--- title: On Language Complexity and Bloglines Hiring C++ date: 2005-04-28T21:35:26Z modified: 2005-04-28T21:35:26Z permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/on-language-complexity-and-bloglines-hiring-c/" type: post status: publish excerpt: "" wpid: 198 categories: - Uncategorized timestamp: 2005-04-28T21:35:26Z tags: - Uncategorized --- [Stephen](http://www.redmonk.com/sogrady/) has generated a little snowball of a conversation about the role of C++. First came this [news story](http://news.com.com/C%20creator%20upbeat%20on%20its%20future/2100-1007_3-5681078.html?tag=nefd.ac), written by Ingrid Marsen, in which [Bjarne Stroustrup](http://www.research.att.com/~bs/homepage.html) (most inventors of successful programming languages have [beards](http://www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/archives/000320.html), but where did the pics go Tamir?) claims that its a misperception that C++ is being overtaken by newer languages such as Java and C#. > “C++ is bigger than ever,” Stroustrup said. “There are more than 3 million C++ programmers. Everywhere I look there has been an uprising–more and more projects are using C++. A lot of teaching was going to Java, but more are teaching C++ again. There has been a backlash.” Tecosystems digs into the question with this [post](http://www.redmonk.com/sogrady/archives/000637.html). It is worth reading the comments from folks like: [Bryan Cantrill](http://blogs.sun.com/bmc): “If the problem is performance-sensitive, it will be towards C and C++. If not, it will be towards dynamic languages like Python, Ruby, etc. FWIW, I see very little Python and Ruby deployed in production (and I pretty much always ask the question) — and it’s hard to even find a customer that intends to deploy Python or Ruby into production.” [Christopher Baus](http://www.baus.net/): “I can’t say there is a deep disconnect with in the C++ community, but I feel that I am starting to disconnect with it personally. There are so many different programming styles going on in the language right now that it is literally becoming impossible to walk into a project as a “C++” developer and be guaranteed to understand what is going on.” How about [Python with c extensions](http://www.baus.net/language-complexity)? [Bill de Hora](http://www.dehora.net/journal/): “Now, if we look at Bittorrent, or XMPP, or Jini, or JXTA, or even raw Erlang, as a middleware alternative. You can start seeing non-client-server distribution options where in extreme cases, the system will go faster as more clients come on board. Language/runtime scaling doesn’t seem to matter so much there.” [Barry Lapthorn](http://www.lapthorn.net/): “The whole industry is just under going a ‘settling’ period where people are ‘choosing’: (1) ‘Back end’ – C/C++, (2) ‘Front end’ – the ‘VB’ languages (VB, C#, Java – yeah, yeah, Java on the backend…), (3) ‘glue’ – the scripting languages (Ruby, perl, python, etc. ). Barry also points to this [computerworld story](http://www.computerworld.com/developmenttopics/development/story/0,10801,100542,00.html?source=x10) which has some numbers on language useage. [Ryan Tomayko](http://naeblis.cx/rtomayko/) is succinct as ever: “Python/Ruby and C are a great combination that provides both convenience and efficiency when you need it. C++ is really very fringe for me at this point when going into new projects but I guess I won’t rule it out completely.” How do I know Ryan is a genius? He can [explain REST to his wife](http://naeblis.cx/rtomayko/2004/12/12/rest-to-my-wife)… its a brilliant primer on HTTP and REST folks… Now you’re probably wondering what Bloglines has to do with this discussion, and why I am posting anyway. It’s all about rss serendipity. Just after reading the comments, for some reason i decided to click on a link in my aggregator-[Bloglines is hiring](http://www.askjeevescareers.com/askjeeves/jobboard/SearchPositions.asp?ShowJobID=465)…What kind of people is the rather excellent service looking for? This kind: **SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER, BLOGLINES** **Summary Description:** Ask Jeeves, Inc. is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Sr. Software Engineer to work at our Los Gatos location. The Software Engineer will develop and implement a large scale data processing system in a distributed environment, in **C++.** The development tasks involve all aspects of scaling and improving a high-volume end-user focused web service. **Responsibilities:** - Addressing scaling issues arising from storing large amounts of data and serving a lot of web pages - Maintain and improve RSS crawling and parsing processes - Implement new functionality - Develop tools and utilities to track progress and provide statistics | Job Requirements | | **Technical Skill Level:** - Bachelors’s degree in Computer Science, Computer engineering, related fields or equivalent field experience. - Very strong C and C++ understanding and development abilities - Very strong UNIX abilities, including multithreaded/multiprocess development skills - Good understanding of web protocols such as HTTP and HTTPS - Good understanding of performance issues in a UNIX system and distributed environment - Familiarity with web templating systems - Familiarity with RSS and blogs - Familiarity with scripting languages such as Python, Perl, or Bash - Familiarity with databases such as Sleepycat, GDBM, or MySQL | Quick and Dirty Takeway? Bloglines sees C++ as performance glue, the essential foundation for a highly scalable service. Everything else is about interaction models – which is why all that’s called for is “familiarity” rather than depth. [Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/), awesome though it is, has had plenty of scaling issues and [performance problems](http://blog.flickr.com/flickrblog/2004/11/flickr_is_sorry.html) recently. Note it evidently [isn’t looking for C++ experience](http://ludicorp.com/job_display.php?id=2). Quick and Dirty and fully blog clustered – is that blustered?