Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,488 members

Survey Results

Should programming languages continue to evolve indefinitely?

Survey period: 3 Jun 2019 to 10 Jun 2019

New versions of languages can be massively beneficial or merely confusing. Do you always live for the next version or is there a point where a language can be considered "done"?

OptionVotes% 
Keep the new versions coming as often as they want5912.27
Release a new version only when there is a meaningful update to the syntax18738.88
I'm not fussed either way6713.93
I'd prefer languages be as stable as possible and evolve only when absolutely necessary (bugs, new hardware support etc)16333.89
Languages need a defined "final version" and any syntax changes after that should be done in a new language.51.04



 
General"evolve" implies improvement Pin
Marc Clifton5-Jun-19 2:24
mvaMarc Clifton5-Jun-19 2:24 
GeneralRe: "evolve" implies improvement Pin
Daniel Pfeffer5-Jun-19 4:04
professionalDaniel Pfeffer5-Jun-19 4:04 
GeneralStability above all! Pin
Daniel Pfeffer5-Jun-19 1:29
professionalDaniel Pfeffer5-Jun-19 1:29 
GeneralRe: Stability above all! Pin
Mike Diack6-Jun-19 1:20
Mike Diack6-Jun-19 1:20 
Totally agree. C++ of late has been a huge victim of this IMHO (c++11, 14, 17 and now 20). Particularly if you work in a team with differing levels of experience. Within reason in the real world, you should code to the lowest common denominator, otherwise not everyone is able to maintain the software well, particularly in the real commercial world, where the luxury of time out for training, or to experiment in non-business, non-critical projects with new language features, rather than risking messing up the project.

I saw this in a project, which was stable and working well, with no apparent leaks, memory related crashes etc, using native pointers and the only smart pointers were COM smart pointers.

Then someone decided we should all move arbitrarily to smart pointers from C++11 and the introduction of them, without understanding the nuances, took time away from developing features and fixing long standing bugs, and for a time actually made the software much LESS stable, because of the subtle nuances and gotchas with smart pointers.

Newer is often not better, particularly if subtleties are not understood, and/or others are "left behind".
GeneralStability is the priority Pin
Dominic Burford4-Jun-19 5:28
professionalDominic Burford4-Jun-19 5:28 
Generalchange to make it look like people are doing something Pin
BryanFazekas4-Jun-19 2:12
BryanFazekas4-Jun-19 2:12 
PraiseRe: change to make it look like people are doing something Pin
Slow Eddie4-Jun-19 3:17
professionalSlow Eddie4-Jun-19 3:17 
GeneralEverything Needs to Finish Somewhere Pin
PeejayAdams3-Jun-19 5:45
PeejayAdams3-Jun-19 5:45 
GeneralI think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
littleGreenDude3-Jun-19 2:01
littleGreenDude3-Jun-19 2:01 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
W Balboos, GHB3-Jun-19 2:07
W Balboos, GHB3-Jun-19 2:07 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
den2k883-Jun-19 2:16
professionalden2k883-Jun-19 2:16 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
littleGreenDude3-Jun-19 3:01
littleGreenDude3-Jun-19 3:01 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
W Balboos, GHB3-Jun-19 3:16
W Balboos, GHB3-Jun-19 3:16 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
honey the codewitch3-Jun-19 17:41
mvahoney the codewitch3-Jun-19 17:41 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
TNCaver4-Jun-19 5:03
TNCaver4-Jun-19 5:03 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
honey the codewitch4-Jun-19 6:04
mvahoney the codewitch4-Jun-19 6:04 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
RugbyLeague6-Jun-19 23:39
RugbyLeague6-Jun-19 23:39 
GeneralRe: I think there should be a "ONE" option... Pin
RugbyLeague6-Jun-19 23:39
RugbyLeague6-Jun-19 23:39 
GeneralWhat Mike Barthold said Pin
den2k882-Jun-19 21:32
professionalden2k882-Jun-19 21:32 
GeneralProduction will not change easily Pin
Mike (Prof. Chuck)2-Jun-19 19:59
professionalMike (Prof. Chuck)2-Jun-19 19:59 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.