Binary programming

[ThatRobGuy]

I can remember effing and blinding, because something which would have been absolutely trivial to do in C was well high impossible in C#. As the supposed ease of use goes up, flexibility goes down.

That might be the case for some very very specific niches within programming, but for 95% of the programming world, which is business applications involving CRUD, GUI, and Business Logic, the modern day languages are easy, quick, and more than sufficient.

I work as a programmer for a telephony services company, and aside from the 2-3 times per year we actually make changes to the core dialing engine that interfaces directly with the equipment, I've almost never need direct access to the device contexts for anything and C# is always sufficient.

I think we're to the point where the more primitive languages are only needed for very specific things, but shouldn't be the first choice when it comes to your everyday business applications. (just for the interest of time). Sure, if you're writing an OS or writing device drivers, you may need to go another route, but if a customer wants you to write a CRM-like tool or order management software, the .net/Java realm works just fine.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

There would be some applications programming that would require assembler to get the job done, thinking off the top of my head something like NASA high end stuff maybe. While the tools you have mentioned such as SDK and IDE's make it more efficient to code it can also lead to development laziness and security bugs. Reusing old code etc might avoid reinventing a wheel when developing an app but how many often is that reused code audited for any flaws - my bet is never or not very often.

Can you trust 100% that API's you might use in development are without flaw?

I always maintain that C should be a coders first language as it has the elements of a high and low level approach which in my view makes for a better programmer.

As you say though, for general apps, most high level languages will suit a given purpose. A case of horses for courses but, if someone wanted to learn binary or assembler then I say go for it because without the people that care to use it, you devs would not have a very easy time of it eh!

I certainly did my fair share of C/C++ back in the day when I was learning to code, and sure, it's valuable for anyone to learn, most programming jobs today (at least the rewarding ones that allow you to develop new apps & solutions) are going to be looking for ASP, .net, Java, SQL, etc...

In more cases than not, if you take a job that's primary is C/C++, chances are that job involves supporting legacy apps that haven't been converted.

And while you're right that certain high-level things like your NASA example might require those skills, and that the new languages can make people lazy in some regards, the other end of that pendulum is that people who specialize in the older languages are often set in their ways and can be rather stubborn when it comes to learning the newer stuff.

We did a big conversion from C++ to C# on a few of our business apps about 3 years ago based on our Microsoft Rep's recommendation, and you wouldn't believe the kicking & screaming we had from a few of our "dinosaurs" (I know the term is insulting, but it's a valid description for some of the older programmers)...now, not to say that every older programmer is that way...we have guys in their 50-60's who stay current, and we have guys who are 35 who refuse to change or learn anything new.