most software code [here:]

- http://www.techreview.com/InfoTech/17831/

/Klaus