Subject: "Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI"

"Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers
keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI" by Herb Sutter

https://herbsutter.com/2025/12/30/software-taketh-away-faster-than-hardware-giveth-why-c-programmers-keep-growing-fast-despite-competition-safety-and-ai/

"Before we dive into the data below, let?s put the most important
question up front: Why have C++ and Rust been the fastest-growing major programming languages from 2022 to 2025?"

"Primarily, it?s because throughout the history of computing ?software
taketh away faster than hardware giveth.? Our demand for solving
ever-larger computing problems consistently outstrips our ability to
build greater computing capacity, with no end in sight. Every few years, people wonder whether our hardware is just too fast to be useful, until
the future?s next big software demand breaks across the industry in a
huge wake-up moment of the kind that iOS delivered in 2007 and ChatGPT delivered in November 2022. AI is only the latest source of demand to
squeeze the most performance out of available hardware."

The world?s two biggest computing constraints in 2025"

"Quick quiz: What are the two biggest constraints on computing growth in
2025? What?s in shortest supply?"

"Take a moment to answer that yourself it before reading on?"

? ? ?

"If you answered exactly ?power and chips,? you?re right ? and in the
right order."

This is why I want to convert my calculation engine from Fortran to C++.
C++ has won the war for programmers.

Lynn


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Subject: Re: "Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI"

W dniu 31.12.2025 oÿ02:37, Lynn McGuire pisze:

This is why I want to convert my calculation engine from Fortran to C++.
ÿC++ has won the war for programmers.

But: What is wrong with Fortran?!?
And: Is it not possible to make bridge/facade which allow to access
Fortran lib from C++?

For me bridge/facade pattern is right development way. Not rewrite.
Do you remember what was happened to Netscape when they decide rewrite
they browser again and again? First time they have "revolutionary idea"
to rewrite browser in Java. But it was slow as expected by normal
coders. Then they decide to rewrite they browser again, but when they
were almost finished, they must call bankruptcy (and then Mozilla appear). Funny or not many of USONA deciders are very keen to rewrite entire
systems in C++. One of recent example I recall in my art. under title
"Answer to the Appeal of the Creator of the C++ Language Bjarne
Stroustrup" in the chapter 8 Summary. I published it fortnight ago on
the comp.lang.c++ . And it is still available under URL:

<https://energokod.gda.pl/monografie/Answer%20to%20the%20Appeal%20of%20the%20Creator%20of%20the%20C++%20Language%20Bjarne%20Stroustrup.pdf>

It is available for all for free (as free beer).
BTW: There are is also Polish version of this article (also for free):

<https://energokod.gda.pl/monografie/Odp.%20Na%20Apel%20Tw%C3%B3rcy%20j.%20C++%20Bjarne%20Stroustrup.pdf>

--
Have a nice day!
Jacek Marcin Jaworski, Pruszcz Gd., woj. Pomorskie, Polska??, EU??;
tel.: +48-609-170-742, najlepiej w godz.: 5:15-5:55 lub 17:15-17:55; <jmj@energokod.gda.pl>, gpg: 4A541AA7A6E872318B85D7F6A651CC39244B0BFA;
Domowa s. WWW: <https://energokod.gda.pl>;
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Mailowa Samoobrona: <https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/pl>.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Subject: Re: "Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI"

On Tue, 30 Dec 2025 19:37:07 -0600
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

The world?s two biggest computing constraints in 2025"

"Quick quiz: What are the two biggest constraints on computing growth
in 2025? What?s in shortest supply?"

"Take a moment to answer that yourself it before reading on?"

? ? ?

"If you answered exactly ?power and chips,? you?r

e right ? and in the

right order."

This is why I want to convert my calculation engine from Fortran to
C++. C++ has won the war for programmers.

Lynn

That does not follow.
You are converting from one fast compiled language to another fast
compiled language. That is not going to make your program more
power-efficient or more silicon-area-efficient.
If anything, out of the box Fortran is more optimizible than C++.
In order to gain near-parity with Fortran one has to use non-standard
dialects of C++, like 'g++ -ffast-math'.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Subject: Re: "Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI"

On 12/31/2025 7:40 AM, Michael S wrote:

On Tue, 30 Dec 2025 19:37:07 -0600
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

The world?s two biggest computing constraints in 2025"

"Quick quiz: What are the two biggest constraints on computing growth
in 2025? What?s in shortest supply?"

"Take a moment to answer that yourself it before reading on?"

? ? ?

"If you answered exactly ?power and chips,? you?re right ? and in the
right order."

This is why I want to convert my calculation engine from Fortran to
C++. C++ has won the war for programmers.

Lynn

That does not follow.
You are converting from one fast compiled language to another fast
compiled language. That is not going to make your program more power-efficient or more silicon-area-efficient.
If anything, out of the box Fortran is more optimizible than C++.
In order to gain near-parity with Fortran one has to use non-standard dialects of C++, like 'g++ -ffast-math'.

Whoa, a Fortran fanboi in the C++ group.

My calculation engine is 800,000 lines of F77 code and 50,000 lines of
C++ code. My goals are to get to a uniform software language and 64
bit. I have converted about 100,000 lines of F77 code to C++ so far
using a highly customized version of F2C. I have been working on this software since 1975 so I know a little about it.

BTW, moving F77 code to F90 and above is non trivial. Especially
Fortran code that started with Fortran II compilers around 1964 or so. Especially Fortran code that uses many Fortran extensions and dynamic
memory allocation since 1978.

BTW2, my Windows user interface is 600,000 lines of C++ code. Back in
the 1980s and 1990s, it was a 16 bit mixture of C and Smalltalk. My
staff and I converted it to 32 bit C++ in 2001 - 2003. My customers
loved the new speed and the size of the flowsheets that they could work
with.

Lynn


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Subject: Re: "Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI"

On Tue, 2025-12-30 at 19:37 -0600, Lynn McGuire wrote:

"Software taketh away faster than hardware giveth: Why C++ programmers

keep growing fast despite competition, safety, and AI" by Herb Sutter
ÿ
https://herbsutter.com/2025/12/30/software-taketh-away-faster-than-hardwa

re-giveth-why-c-programmers-keep-growing-fast-despite-competition-safety-an d-ai/

"Before we dive into the data below, let?s put the most important

question up front: Why have C++ and Rust been the fastest-growing major

programming languages from 2022 to 2025?"

"Primarily, it?s because throughout the history of computing ?

??software

taketh away faster than hardware giveth.? Our demand for solving

ever-larger computing problems consistently outstrips our ability to
build greater computing capacity, with no end in sight. Every few years,

people wonder whether our hardware is just too fast to be useful, until

the future?s next big software demand breaks across the industry

in a

huge wake-up moment of the kind that iOS delivered in 2007 and ChatGPT

delivered in November 2022. AI is only the latest source of demand to squeeze the most performance out of available hardware."

The world?s two biggest computing constraints in 2025"

"Quick quiz: What are the two biggest constraints on computing growth in

2025? What?s in shortest supply?"

"Take a moment to answer that yourself it before reading on?"

? ? ?

C++ is a very multi-paradim programming language which supports self-cheati
ng.
I.e. users can easily write programs full of professional-looking codes whi
ch
complete nothing but syntax conversion of users' unclear/illogic ideas, whi
ch
is part of the nature of C++'s expressiveness. And, it is illusion that C++

program is fast and small.

But, in general, C++ is a good language. Using C++ or any other language

'professionally' takes time to achieve, not merely 'mimicing'.

"If you answered exactly ?power and chips,? you?r

e right ? and in the

right order."

This is why I want to convert my calculation engine from Fortran to C++.

ÿ C++ has won the war for programmers.

Not a valid reason to rewirte (out of superstition?).



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)