3 ms·

You're right, g++ was there by the end of the first year but as far as I can tell libstdc++ didn't show up until around 1998. I don't know when GCC started supp

You're right, g++ was there by the end of the first year but as far as I can tell libstdc++ didn't show up until around 1998. I don't know when GCC started supporting Objective-C (another commenter says maybe by 1992) but GNUStep didn't 1.0 until 1998 (it was fairly incomplete before that.) But yes, you're right, they could have developed Glib in either of those languages even if STL and *step didn't exist yet. I also found this e-mail[1] from Stallman that supports your claim. Do you know of more documentation? I'm interested in this history. 1. http://harmful.cat-v.org/software/c++/rms http://harmful.cat-v.org/software/c++/rms

pjmlp 5y ago
The main reason why Gtk and GNOME exist was Qt's license and yes C above all. Here is one of the original versions of the GNU Coding Standards from 1994, https://www.schwedler.com/old/HTML/standards_7.html#SEC12 https://www.schwedler.com/old/HTML/standards_7.html#SEC12 > Using a language other than C is like using a non-standard feature: it will cause trouble for users. Even if GCC supports the other language, users may find it inconvenient to have to install the compiler for that other language in order to build your program. So please write in C.
qalmakka 5y ago
I found an archived copy of the GNU guidelines from 2004 that well represents what was the GNU policy of the time: https://web.archive.org/web/20041029162424/https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Source-Language.html https://web.archive.org/web/20041029162424/https://www.gnu.o... As you can see, it basically consisted in "use C, unless you _really_ have too". It was also well known that C++ was heavily discouraged by Richard Stallman, so picking it could well end up in your project having a hard time being adopted by GNU. The guidelines were relaxed afterwards, especially since GCC came to rely on C++ and every relevant C compiler was then written in C++, making the whole "we don't want to force people to install g++" even more nonsensical. In 2004 C++ was already way too ubiquitous to not have g++ installed.

pjmlp 5y ago

The main reason why Gtk and GNOME exist was Qt's license and yes C above all. Here is one of the original versions of the GNU Coding Standards from 1994, https://www.schwedler.com/old/HTML/standards_7.html#SEC12 https://www.schwedler.com/old/HTML/standards_7.html#SEC12 > Using a language other than C is like using a non-standard feature: it will cause trouble for users. Even if GCC supports the other language, users may find it inconvenient to have to install the compiler for that other language in order to build your program. So please write in C.

qalmakka 5y ago

I found an archived copy of the GNU guidelines from 2004 that well represents what was the GNU policy of the time: https://web.archive.org/web/20041029162424/https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Source-Language.html https://web.archive.org/web/20041029162424/https://www.gnu.o... As you can see, it basically consisted in "use C, unless you _really_ have too". It was also well known that C++ was heavily discouraged by Richard Stallman, so picking it could well end up in your project having a hard time being adopted by GNU. The guidelines were relaxed afterwards, especially since GCC came to rely on C++ and every relevant C compiler was then written in C++, making the whole "we don't want to force people to install g++" even more nonsensical. In 2004 C++ was already way too ubiquitous to not have g++ installed.