Software Engineering Daily Carbon and Modernizing C++ with Chandler Carruth
Aug 14, 2025
Chandler Carruth, creator of Carbon and leader of Google's C++ and LLVM teams, dives into the future of programming languages. He discusses Carbon's modern safety features while maintaining C++ interoperability, tackling challenges like slow compilation and memory safety. Chandler highlights the transition from C++ templates to Carbon generics and explores the complexities of migrating legacy code. He also touches on the governance of open source projects and how community involvement shapes the development of Carbon.
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Frustration Sparked Carbon's Creation
- Chandler Carruth describes being held back by C++ early in his career and diving into compilers and language design as a result.
- That experience led him to start Carbon to address C++'s fundamental problems while preserving existing codebases.
Why Interop Beats Rewriting
- Carbon targets code deeply embedded in C++ where message-passing boundaries are impractical.
- The goal is to modernize such code without forcing large rewrites or losing performance.
Beyond Superset Interop Model
- Carbon leverages existing compiler builds to enable a more advanced interoperability model than a simple superset.
- This model lets new code live in a cleaner language while retaining deep compatibility with C++.
