Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!uw-entropy!dataio!bright
From: bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: goodbye cpp ???
Message-ID: <1757@dataio.Data-IO.COM>
Date: 21 Nov 88 19:35:52 GMT
References: <6590072@hplsla.HP.COM>
Reply-To: bright@dataio.Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright)
Organization: Data I/O Corporation; Redmond, WA
Lines: 18

In article <6590072@hplsla.HP.COM> jima@hplsla.HP.COM (Jim Adcock) writes:
<As we head towards parameterized classes, isn't it time to
<start thinking about getting rid of cpp
<The big remaining issue I haven't seen addressed in C++
<that would be necessary to get rid of cpp is finding
<an equivalence to "#include an-import-definitions-file",
<and "an-export-definitions-file.h"
<What I AM saying is: can't we get rid of cpp?

It's true that C++ seems to obviate the necessity of function-like
macros and macros for constants. However, one of the most *MAJOR* features
of the preprocessor is the ability to conditionally compile, i.e.
#if FEATURE
#else
#endif
This is a must for anyone who builds multiple executables from one source,
or who must cope with portability problems between systems. I don't see
any reasonable way this can be incorporated into the language itself.