Java to C++

[potatoCode]

Hi All,
Good to see so many fruitful posts while I was away, tied up in yet another language: SAS.



I m precisely in this situation!!

I've seen similar posts like this where people who are new, or have no
prior knowledge of c++ get the c++ related job,
when there are other readily available experienced c++ developers...
it makes me sick to the stomach

[JVene]

I hope that my list of woes was reminiscent of your initial days of C++ programming. :-)

Indeed it does and highlights the point of disagreement between posts here that suggest similarities and differences between Java and C++.

I learned C++ in the last 80's, when it was brand new - and, of course, had to repeat that study like everyone else as new versions of C++ were released. It may be hard to visualize how different C++ 2.0 was from the first versions/attempts at the language (as in, there were no templates, no STL).

It is quite true that all of us had to "unlearn" what we new about C (I always hear 'unlearn' in Yoda's voice - I'm a product of the 70's).

I think the relationship C++ developers have to C is similar to your situation in many ways, and it echoes the complaint about how unhelpful it was for me to post comparisons between the languages.

I think it's a matter of degrees.

Certainly the underlying syntax of the statements are similar, though not quite as much between C and C++. Having understood loops, simple math statements, functions - these are all applicable concepts in any language transition. I can't see how it's successful to argue that the knowledge of the similarity of those base concepts common to all languages that share C's syntax (perhaps not quite reaching as far as Pascal, for example) is not helpful to a student. This was the basis of the reasoning for basing C++ on C.

Yet I must agree, as I eventually had to in the late 80's, that dropping all the bad habits from C, or in this case the inapplicable knowledge between languages, was an absolute requirement in order to avoid blocking myself from understanding the "new" language.

A similar thing happens to us as C++ evolves. We still have frameworks that depend on a common base "TObject" or some such thing - a concept from C++ that ought to be forgotten.

Originally Posted by Paul McKenzie

The same vice-versa, however an existing C++ application being maintained by a Java programmer scares me more than the other way around.

Originally Posted by sgiri1981

I m precisely in this situation!!

I've worked in "corporate America" (years ago, 'head' dude in most cases) and I've worked in production "houses" (shrink wrap software makers). I've hired and fired my own share. Everyone has to 'catch up' somehow, and I think it important to put people where they're most productive and can develop skills most useful to the company and themselves (a kind of "what I'd want for myself" from both perspectives - employer and employee).

I have to agree loudly with Paul here - someone learning Java, now working on C++ code is scary, unless there's a good "shield" around that arrangement with an expectation of growth. I'm probably hoping for too much from management to be that generous, though.

[yuenqi]

Good information! That is what the forum is about! This is Magical David's family members' forums!

I'd like to use free tools to convert Java applications to exe for windows

[Lindley]

Why on Earth would you want to do that? Assuming it's even possible, which I rather doubt.