Language choice "C/C++" ought to be split.

[Eelis]

Greetings everyone!

I'm a big fan of the site, but am befuddled by the decision to throw C and C++ together in the available language choices (under the dubious name "C/C++"). C and C++ are profoundly different programming languages, with radically different philosophies, programming styles, ways of solving problems, and user communities. Apart from the fact that it is downright ignorant [1] and disrespectful to both C and C++ users to apathically lump them together this way (one might as well lump together Java and C# users), it would also simply be interesting to see the relative user counts for the two languages.

Now, I realize the thousands of users who have been forced to select "C/C++" cannot be automatically classified as being either C users or C++ users. Ideally, then, "C/C++" should be kept for existing users, but should be replaced by separate "C" and "C++" choices in the profile edit panel. If that is not possible given the implementation of the site, the next best compromise would be to simply add "C" and "C++" choices and keep "C/C++" as well.

[1] Also see http://www.research.att.com/~bs/bs_faq.html#C-slash.

[Silex]

I agree, and I think an even better idea would be to offer a checkbox interface for the languages selection, something like this:

Code: Select all

[ ] C      [ ] Java    [x] Ruby
[x] C++    [ ] C#      [ ] Python
[x] Math   [ ] Haskell [ ] Erlang

This has two advantages, first it really reflects what languages the people are using. Most of us use several languages to solve project-euler's problems, sometimes I use Ruby, sometimes I use C++, sometimes I just use plain maths.

Then for Eelis's suggestion, it makes it simple: Just split C and C++ and leave them both ticked, then the users can untick the one they don't want.

My 0.02$,
Silex