Dear Dr. Stroustrup,
I am a software engineer early in my career (about three years in) from California, mostly working in systems programming (currently the aerospace and defense domains). Several years ago (then in college), a friend of mine emailed you critiquing an academic textbook of yours, saying it was difficult to get started. Instead, I wanted to express my gratitude on your starting the C++ language and not compromising for simplicity.
I hope to learn the language much more in-depth, although in my professional life I have had more limited opportunities than I would like. Some friends of mine have, however, been blown away (in a good way) with the improvements that generic and meta-programming have introduced.
I know you must be a busy man, but if I could ask only two questions, they would be:
All the best
Dear Dr. Stroustrup,
I am a software engineer early in my career (about three years in) from California, mostly working in systems programming (currently the aerospace and defense domains). Several years ago (then in college), a friend of mine emailed you critiquing an academic textbook of yours, saying it was difficult to get started.
It can (of course) be hard to get started depending on your background and what material you start out with.
Instead, I wanted to express my gratitude on your starting the C++ language and not compromising for simplicity.
Thanks.
I hope to learn the language much more in-depth, although in my professional life I have had more limited opportunities than I would like. Some friends of mine have, however, been blown away (in a good way) with the improvements that generic and meta-programming have introduced.
I have been working on simplifying compile-time programming; much of that work was/is with Gabriel Dos Reis.
I know you must be a busy man, but if I could ask only two questions, they would be:
- What would you recommend for a professional engineer/scientist to seek to accomplish?
There can't be a general and useful answer to that. "Do something good" is obvious and useless as a practical advice. I guess what I do is to look for problems that needs solving and then work on them - sometimes for decades - but without fanaticism. Doing something significant take time so you need a balanced life while doing it - time with family and sufficient income not to get miserable. What problems are worth solving and what problems a person can make progress on are very personal choices and depends on specific interests and skills.
- What do you think of the Rust programming language (has anyone asked your opinion)? I am thinking of looking into it myself.
I have not looked much at it lately. The hype is deafening.
Best of luck!