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C++11: a new language?

Asked 2009-05-07T12:31:15.030
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Recently I started reading (just a bit) the current draft for the future C++11 standard.

There are lots of new features, some of them already available via Boost Libs. Of course, I'm pretty happy with this new standard and I'd like to play with all the new features as soon as possibile.

Anyway, speaking about this draft with some friends, long-time C++ devs, some worries emerged. So, I ask you (to answer them):

1) The language itself

This update is huge, maybe too huge for a single standard update. Huge for the compiler vendors (even if most of them already started implementing some features) but also for the end-users.

In particular, a friend of mine told me "this is a sort of new language".

  • Can we consider it a brand new language after this update?
  • Do you plan to switch to the new standard or keep up with the "old" standard(s)?

2) Knowledge of the language

  • How the learning curve will be impacted by the new standard?
  • Teaching the language will be more difficult?
  • Some features, while pretty awesome, seem a bit too "academic" to me (as definition I mean). Am I wrong?
  • Mastering all these new additions could be a nightmare, couldn't it?
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Your programming career will always involve learning and re-learning. You can't expect c++ to stay the same till you retire and to be using the same methods and practises that you were using 40 years ago. Technology rolls on, and it rolls quickly. It's your job to keep up with it. Of course you can ignore that, and continue to work the same way you currently do, but in 5 / 10 years time you'll become so outdated that you'll be forced to learn it all then when you're trying to change job. And it will have been a lot easier to learn on the job all those years before :)

answered 2009-05-07T13:18:56.413

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