theyoungestgun
Joined 12 years ago
Joined 12 years ago
I think there's a really big part of this case study that isn't mentioned (perhaps because there is currently no data): bringing on more engineers. It really seems as if the number of C++ developers ready to be a part of the startup ecosystem is small. That is the impression that sites like HN leaves me with at least.
If I'm not going to depend on the IDE to tell me what a deduced variable type is, you can bet your ass I'm going to want to depend on it for autocompleting some of the insanely long type names are: std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point gets old real quick - and so does stead_clock::time_point (if you want to include the namespace).
I used to really be anal on making every single line explicit: no shortcuts. But over time, especially with increasing my usage of templates, I've come to relax on these things and prefer to put my efforts in good variable names and trusting the compiler.
I'm not saying you should use auto for basic types (especially ones that can be easily cast into each other - that shit gets dangerous). I am saying that auto is extremely powerful when working with most interesting APIs. The most recent example I have is a lot of things I end up doing with chrono.
These are two distinct ecosystems. They use the same terminology with different meaning. That perhaps is confusing, but definitely doesn't make one or the other incorrect.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/495021/why-can-templates-...
It is interesting in that I find that Coursera courses highlight the flawed learning processes she mentions quite well. I often find myself watching the videos, thinking I get it, buzzing through the usually basic follow-up questions, and moving on. Likely that material won't last in my brain for very long in a quickly usable fashion.