If we count major engine releases, then only the last two major engines (id Tech 4 and 5) from id Software have been C++, the previous three were all C (id Tech 2 and 3, as well as the Doom and Wolfenstein engines).

Another factor is that the C code that comes out of id Software is just damn good. Go ahead and read the Quake 3 Arena source code: it's one of the better reads out there, as far as C is concerned. The Doom 3 source code is C++, but it's kind of weird C++ and I would be wary of learning C++ from it. Carmack has spoken about how his C style is just so much more mature than his C++ style, and this is exacerbated in these examples because Q3A is the last game in C, but Doom 3 is the first game in C++.

Yes, he's an icon in the C world.

> If we count major engine releases, then only the last two major engines (id Tech 4 and 5) from id Software have been C++, the previous three were all C (id Tech 2 and 3, as well as the Doom and Wolfenstein engines).

This is what I mean for quite a while, id Tech 4 was released in 2004!

To be honest, it was more "C with classes" style of C++.

I meant C as in "C family of languages". C++ is still closer to C than to Java. I admit mentioning him alongside Linus was misleading. Haskell is a paradigm shift.

to whom?

Mr. Carmack. Linus is famous, but not a particularly good programmer, and doesn't use C over C++ for technical reasons, but for "ability to offend people" reasons.