Third public review of X3J11 C (a scientist speaks up)

[Henry Spencer]

In article <899 at l.cc.purdue.edu> cik at l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>> >Sounds like somebody wants an extensible C.
>> 
>> It's been done, it works well, and it's readily available:  C++.
>
>There are gross weaknesses in C++...

I didn't say it was perfect, I said it worked well.  There is a difference.
Nobody expects a language to keep everybody happy.  (Personally I doubt
that any language would keep Herman Rubin happy.)  C++ is a fairly well-done
and highly usable extensible C.

>It does not allow the introduction of new operators, for example.

There is room for debate about whether dynamic alteration of language
syntax is a good idea.  C++ does provide for new operators, provided that
you are willing to use function-call syntax for them.  Call syntax is
admittedly clumsy for anything complicated, but user-defined syntax is
a real minefield for both users and implementors.

>It does not address the problem of multiword
>hardware types, using machine dependencies where they can profitably be
>used (see the discussion about short x short -> long)...

You mean, the current *implementations* do not provide for this.  There
is no reason why the implementation of a C++ type can't use hardware-
specific extensions when they exist.  The client interface can remain
machine-independent, as it generally should be.
-- 
Intel CPUs are not defective,  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
they just act that way.        | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry at zoo.toronto.edu