Re:Master C++ Programming with Open-Source Books
by btschaegg on Thursday February 16, 2017 @04:48PM
(#13663833)
On one hand, I'd agree with you on that; I think we all know the urge to "modernize all the things!", whenever a language implements something new and shiny. And there's definitely much merit to resist that urge to some degree. However, it also is rarely really necessary to do this all in one go; one can also polish things up with strategies like the boyscout rule. And if there is no test for a piece of code - maybe leave it until you have corrected that.
Being conservative with new additions to your codebase seems a bit backward, though. Why not use the new, improved shiny language feature™ if you can?*
Of course, if you are prohibited by business requirements (e.g. missing modern compilers for a certain target platform) that's another story. Basically, it always comes down to practicality.
* A prime example would be the new way you can implement Singletons with C++11. Once you've used that, you realize how horrid pretty much all C++98-based attempts at this are.
Yes, I realize Singletons are often a bad idea.
Re:Master C++ Programming with Open-Source Books
by dragonwriter on Thursday February 16, 2017 @03:22PM
(#13663239)
Learning the shortfalls of new technology isn't wasted effort.
However, constantly learning and updating things has its drawbacks. One of the rare times I tried to be hip and use the latest stuff, I tried rewriting parts of a small Android app of mine using java 8 and lambda closures. I made it work, but it required upgrading my minimum build version (locking out older devices), the compiler could barely handle it (gave some strange indecipherable errors relating to lambdas), and ultimately it was just a step backward. That kind of thing really frustrates me, because it's wasted (at best, deferred) effort.