Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!pasteur!galileo.berkeley.edu!jbuck
From: jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: What C++ implementation is best for Sparcs?
Message-ID: <11877@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 11 Mar 91 19:17:36 GMT
References: <1195@usage.csd.unsw.oz.au>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU
Reply-To: jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck)
Lines: 53

I didn't respond by mail because this misinformation may influence
other people; I've seen a number of postings implying that there
are people out there who think g++ compiles a different language
than C++.

In article <1195@usage.csd.unsw.oz.au>, mackin@vast.eecs.unsw.oz (John Mackin) writes:
|> I was wondering what would be the best C++ system to use.  I asked
|> the biggest C++ guru I could find and he said: ``Buy the one from
|> Sun, costs around $20K, includes C++-source-level debugger.
|> Don't touch g++, they've broken the language.''

Your friend the "guru" is ignorant.  He probably based his decision
on a much earlier version of g++.

Our group is effectively using g++ for a fairly sizable project.  It
is true that there are compiler bugs, especially concerning multiple
inheritance.  However, we haven't had trouble working around the
problems, and AT&T's compiler can also be made to core dump when
handed fancy multiple inheritance graphs (though far less often).

|> gcc now compiles a superset of C (but hasn't broken the language
|> as far as I know, as long as you don't use any of the superset
|> features), I queried him about this, and he insisted that g++
|> was not just a superset, that what it compiled wasn't really C++
|> at all.

Oh, rot.  Tell your friend the guru that he needs to educate himself.

|> I would like some help through this maze.  Is g++ really broken?
|> If so, please tell me specifically how.  If not, does gdb (or some
|> hypothetical gdb variant, like gdb++ if it exists) work with g++?
|> If not, is it possible to use any C++-source-level debugger with
|> g++?

gdb will work with g++ version 1.37.1.  However, g++ version 1.39
made some changes that the current gdb (v3.5) doesn't handle.  I
wish they hadn't done this; Mike Tiemann said he was pressured
into releasing 1.39 when he wasn't really ready.

You should know that

1) Michael Tiemann, author of g++, is a voting member of the ANSI
C++ standards committee;

2) He has pledged that future versions of g++ will "track" the
standard as it evolves.

All of this will take time; we'll eventually get something called
g++ version 2.0, but who knows when.

--
Joe Buck
jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu	 {uunet,ucbvax}!galileo.berkeley.edu!jbuck