bs@alice.att.com (Bjarne Stroustrup) writes:
>jln2@cec2.wustl.edu (Sammy D. @ Opinions expressed are not necessarily my own!) writes
> > jemenake@trumpet.aix.calpoly.edu (Joe Emenaker) writes:
> > The future, I think, isn't with C++, it is with GUI integrated 4th
> > generation interpreters, like Hypercard, Visual Basic, etc.

       Actually, what seems to be happening is a 3-way split.

       Application programs written where they are used (that is, not
commercial products) are coming to be
either written with some 4GL system or an expensive GUI builder.
There's been a vast proliferation of such tools, and the trend is toward
a totally visual environment.  Some of these tools generate C++, but
the user does not write large volumes of C++ manually.  At least a dozen
such systems were shown at ObjectWorld Expo.  Prices seem to start around
$5000 and can go much higher.

       Operating systems and system software still tend to be written
in C.  Even newer OSs, such as Windows NT, NextStep, and PenPoint, are
C-oriented, not C++ oriented.  For each, C++ was considered and rejected.
This despite the fact that each system claims to be "object-oriented".
There's a good discussion of why PenPoint took the route it did in
"The Power of PenPoint".  Admittedly, all these projects had to make
their decision two generations back in C++ history.  But even today, you
can't buy many C++ compilers that will consistently compile the complete
language described in the ARM.

       Dynamic languages are gaining in popularity.  Smalltalk is now
being used for business applications.  There's pressure to make C++ into
a dynamic language (C+@ being an example).  There's a performance penalty
for dynamic languages (enthusiasts deny this) but the elimination of
memory-related errors is often worth it.  The recent
interest in "scripting" is part of this phenomenon.

       Those seem to be the three main directions the industry is moving.
C++ is making big inroads on "traditional programming", but "traditional
programming" is on the way out.  See "The Decline and Fall of the American
Programmer", by Yourdon.

     John Nagle