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by dcminter·8mo ago·view on hn ↗
I'd be very surprised if the C/C++ code being written today was comparable in volume to the collective pile of JavaScript, Java, C#, Go, Python, and PHP.

Contrast to the heyday of C and C++ when not much else got a look in (Pascal perhaps? Perl probably...)

I think it's fair.

3 comments
Yes, surely much more code is being written in other languages than in C, but probably more C is being written now than ever before, too.
Sure, but I think that "back in the day your compiler would ..." is a reasonable characterisation.

Back in the day, yes, your compiler almost certainly would do that. Now, your compiler might possibly do that. For most working stiffs it won't though.

Ok, my side of the shed's painted now :D

I agree.
hmm how can I reuse this useful Go library in python... Oh I can't.. hmm and how can I reuse this useful java library in php ? Oh I can't. Oh and which of the programming languages you mentioned can and do use C libraries? All of them.

Reminds me of that coworker who thought that OpenCV was basically written in python.

I'm not claiming that there is no C or C++ out there. But it's such a nit pick when for most developers, no, their day-to-day work absolutely does not involve the creation of object files.

Sure, akshuwally, there are still C and C++ devs out there. Meanwhile a friend has just embarked upon a career as a pro COBOL developer. What of it?

Edit: Also, in the spirit of akshewally, I have just googled up this monster! My word, PHP and Java AND XML... it's like the unholy trinity of HackerNewsbane... https://php-java-bridge.sourceforge.net/pjb/

Looks genuinely useful. Bookmarking.
NativeAOT compiled C# library can create C compatible exports which can be used with any language that supports C libraries.
C++ is still wildly popular and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Your JavaScript interpreter/JIT compiler is written in it, so is your Java JVM, and I don't need to mention CPython in more detail.

Those all get compiled into object files and then linked.

But not by most devs. Back in the day it was true for most devs.