Re:C++ attracts the wrong kind of programmer (Score 2)

This article seems to contradict itself about halfway through. Primarily, it is saying you should worry about performance, and to not worry about it would be "lazy". Then in the middle it says the "wrong kind of programmer" writes "obscure code" for performance reasons. Afterward he continues to stress that imperative run issues such as linear searches and refetches are not performance issues!!

This is a very strange statement, especially considering the fact that the entire database industry has spent the past 40 years trying to perfect imperative search procedures to reduce search times. This IS a performance issue. Furthermore, stating that the VM makes refetch times "away to nothing", does not make it true that the this newly optimized refetch is any faster than C++-native optimization for refetches. The fact is that C++ affords you a multi-level programming paradigm from which to write powerful programs that communicate intimately with machine architecture. While at the same time affording a "lazy" programmer the ability to write an entirely insular OOP making use of all the features that an object-oriented language such as Java or the experimental Smalltalk has(d) to offer.

I find Java to be an extremely well thought-out and well-laid out programming language. In fact, its object model is clearly a superior demonstration of the capabilities of the object-oriented paradigm. Then there is the wonderful feature of portability, and let's not forget all those babysitting-features like buffer-overrun catches. However, it remains true that while Java is an interesting and novel exercise in the field of object-oriented design, its performance on a single machine is seriously compromised when compared to native-compiles. Saying that since Java forces you to structure your program a certain way, it makes you a better programmer is not a very strong assertion. In several fields, optimizing performance is the primary issue, producing a "correct", bug-free algorithm is not often relevant or even possible (e.g. Operating Systems). It is to this end that I say that while Java affords one to be more idealistic in programming, C++ is still the dominant solution-provider affording programmers enough flexibility and functionality to make use of the cutting-edge hardware which is wasted by Java's sluggishness. The C++ programmer, is right baby.