1986, I was 9. We had an optional course in the 4th grade, programming on a Commodore 64. At the age of 12 I became an C128D which I used to write a paint programm. With 14 I bought my own paint programm at the supermarket published on a disk magazine. That was a great experience. :-)

C++ is still the bright star but the sky is full of stars. Programming is expensive, so you can do java stuff if you don't want to pay for well educated programmers. You can make a compromise with c#, which is better than java and quite innovative compared to other languages. But C++ is catching up, the current version contains a lot of interesting stuff, including the all good stuff C Sharp never had. Interpreting languages are quite common. Python or Ruby. PHP is used for a lot of small and/or buggy projects, because it's as easy to have success with one line of code as it is to get a two bug with two lines of code. There is some attention at functional programming like Haskell or Scala. Forget about anything you heard about basic, noone want's basic anymore. I would say, C++ is still top of the range, but C#/Java are more common for business stuff, like handling data bases stuff etc. The syntax of Java/C# is cleaner, at least at the windows environment, where C++ sometimes looks quite ugly. For portable software I do not see any real advantages of these languages. If you like to update your skills, teach yourself in C++11. If you're good with C++, everything else is just triviality - the rest are just programming tools with a specialization in the one or other matter. ;-) I am a c++ developer (officially I am C#-Developer, but I didn't write a c# line since two years or so), I was a java developer before. Currently I teach myself Scala just to know it and to keep track of this topic. For private projects I use C++ and a self developed programming language which currently just generates c++ codes.

I know one which is C++. I am using it since 1994 and I am still discovering new potentialities. I was recruited as a C#/C++ (this order) developer, but I haven't written C# about at least one year. Additionally I wrote code in several basics, assembler on several plattforms, Bash, Delphi, Fortran, I was a Java-developer, JavaScript, a Lisp-like-language, Pascal, Prolog, Python, Perl, PHP, SQL. I had a look at Haskell, Lisp, Ruby, Matlab, Labview and other languages which were proclaimed as the future. Today I prefer C++ for almost everything. I rewrite a big php website with C++. That's not because of C++ is the best thinkable language - it's just because I don't know something else which is at least half that good.

I still do programming for fun and there is a very simple reason: I cannot develop the things I would like to in my job. They just don't pay me for all my interests. Of course I have chosen a job which challenges me, I really like it. And I choose this job because wanted to create 3d worlds and make them visible. But here I have to accept compromises with my colleagues, I cannot find out how to do things better, I just have to make them run. I am developing a different way of programming - at home. This is very existing and keeps me busy for 10 years now. It's fun. And it's hard to find time for that. I also have a website about programming containing a wiki with tutorials and a bulletin board for a small community. So I stay in contact with younger developers who are inspiring me. They code for fun which also spreads to me. I am developing a content mangement system for that in C++ and also a search engine crawling my cms and also the web for me. That's quite exiting. I started to develop software at 1986. I once started to write a game. A graphical adventure like Maniac Manson. The music plays, the character moves accross several rooms. We were close to create a graphic adventure. That was the moment it becomes boring. It was no challenge anymore. Do you still have a challenge?

I am a computer scientist. I do programming for 25 years now, so I saw a lot of code. I know that working computer programs save a lot of lives i.e. in airbags or emergency assistants. I accept programs which take over control in a moment when a human cannot react anymore. In this case the assistant is an additional chance. But I do not trust computer programs, so I prefer systems that cannot arrive in situations of uncontrollable risks.

That was the first bug I thought of. Fortunately until now no nuclear power plant was destroyed by a software bug. I could imagine that this would seriously beat the record.

gggustafson wrote:

To those of you who program for a living, look around. How many programmers do you see who are older than 30? Older than 35? Older than 40?

I am 34 and now I have 25 years of programming experience. (I started at the age of 9 in primary school). They call me "youngster"... because I am the youngest developer in this company. We have all shades of gray from dark grey to white, whatever you like.

> Mostly because of how pointers and references work, and also function definition seems very different. I am a C++ and C# Developer now. And I was a java developer before. For me it's really frustrating to work with C#, because I do not have the choice between pointers and references or embedded objects. I only have pointers. Or structs which cannot have a constructor. That's miserable! I do not have any const correctness. I do not have multiple inheritance. C# or Java is a jail for me. I am not allowed to think about a software which contains a little thought which is behind heresy for the language designers. I read a statement of a c#-designer why const-correctness is useless: It's not safe, because you can fool it with const_cast. That is absolutely true. But why do you lock the door to your house? Because smashing the door a very conscious decision. Everybody can see that something wrong is going on here. You can distinguish between open and broken doors. You can search for them, just enter CTRL-F and type "const_cast" and you are going to find the bad guys. The C# design is to give up the lock so that everybody can enter the house - even by mistake. Imagine you had one drink to much last night and you enter the wrong house. It's no problem, the door is open. You decide to move all objects. In the morning you notice it's not your place and the owner doesn't like the changes. Now you have a problem. Imagine leave the house and do not remember anymore. A few weeks later your neighbor comes back in his house, everything has changed so he decides to run amok. Congratulations - you're his first victim. With const-correctness you had to smash the door first. Even if you drunk like hell, if the key doesn't match you have to do an additional decision. You have to think about it. With C# you just enter without any traces you can CTRL-F for. Is that the progress of a modern programming language? To the gui with the string class problem: With C++ I have my a string class which more powerful than std::string or the string class of c# or java. I am definitely not missing string classes of other languages. I am missing a good string class in C# or Java. I am working with C++ every day. Of course I have a toolbox for my every day work. If don't have and you're unable to continue if you do not find a tool in your .NET framework, get a another job. Back to the frustrated: Open your mind to new possibilities to formulate your algorithms. Use the differences between pointers and references to write more relia