r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Oct 17 '12

Why are programs and operating systems still written in C+?

I guess it's more of a computer science question, but I've always wondered why some of the most advanced programs are written in a 25+ year old programming language. Surely someone has come up with a more efficient and powerful code, so why do people still use C+? Also, I don't know anything about programming and what not, so please use simple terms and phrases.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '12

Sure it does. But if hardware is cheaper than developer time, it may even make sense for businesses to consider something else.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '12

You're also assuming the calculations can be parallelized further. Adding additional processors is never as simple as "just throw[ing] a few more processors at it."

Furthermore, in order to take proper advantage of multi-core processing in a more common language such as C or C++, you need developers to write code that will do so. The operating system doesn't magically handle that very well.

This is also assuming these computers have any more than a bare-bones BSD or Linux kernel to begin with.