Carbon Lang… The C++ killer?

TL;DR

Google has announced a new experimental language called Carbon, designed to replace C++, with a focus on performance, memory safety, and interoperability.

Transcript

it is july 22nd 2022 and you're watching the code report the programming languages that people love to hate are disappearing quickly microsoft killed javascript with typescript apple killed objective c with swift jetbrains killed java with kotlin and now google is stepping up to the plate for the biggest challenge of all c plus plus it just announc... Read More

Key Insights

• 👨‍💻 Coding languages like JavaScript, Objective-C, and Java are being replaced by TypeScript, Swift, and Kotlin, respectively.
• 🖤 Carbon aims to fill the gap left for a replacement of C++, addressing its technical debt and lack of modern features.
• 😒 The challenge of evolving C++ lies in its widespread use, necessitating a focus on standardization rather than evolving based on modern developer needs.
• 👨‍💻 Carbon stands out with its performance matching C++, support for existing code bases, and improvements in memory safety.
• 🦺 The language supports generics, prioritizes safe memory usage, and allows different modes for balancing safety and performance.
• ❓ Carbon does not rely on mechanisms like borrow checking, reference counting, or garbage collection.
• 😒 Carbon's experimental nature means it will require more time before it is suitable for production use.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is Carbon, and how does it compare to C++?

Carbon is an experimental language developed by Google, aiming to replace C++. It matches the performance of C++ while addressing issues like technical debt and lacking modern features. It prioritizes memory safety without compromising performance or interoperability with existing C++ code.

Q: Does Carbon support existing C++ code bases?

Yes, Carbon offers bi-directional interoperability with C++. This means that developers can seamlessly use existing C++ libraries in Carbon or vice versa. Carbon is designed for easy adoption by existing C++ code bases and developers.

Q: How does Carbon improve memory safety?

Carbon introduces a modern generics system, which allows developers to pass types as parameters to classes and functions. It also tackles uninitialized variables, a common source of bugs and security vulnerabilities. Carbon prioritizes memory safety without relying on borrow checking, reference counting, or garbage collection.

Q: When can developers start using Carbon?

Currently, Carbon is an experimental language, and it will likely take multiple years before it is production-ready. Despite this, employers are already looking to hire Carbon developers, although the prerequisite is a minimum of 10 years of Carbon experience.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Microsoft killed JavaScript with TypeScript, Apple killed Objective-C with Swift, and JetBrains killed Java with Kotlin. Now, Google is taking on the challenge of replacing C++ with its new experimental language, Carbon.

• Carbon aims to match the performance of C++ with LLVM and offers interoperability with existing C++ code bases. It addresses the technical debt and difficulty in evolving C++ due to its widespread use in high-performance, low-level systems.

• Carbon supports modern features like generics, improves memory safety, and offers different modes for prioritizing memory safety while maintaining performance.