X-Git-Url: https://codewiz.org/gitweb?p=wiki.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=JuneBlog;h=6c2c071439d8c9a3756390ce5f752d75742397f9;hp=3c58aa6dbf89660a73d1d2ab28152f672ad664b2;hb=1c78021272c232c8e023eb156305efabdabf630e;hpb=6178fad72f5a3d15ab020a484660430b34c65722

diff --git a/JuneBlog b/JuneBlog
index 3c58aa6..6c2c071 100644
--- a/JuneBlog
+++ b/JuneBlog
@@ -1,5 +1,49 @@
 == June 2007 ==
 
+=== Tue, 26th ===
+
+==== Long time, no C++ ====
+
+The title was inteded to be a joke on "long time, no see", because I've
+not been updating the blog for some time.
+
+But this reminds me that, yes, indeed I've not been doing any C++ for a few
+months now. That's probably irrelevant to most of you... but this is my blog
+and I get to decide what goes in.  Except when *you* edit it.  Damn WikiWikiWeb!
+
+The reason we don't have any C++ in the OLPC is that, in the Linux world,
+C++ never flied that much.  The kernel hackers say it's not well suited
+for kernel programming, and I partially agree.  Of course, C++ can't be
+used for glibc and POSIX system libraries.  Even MicrosoftCompany uses C
+for those.
+
+This leaves us with three more layers to exclude: windowing server,
+desktop and applications.
+
+X11 is written in C for historical reasons.  Since its internals mostly
+deal with interfaces and specialization of interfaces, C++ would have
+been very beneficial.
+
+Gnome also uses C, for no good reason.  KDE is older than Gnome and
+was entirely written in C++, although I clearly remember g++ 2.7.2 being
+quite a painful experience.  The GObject crap in glib and GTK is expecially
+ugly, hard to use and error prone due to lack of good OOP support in the
+language.
+
+And applications?  Well, applications in the OLPC are written in Python
+anyway, like many higher level applications in regular Linux distros.
+
+There's a few exceptions: Mozilla is written in C++ and eToys is written
+in SmallTalk.  I don't know about TamTam.
+
+'''rasky:''' in fact, with the raise of scripting languages and fully-featured
+platforms (like Java's), using C++ for doing almost *anything* is the wrong
+choice. As you said, system programming wants C for several good reasons, and
+almost anything else can be done in scripting language. I think one last thing
+that C++ is still good today at is high-performance libraries (eg: math
+libraries), where you don't want to use C and you need a lot of performance.
+But C++ is feeling more and more like a dead horse...
+
 === Wed, 13th ===
 
 ==== Under pressure ====
@@ -15,12 +59,12 @@ their heads.
 We had pizza together and, seeing so many tired faces, I casually asked:
 "when do we close for summer?".
 
-People look at me puzzled: "What do you mean exactly by 'close'?".
+People look at me puzzled: "What do you mean exactly by ''close''?".
 
 "Err... companies don't close for summer here in the States?".
 
 They look at each other, trying to guess if it's some kind
-of joke: "Why would companies /close/?  They're not schools."
+of joke: "Why would companies ever ''close''?  They're not schools."
 
 I quickly added: "Oh, I'm asking because, you know, most
 companies in Italy do close a few weeks for summer".