I don't know what exactly the guy's point was, but I don't consider this a surprise. C++ and C# are still one of the best choices for developing standalone applications (C# when you are under Windows only and speed is not critical, C++ otherwise). If you are doing more scripting/web stuff, then you will use scripting languages for the job.
What I would like to HN guys ask is this. I saw quite a lot of critique of C++ here, but really, what is a better choice for developing commercial standalone application, where speed is critical? I mean real established language with good library and IDE support. I am just really curious to know, I personally have nothing against anyone disliking C++. ;-)
I'm one of a small handful of C++ defenders on this site, and I don't think you're going to find a serious answer to your question here (assuming that you were asking a serious question, and weren't just lighting a flamewar.)
Now, not to hold a match to the tinder or anything, but I think that part of the reason that there's such a vocal backlash against C++ is that a few generations of programmers have never been exposed to the language in school or work. Today, most college kids are being trained on some combination of Java and scripting languages, and (in an era of web apps and cheap hardware) have never had any real reason to use C++.
That said, my opinion is that deep C++ (and C) knowledge is a litmus test for a good developer. If your only development experience is in perl/python/ruby/java, you're quite likely to be missing some important skills. On the flip side, a good C++ developer will be able to quickly pick up any dynamic language or programming paradigm you give her.
I was a bit surprised by this because I would have expected there to be lesser and lesser "stand-alone applications" (desktop applications) being developed amd more web applications.
For web application development, I'd expect PHP/RoR to have a bigger footprint.
I see your point. One reason could be, that while there might be less stand-alone applications under development (just an assumption, I don't know whether it is so), nowadays lot of them are big apps required a lot of programmers (for example in the project I work on, there are several hundreds developers ;-). In the web apps world, the teams are usually slimmer.
There may well be less stand alone applications being developed, but I have a hunch that the number of developers needed in a desktop application startup is substantially higher than the number of developers needed for a web application.
If the scripting languages that are used have a 10:1 LOC advantage over Java/C/C++, then with an equal number of applications being developed, I'd assume that there would be 10x as many Java/C/C++ jobs available as Python/Ruby jobs.
I'm wondering why there aren't more IronPython/IronRuby/F#/Powershell focused startups in the Microsoft world. It would seem like a competitive advantage.
Does that indicate that a bulk of the C++ work in Seattle is related to Microsoft? Sweet Zombie Jesus, I like C++, but my hatred for COM burns brightly.
What I would like to HN guys ask is this. I saw quite a lot of critique of C++ here, but really, what is a better choice for developing commercial standalone application, where speed is critical? I mean real established language with good library and IDE support. I am just really curious to know, I personally have nothing against anyone disliking C++. ;-)