Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!cimshop!davidm From: cimshop!davidm@uunet.UU.NET (David S. Masterson) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++ Subject: Re: C++ to C translator VS C++ compiler Message-ID: Date: 18 Oct 90 17:46:21 GMT References: <16435@shlump.nac.dec.com> Sender: davidm@cimshop.UUCP Distribution: comp Organization: Consilium Inc., Mountain View, California. Lines: 57 In-reply-to: heintze@fmcsse.enet.dec.com's message of 17 Oct 90 16:10:25 GMT In article <16435@shlump.nac.dec.com> heintze@fmcsse.enet.dec.com (Siegfried Heintze) writes: At this time it appears that C++ will be our implementation language for a product that must run on several UNIX(tm) flavored platforms in a addition to VMS. We have also decided that VMS is going to be our development platform. You'll be sorry :-(. C++ does not appear to be well supported on VMS at this time. G++ might be the best for what you are suggesting, but you'll have to decide whether you can live with the Gnu Public License. Having gone through this myself, in the long run, I think you'll wish you had some of the development niceties of a good Unix platform (for instance, Sun's C++ development environment). Since all the target platforms are not clearly defined at this time, it appears wise to purchase a C++ to C translator. The hard part will be getting the standard libraries you'll use (like streams) to move to the new system. If you have the source code to the C++ system you'll be using, it shouldn't be a problem to move to a new platform that doesn't have a C++ compiler. Of course, that can be rather expensive (in money or effort or both). (1) Should we plan on using a C++ to C translator for our development on VMS? Some people are promoting this and I argue this is a bad idea because (a) The generated C code is unreadable (is this true for all C++ to C translators?). In order to get some of the link-time (and run-time) error checking that working with C++ allows, the compiler "swizzles" information into a form that might be considered difficult to read. (b) Using the VMS debugger on this criptic C code will significantly decrease our productivity. Quite true (someone around here complains of that all the time). Most of our programmers have taken to debugging their code without the VMS debugger (which is still a loss in productivity). G++ does have GDB+ for doing debugging, but I don't know if this has been ported to VMS. Therefore I promote the notion that we need to purchase (or otherwise legally aquire) a C++ compiler and a C++ to C translator. I propose we only use the C++ to C translator as a porting tool. G++ is the only C++ compiler for VMS that I know of (are there others?). Since G++ comes with full source, you don't need the C++ to C translator as you could port G++ to the new environment. VMS development of C++ code at this time can be a BEAR. :-( -- ==================================================================== David Masterson Consilium, Inc. uunet!cimshop!davidm Mtn. View, CA 94043 ==================================================================== "If someone thinks they know what I said, then I didn't say it!"