Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-central.gen.new_zealand> writes: > So how was C++ able to get popular in the first place? And how was > Java able to grab some share from it?
C++ made improvements over C that were necessary and welcome for controlling the complexity of large programs, while remaining mostly upward compatible with C. Java abandoned C compatibility and added memory safety and GC. That got rid of legacy-related pain and improved program reliability and eased debugging considerably, at some cost in performance. Java was also on the OO bandwagon of the 1990's, which translated into good marketing back then, but is part of the cause of the massive bureaucracy and bloat in the Java runtime environment. C++ seems to have made something of a comeback because of this, and Java now has generics patterned after C++'s. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
