Marilyn Manson is Apparently a Disgruntled C++ Coder


Clearly, he had C++ in mind when he wrote this song. I mean, really:

"No reflection. No reflection. I've got no reflection."

What else could he have meant? C++ is known for lacking many modern features: modules, closures, reference types, fast compilation, etc. Manson, of course, is zeroing in on reflection here.

Other lyrics in the song allude more generally to C++'s pitfalls and the frustration and agony of using it, particularly without the help of static analysis tools like Coverity:

"You don't even want to know what I'm gonna do to you."

"Show myself how to make a noose
A gun's cliche, and a razor too
I'm not a deathshare vacation, vacant station
Made of scars and filled with my old wounds."

"This'll hurt you worse than me.
I'm weak, seven days a week."

That last line is particularly interesting. Scholars will no doubt debate for centuries whether Manson was referring to C++'s type system (in particular the aspects inherited from C), or making a general statement about the quality of the language's overall design. Personally, I suspect the answer is "both", given Manson's penchant for double meanings: "You're a little pistol and I'm fucking pistol whipped" ("Pistol Whipped"), "I've got an 'F' and a 'C', and I got a 'K', too. And the only thing that's missing is a bitch like 'U'." ("(s)AINT").

The song's video alludes to C++ as well. As any refugee from C++ to modern languages is likely to have noticed, C++ is stuck in the 70's. But instead of demonstrating this with the straightforward choice of leisure suits, Manson exaggerates the anachronism by using what appears to be closer to the 1770's, rather than the 1970's as one would expect.

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