I come not to bury C++, but to praise it...

[Peter Hansen]

John Benson wrote:
> [snip]
> I think that the already-posted comments seeking to appreciate the
> historical origin and motivations of C++ are essential to understanding it's
> applicability in the present.
> 
> C++ started as a quintessentially Unix-like exercise in software
> engineering: add functionality by leveraging existing software components to
> the max. Another level of preprocessor (Cfront) was added to the compiler
> tool chain and Bingo! you had a new language. [snip]
> 
> I think that C++ was a great exercise, but software engineering has
> advanced. 

John, thanks for the reminder about the origins of C++.  (I suspect the majority
of readers in this group were not even programming during the CFront era 
(roughly 1983-85?), and a history lesson is always good from time to time.)

I remember C++ as a welcome enhancement which allowed me to extend the 
scope of several large C projects without significantly affecting their
complexity.  Over the years I gradually found C++, especially as a result 
of its ongoing evolution, to be negatively affecting my development instead, 
however, and I was happy to finally move on to the more modern languages 
which software engineering has produced in the over 20 years since C++ came out.

-Peter

P.S.: Found http://merd.net/pixel/language-study/diagram.html while researching
the timing on C++' conception... interesting, and might be nice wallpaper for
some.