I've found this too. It's rather turned me off using C for anything; in no time at all, I always find myself doing something that would be very straightforward

I've found this too. It's rather turned me off using C for anything; in no time at all, I always find myself doing something that would be very straightforward in C++, but is a certain amount of bother in C. So (I ask myself)... what is this buying me again? What's the point? Fortunately, most C++ compilers' support for inline C code is excellent. Even gcc didn't get it wrong ;)