From C to C# to C++

It’s amazing, how much computing has evolved in just a dozen years. In 1997 I started learning C, just after I got comfortable with MC680×0 and x86 Assembly. It was natural to think about the data structures in terms of their layout and alignment in memory. It was natural to think about “what will the CPU do if I do that”. It was very natural to think of all these details, to the level of bare silicon. I remember how happy I was when my first inline assembly optimization started working. I remember spending hours with a simple debugger, watching the memory and CPU registers change after every instruction – and I remember enjoying this time a lot. Every little optimization counted, because the resources at hand were very scarce. My PC at that time was a Pentium MMX running at a whopping speed of 75MHz, with 64MB of RAM and S3 ViRGE video card. Can you imagine using one of those today? The code people used to write wasn’t even called “native”. There was no “managed” code yet. The code was just “code”. A couple of months later I started learning C++ and were using the two alternately, whenever I wanted.

Fast forward to 2003, the time of .NET Framework version 1.1. Somehow I have never seriously used Java, therefore C# and .NET Framework was my first “managed” programming environment. I loved C# for its readability and simplicity. There were no pointers and memory allocations that needed to be taken care of. There was no header file mess, everything got neatly compiled. The managed environment took a lot of burden off the programmer, but not without a cost. The programs written in managed code were really resource hungry, which wouldn’t be acceptable six years earlier. The focus was on writing code fast, instead of writing fast code. Of course it had its advantages – I learned quite a lot about real object oriented programming, software architecture, design patterns (well, I learned the names of some tricks I’ve been using, and learned a couple of new ones) and code maintainability. I think I wouldn’t be able to learn that if I were using C++. I worked on semi-enterprise level applications.

I used .NET and C# for six years. Then I decided I needed a change.

Right now I’m re-learning C++, and learning the modern approach to C++ programming (existence of which I wasn’t even aware). The first few weeks were a horror. I couldn’t live without good refactoring tools (Visual Assist X isn’t even half as good as Resharper). I’ve made total mess in my code, because I was used to not having to think about the header files. Class construction worked the opposite way I was used to. Resource leaks in my code were ubiquitous. The C++ syntax caused pain in my fingers. And a couple of weeks later, I still make newbie mistakes I wouldn’t make in C#. And again, I’m enjoying the hell out of my time in front of computer screen, solving problems that would be nonexistent in “managed” code. It’s fun, because again it feels like solving a puzzle. And again, programming till late night is a fun thing to do.

I think everyone should try something new (or old) every now and then. It’s really refreshing.

Besides, all modern games are written in “native” code for a reason…