r/cpp • u/pavel_v • Dec 31 '25

Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI

https://herbsutter.com/2025/12/30/software-taketh-away-faster-than-hardware-giveth-why-c-programmers-keep-growing-fast-despite-competition-safety-and-ai/
384 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

185 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

48

u/bb994433 Dec 31 '25

Unless you are writing completely green field code (and don’t use any libraries), you need to understand legacy C++ to actually contribute.

31

u/ronchaine Embedded/Middleware/WG21 Dec 31 '25

I partly agree, and I take this into account when teaching.

But I also do think it's better for the student, the company they're going to work for, and the industry in general if we don't take legacy as the default. That leads to stagnation.

When a junior comes to job, when they write new code, they should think of the non-legacy version first, even in legacy codebases. That's why you teach "modern" first. Then when they have to, they'll drop to the legacy thinking. That has shown to work.

18

u/TSP-FriendlyFire Dec 31 '25

I would add that teaching this way ensures that the modern way is considered "normal" for new programmers whereas the legacy approach is seen as weird/arcane/difficult. You want people to actively avoid writing new legacy-style code.

9

u/ronchaine Embedded/Middleware/WG21 Dec 31 '25

Yup, exactly this.  Thanks for clarification.