If you’re reading this blog, it can be taken for granted that you think C++ is a commercially important programming language.  Today I came across Vincent Lextrait’s Programming Language Beacon, which summarizes the primary programming language used in nearly 100 major software products or utilities. I was not surprised that C++ was well-represented;  I was astonished at how well-represented it was!

Being an “anybody can publish anything on the Internet, so who knows if it’s true?” kind of guy, I did some cursory Googling for comments to the effect that Vincent Lextrait has no idea what he’s talking about.  I found none.  So I pinged Andrei and Herb to see if they knew about this table or could offer comments on its accuracy.  They had not seen it, either, but when they reviewed the data in the table, they found it accurate for all the products they were familiar with.

We believe that the table is legitimate, and if you have not seen it, we encourage you to take a look.  As I said, as a reader of this blog, you’re already a C++ believer, but this table may make you an even bigger believer, and it may also help you explain to others at least part of the reason why you are. Personally, my favorite part is where the table shows that Java’s JVM and .NET’s CLR are both written in C++, but that’s far from the only area where C++ trumps the competition.

At C++ and Beyond in August, Andrei and Herb and I will do our best to equip you with information that will  help you add to C++’s lead on a list that it already dominates.

Scott

PS - If you’re interested in other lists that demonstrate C++’s widespread commercial utilization, take a look at Bjarne’s C++ Applications page.