2026-05-19 / short
Sutter's BeCPP keynote: C++ added more developers in 4 years than any other language Herb Sutter's keynote at the BeCPP Symposium 2026 (March 30, Howest, Belgium) opened with a SlashData chart almost nobody outside the room has seen yet: C++ developer population grew 72% from Q1 2022 to Q1 2025 -- from 9.5M to 16.3M. That is the biggest absolute net gain of any general-purpose language over the period. Rust grew faster in percentage (137%) but on a smaller base (5.1M total). Here is the chart, the numbers behind it, and the thesis Sutter built on top -- plus an honest read on what 'fastest growing' means when JavaScript is still bigger than the second + third place combined.
#news #cpp #growth #slashdata 