What to use C++ for?
- by futlib
I really love C++. However, I'm struggling to find good uses for it lately.
It is still the language to use if you're building huge systems with huge performance requirements. Like backend/infrastructure code at Google and Facebook, or high-end games. But I don't get to do stuff like that.
It's also a good choice for code that runs close to the hardware. I'd like to do more low-level stuff, but it isn't part of my job, and I can't think of useful private projects that would involve that.
Traditionally, C++ was also a good choice for rich client applications, but those are mostly written in C# and Obj-C lately - and aren't really that important anymore, with everything being a web app. Or a mobile app, which are mostly written in Obj-C and Java. And of course, web-based desktop and mobile apps are quite prominent, too.
At my job, I work mostly on web applications, using Java, JavaScript and Groovy. Java is a good/popular choice for non-Google-scale backends, Groovy (or Python, or Ruby or Node.js) is pretty good for the server-side of web apps and JavaScript is the only real choice for the client-side.
Even the little games I'm writing in my spare time are lately mostly written in JavaScript, so they can run in the browser.
So what would you suggest I could use C++ for?
I'm aware that this question is very similar.
However, I don't want to learn C++, I was a professional C++ programmer for years. I want to keep doing it and find good new use cases for it.
I know that I can use C++ for web apps/games. I could even compile C++ to JavaScript with Emscripten. However, it doesn't seem like a good idea. I'm looking for something C++ is really good at to stay competent in the language.
If your answer is: Just give up and forget C++, you'll probably never need it again, so be it.
