mss+@andrew.cmu.EDU (Mark Steven Sherman) (01/26/88)
Just for the record, my message about not using GNU C++ for the Andrew Toolkit was limited to a discussion of GNU C++, not C++ in general. The reasons why we did not use another OO C were: 1) Cheap (free) & current availability -- we have little reason to believe that C++ will be available for the Weinerschintzel 4000 but we do believe it will have Unix/C. Maybe later everyone will have C++, but that is not true now; 2) Cheap development -- we did not want to pay large fees just to carry out the work with a development copy; Remember that university and industrial licenses are different, and just because it might be cheap for you doesn't mean that it is cheap for everyone. 3) Debugger support. The output of C++ is too mangled to be used with gdb and no realistic alternative is available; 4) Support for dynamic loading (& separate compilation). This requires changes to the C++ compiler/preprocessor. We are not wedded to our class preprocessor, but we also want to limit the amount of risk (new systems) we want to deal with at any given time. -Mark