C++ is nowhere near as dominant in the application space as it was in the early nineties. "An awful lot" in nominal terms for sure.
> are we talking about the same embedded?
Probably not. C++'s niche is "low-level with capable hardware." Some "embedded" software does actually run on very capable hardware.
You’re rewriting history here, friend.
Hardly anyone was writing embedded C++ in the 90s. Even nowadays I bump elbows with Developers that refuse to make the move from C in embedded.
If we’re talking Desktop apps, well... yeah, Windows was the new hotness, OOP was hot ‘n fresh, and Visual C++ was a BFD. Once more languages came about, people found ones they preferred over C++ (Java was a BFD).
As to your last comment, I’m guessing you haven’t worked in the embedded space with C++ if that is your conclusion
I wasn't talking about embedded in that section, but about applications, and not just desktop.
> Once more languages came about, people found ones they preferred over C++
High-level languages were used a lot before, like VB and other RAD languages. But the belief was that they'd be too slow for many applications, like servers.
> As to your last comment, I’m guessing you haven’t worked in the embedded space with C++ if that is your conclusion
That is correct, and yet the lower the hardware capabilities and the higher the required safety, you see more C and less C++.
... and... doesn't it still work ? An awful lot of C++ applications are being written today, and that can be done at a pretty high abstraction level thanks to the type-level facilities of C++.
> . Few in the embedded space find it appealing, many of those who use C++ do (as it is certainly a cleaned-up C++, and a nice improvement in comparison), but too often not appealing enough to switch now, and some in the application space who don't know or don't remember the C++ lesson do adopt it now (sometimes out of sheer novelty) but will likely abandon it later for similar reasons C++ was largely abandoned in that space.
are we talking about the same embedded? most C shop migrate to C++. most car brands, and a lot of appliances, use Qt for their UI (C++)