On Monday, 16 November 2015 at 22:39:17 UTC, Dan wrote:
I am a very new c++ programmer, having just learned the
language this year.
A few months ago I completed a course on Coursera that dealt
with the security aspect of c (which I don't know, but it is
similar enough):
https://class.coursera.org/softwaresec-008
The course highlighted just how dangerous c/c++ can be. My
reaction to the course has been an increased use of shared/weak
pointers over standard pointers, more judicious use of "assert"
and increased use of destructors, where class pointers are
destroyed via the destructor so I don't need to worry about
memory leaks as much (all of my non-vector arrays are
created/destroyed via a class w/ template).
Some of this slows programs down, but in reality it does not
have much of an impact. But doubt will always linger that I
caught every vulnerability. Therefore I am shopping for a
language that codes like c++ but is safer. It sounds like D
may fit that requirement.
My platform of choice is 64-bit Fedora using Code::Blocks (yes,
I use an IDE as a crutch). It seems that D supports this combo.
I have been lurking on this site over the past few weeks trying
to decide when (and if) to make the transition. Can anyone here
who has already made that transition tell me how smoothly it
went? Any major unexpected problems? Advice?
thanks!
Dan
Start using D now. It's not all or nothing so you don't have to
give up on C++. I have several projects that contain both C++ and
D intermixed.
D will make you a better C++ programmer, but especially C++
template programming. D metaprogramming is so easy to read, write
and understand compared to C++ and many of the patterns still
apply when you're standing knee deep in C++it.
I also find the D standard library, Phobos, is a great codebase
to learn from. Compared to the STL (except perhaps the original
[1]) it's a great example of how performant D code can still be
readable and maintainable.
bye,
lobo
[1] http://www.stepanovpapers.com/butler.hpl.hp/stl/stl.zip
