Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:16015 comp.lang.c:10498 comp.lang.c++:1201
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!mtunx!ulysses!hector!jss
From: jss@hector.UUCP (Jerry Schwarz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Zortech C++
Message-ID: <10338@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>
Date: 30 May 88 16:14:03 GMT
References: <8805261601.AA22106@decwrl.dec.com> <10333@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> <100@dcs.UUCP>
Sender: netnews@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com
Reply-To: jss@hector (Jerry Schwarz)
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 44

In article <100@dcs.UUCP> wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) writes:
>In article <10333@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> jss@hector (Jerry Schwarz) writes:
>>In article <8805261601.AA22106@decwrl.dec.com> nadkarni@erlang.dec.com.UUCP writes:
>>>Announcing a C++ compiler from Zortech Inc. (617-646-6703). 
>>>List price (the best part) - $99, Fully conformant with Bjarne Stroustrup's
>>				   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>definition, ANSI C superset, true compiler (not just a preprocessor), includes
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>This is, of course, impossible since C++ as defined by Bjarne is not
>>an ANSI C superset, and cannot easily be made into a superset.
>>This has been discussed in comp.lang.c++ many times in the past, 
>>and probably will be again.  Briefly, the important problems are 
>>the separate namespace of tags and variables in ANSI and the
>>interpretation of a function declaration with an empty parameter list.
>
>Yes, but couldn't the compiler support options or flags which determine
>its behaviour? Couldn't there be two code generators part of the same
>package, two sets of libraries, etc., all driven by the same control
>program (cc, or in this case, ztc)?
>

If so I misread the original sentence. (But see below)  I took it to
mean that Zortech believed it had a language that was both C++ and
ANSI compatible. This is a very attractive idea and people who have
not looked at the technical issues often assume that it is easy to
achive.

The point is not whether you tell the compiler that it has a C or C++
program by the command name, by switches, by filename (or extensions)
or in some other fashion.  The point is that there are
incompatibilities and hence the compiler has to know if it is
compiling C or C++.

>BTW, I really **LOVE** postings which say that "OF COURSE, what someone
>else just said is wrong".

The point of the "of course" was that I thought the original poster
was copying from some Zortech literature rather than making comments
on the product, and that some readers (e.g. those who follow
net.lang.c) would understand the situation immediately  while others
(C programmers with just a casual interest in C++) might be mislead.

Jerry Schwarz
Bell Labs, Murray Hill