Is C++ easy to understand

I decided to create this thread to try to avoid derailing the car thread further. Certain people have said that C++ is easy to understand. On the other hand, other people have said that they still don't understand C++ fully, even after programming in it professionally for over a decade.

What do you think?

Depending on the Writer. ...I know that trope means something totally different, but it does actually depend on the writer.

C++ is relatively easy to understand because of its structure and syntax. Obviously, there are things that are difficult in it but if you compare it to, for example, Assembler, it's easy.

If the certain piece of code is easy to read depends on the way it's written though. If you write messily, don't leave commentaries etc., your code will be confusing

You should definitely have previous experience with easier languages to start learning C++.

It's easy to understand the basics, but near impossible to understand everything.

Fortunately, if you program in sensible ways, you only rarely run into the various pitfalls hidden in the language.

To understand, easy is C++, but mastering hardness it is.

I don't think that it's as easy as other similarly powerful languages. An.d apparently the binaries are hard to deal with too; the people behind D gave up on maintaining compatibility with them.

Why?

I'd say C++ becomes very hard to understand when programmers get a bit clever with templates. Okay, a container of objects of a given type is easy to understand. Some heavy "meta-programming", not so much.

1. Have you programmed before?

2. What do you want to make with C++?

edited 1st Jun '11 3:04:56 PM by ChristopherAlgoo

I struggled with OOP when I first started studying C++, from a C background. I guess it wasn't until I started working in Visual Basic that I really got the point of class-based instead of procedural programming, and part of the reason for that is that the VB editor (well, I should be clearer: the VBA editor) has a lot of tools to make working with class objects easier.

It wasn't constructors/destructors and public/private that got me snarled up so much as templates, virtual classes, and all the snarly rules of inheritance. Still, if I'd put in more time, I probably would have gotten more out of it. Just didn't seem important enough when I started.

I suspect C++ is used largely because it was one of the first programming languages to use right. That said, a well-written (and well-commented) C++ program should be easy to understand, but it's easier to write a difficult-to-understand program in C++ than in, say, Python or even Java.

Personally, my main issue with C++ is actually that its syntax is kind of a mess. I've always thought C++ programs looked kind of ugly. (I program in Objective-C, though, so I shouldn't talk).

Java isn't too good to be honest

Java's a pain. I still don't understand how people get by without operator overloading.

edited 1st Jun '11 3:15:49 PM by storyyeller

If you're talking about learning languages, C++ is a good place to start since you can basically do both procedural as well as OO programming. I tend to dislike learning Java before C++ because it is important to understand memory management. The difference between good programmers and bad programmers isn't usually experience but understanding memory. Don't get memory, you usually write crappy programs no matter if you have two decades of experience or six months of experience.

That being said, Java is an excellent second language to learn to more easily grasp OO, because you're forced to do OO.

Also, your mom likes VB.

edited 1st Jun '11 3:18:27 PM by breadloaf

Java is slow and impractical. C++ might have its problems but at least it can create great software, from web browsers to video games

Not that I like Java, but "slow" is not borne out.

Whereas C# is the best.

Also, breadloaf, memory's only really important in a few circumstances and IMO riding on a VM isn't one of them. So long as you don't keep too many objects in memory at once, you're fine.

edited 1st Jun '11 3:31:38 PM by Yej

Wait, what does that even mean? Java is widely used for all sorts of things.

I see C# as being sort of like Java except designed to be somewhat less obnoxious and to cater more towards C++ programmers.

Though properties is a nice feature. Apparently you can do it in C++ as well with template metaprogramming (just like anything else), but it's not nearly as nice to do.

edited 1st Jun '11 3:41:38 PM by storyyeller

I program everything in Java Script, which must be a lot better than regular Java, just like cursive is better than block print.

C++ is the result of taking C and bolting a whole bunch of language extensions to it, and so it feels like the amphibious evolutionary link between C and the more modern OOP languages like Java, C# etc. It's a language where you can be a decent programmer and be able to work on the vast majority of C++ applications out there but still not understand fully how some of the more esoteric functionality works. For example, I don't think I've ever had to use multiple inheritance except when learning the thing.

I wouldn't recommend it as a first language though. For absolute beginners, you need to learn how to program, not the intricacies of a language. I'd recommend something like Python that you can pick up and play around with, learning how to break problems up into smaller chunks you can code. Then once you're comfortable with the idea of programming, you can learn another language.

^^ They aren't even related. It's just deliberate naming confusion.

^ I've used multiple inheritance a couple of times. It's main use though is in the really fancy stuff that library writers do, so it's not something average programmers need to worry about much.

edited 1st Jun '11 3:43:38 PM by storyyeller

A) I shall bitch slap the next person to say memory is not important.

B) My point wasn't about memory, it was about code design. I find people who don't understand memory also don't know how to code well. They just code blindly. It's a sort of side effect thing.

Java is nice from a conceptual understanding point and is beautifully easy to understand, but to get things to run at an appreciable speed you really need to not mask some of the background things that it hides from you.

C++ is easy to understand in itself, it's just difficult to proofread someone with a terrible sense of organization.

Why is memory important?

Why am I getting involved in an argument/catfight about which programming language is "best"?