Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Torvalds criticizes C++ as a language made worse by the quality of its users, suggesting it enables poor code generation.
In plain terms
He thinks C++ is bad and gets worse because bad programmers use it.
What can you take from it?
Language design affects code quality significantly.

Where it applies

  • choosing a language
  • critiquing syntax

Putting it to work

  • evaluate tools carefully
  • consider community skill levels

Questions to consider

  • Do tools define user quality?
  • How does syntax affect safety?

Another view

It places blame on users rather than addressing the language complexity.

More from Linus Torvalds

  1. You try to claim that the GPLv3 causes 'More developers', and that, my idiotic penpal, is just crazy talk that you made up.

    Permalink to quote #58
  2. C++ is in that inconvenient spot where it doesn't help make things simple enough to be truly usable for prototyping or simple GUI programming, and yet isn't th…

    Permalink to quote #60
  3. So the whole 'We have a list and we're not telling you' should tell you something. Don't you think that if Microsoft actually had some really foolproof patent,…

    Permalink to quote #57

Related quotes

  1. That's the thing about people who think they hate computers ... What they really hate are lousy programmers.

    Larry NivenLarry Niven quote #2
  2. A programming language is for thinking of programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of.

    Paul GrahamPaul Graham quote #10
  3. Programs today get very fat; the enhancements tend to slow the programs down because people put in special checks. When they want to add some feature, they'll …

    Bill GatesBill Gates quote #43