this post has been making the rounds on Mastodon, for good reason. it’s nominally a post about the governance and community around C++, but (without spoiling too much) it’s written as a journey packed with cathartic sneers at a number of topics and people we’ve covered here before. as a quick preview, tell me this isn’t relatable:
This is not a feel good post, and to even call it a rant would be dismissive of the absolute unending fury I am currently living through as 8+ years of absolute fucking horseshit in the C++ space comes to fruition, and if I don’t write this all as one entire post, I’m going to physically fucking explode.
fucking masterful
an important moderator note for anyone who comes here looking to tone police in the spirit of the Tech Industry Blog Social Compact: lol
Oh, is this something about memory safety and how people twist themselves into pretzels trying to justify using C++
opens article
Unfortunately, this post has mentions of rape and sexual assault.
Oh for fuck’s sake, why is it always this
I had no idea so much of C++ and the Committee was so closely linked to the military industrial complex. Like people who design fucking murder drones just casually send their requests to them and they read them and care? And Bjarne Cplusplus, the inventor of C++, helped Lockheed Martin on the F22???
No, seriously, sorry, I cannot put myself into a hypothetical headspace where someone sending me a letter “hello, we need this feature to kill civillians better, thanks” isn’t interpreted as a prank, since if it weren’t then the only acceptable response would be to return a pipebomb to the sender.
ackshully F22 is not a civilian killing weapon, americans are very cagey about it, foreign sales are forbidden, can’t operate from aircraft carrier, has been only flown and maintained by americans. its final task would be air defense of north american airspace in ww3 scenario. the civilian killing machines would be drones like MQ9 and since we’re talking about turkey, bayraktars. that, and older multirole jets like F16 and helicopters and whatever ground attack aircraft they have. turns out things are much simpler if you’re just slinging PGMs from above, or outside MANPADS range, against people that can’t fight back otherwise. these things would be useless in normal war
i guess lots of code in f22 goes into radar, some other sensors (ir for example) and comms (link 16, communication to missiles etc), a place where i suspect c is a good choice
the F22 is the C++ of military planes and I mean that in the most derogatory way possible
y tho
it outperforms f35 in few ways, and in ways it doesn’t a couple of f35 improvements can be grafted onto it. both carry the same weapons. it’s to f35 what is f15 to f16. still it’s apex predator in air to air combat, which is precisely what it was made for
it’s also no longer made, more expensive than f35 (partially because only qurter of planned number was made) probably a bitch to maintain (tradeoff in f35 is probably maintainability for a degree of stealthiness), and runs on i960 because the last ones were built like 15 years ago
Of course, this brings up the title of this section. The C++ Alliance. Shortly after making a shitload of money from the massive rise of value in bitcoin in the late 10s, Vinnie Falco proceeded to purchase the C++ Slack under the name of this non-profit organization.
Wait a second, record scratch, stop, what on earth does “purchase the C++ Slack” mean? Since when are we trading Slacks? What’s the value of a Slack? Can I buy someone’s Slack? How many users do I have to get on my Slack before it’s worth something on the open market? What the fuck does this mean???
It’s a long read, but a good one (though not a nice one).
- learn about how all the people who actually make decisions in c++ world are complete assholes!
- liking go (the programming language) correlated with brain damage!
- in c++ world, it is ok to throw an arbitrary number of highly competent non-bros out of the window in order to keep a bro on board, even if said bro drugged and raped a minor!
- the c++ module system is like a gunshot wound to the ass!
- c++ leadership is delusional about memory safety!
- even more assholes!
Someone on mastodon (can’t remember who right now) joked that they were expecting the c++ committee to publicly support trump, in the hopes he would retract the usg memory safety requirements. I can now believe that they might have considered that, and are probably hoping he’ll come down in their favour now that he’s coming in.
I can now believe that they might have considered that, and are probably hoping he’ll come down in their favour now that he’s coming in.
I’m betting there are some juicy logs of something like this happening in the C++ Alliance Slack’s secret channel, given that its typical content allegedly consists of abuse directed towards marginalized people, coordination of harassment and misinformation on community platforms, and various other fash shit. it’s weird that a Slack so closely associated with the “professional and respectful” ISO C++ committee would host two (including the diet version, ) of what are essentially chan-style trolling channels for people who think they’re adults on an official Slack. maybe it shouldn’t be too surprising, since one committee member felt comfortable posting an extensive, unhinged COVID conspiracy rant on the WG21 mailing list — with a community like that, it’s just a matter of time before the assholes in charge go mask-off.
and for anyone who hasn’t read the article yet, the above isn’t even the worst shit you’ll learn about, it’s a fucking rollercoaster (and there are some details alluded to that you’ll only pick up on a second reading too)
Eepy Status*: about 20% of the way through. This is all I have to share so far:
Bjarne Stroustrup? More like, Blarney Should-Shut-Up.
*yes, short for epistemic status. Don’t like it? Good, mission accomplished.
Edit: Eepyness: 60% of the way through.
This is a masterclass in tea spilling. So many shots fired at fucking everything. I am in awe.
Eeps: 90%. I have found something to disagree with:
Everybody loves Puerto Rican music (please get on this, you’re missing out)
I cannot stand reggaeton, so this is a no from me.
