Today, at a software developer conference, I saw a really interesting presentation from Scott Meyers (author of the books "Effective C++", "More Effective C++", and "Effective STL" -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Meyers) regarding why he thinks C++ has been so successful all these years. Two of the main reasons he gave were that C++ is compatible with C code and libraries and the fact that C++ compilers are available for almost every platform. Also, he said that C++ standardization will start to go more quickly - Even though the new C++11 standard was just ratified a couple years ago, they're already talking about a C++14 and C++17, and they'll be introducing new features in each version.
He showed a chart showing the most popular programming languages over time, and it showed that for quite a while now, the top 3 languages have been Java, C, and C++. It has showed C++ dropping in popularity since around 2005 but is still among the top 3 (it is currently #3). Surprisingly to me, it showed C consistently high in popularity, never really dropping in popularity, and the top 3 are currently C, then Java, then C++.
So even though C++ has been dropping in popularity, it is stil among the top 3 programming languages in terms of popularity, and it seems it will probably stick around for a long time. It will be interesting to see what gets added and changed in C++ in the years ahead. Some of the new syntax in C++11 looks a little strange, but they've simplified some tasks - For instance, lambda functions, the "auto" type and the new syntax for iterating through STL containers:
for (auto item : container)
The "auto" variable type bugs me a little bit, since I like C++'s strongly-typed system and being clear on the types of the variables; however, it does make some statements easier to read, I suppose.
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