4 ms·

Is this really true? Last I saw, they were adding some the of C99 features (because the C++11/14 spec actually required some of it), but not going all the way.

by dottrap 12y ago

Is this really true? Last I saw, they were adding some the of C99 features (because the C++11/14 spec actually required some of it), but not going all the way. And it was unclear if they were only focusing on the language or the standard library or both. (I'm willing to skip C99 for C11 because am sick of dancing around Visual Studio for compatibility. Clang for Visual Studio is looking really appealing to me.) Why they have the only world's C++ compiler that can't handle C baffles me. What did they screw up so badly in their implementation that every other C/C++ compiler got right?

pjmlp 12y ago
> Why they have the only world's C++ compiler that can't handle C baffles me. Why? C++ was born at AT&T, the same place C was born. Given its design to be as compatible with C as possible, it was quite natural for C compiler vendors to bundle a C++ compiler with their C compiler. There isn't any requirement in ANSI/ISO C++ that a C++ compiler vendor is obliged to support C. Microsoft's decision is not technical, but political. From their point of view, if you want to write C style code, there isn't nothing in C++ that prevents it. On the other hand, C cannot provide at the language level the mechanisms available in C++ to write safe code. Not to mention that Windows APIs are mostly COM based since the Windows XP, anyway. If you want C on Windows, or to have fun using COM or WinRT from C, there are plenty of other compilers available. Both Symbian and BeOS were C++ based OS. I for one, enjoy seeing Windows going into the same direction.
wahern 12y ago
See my post down thread. Or just read these pages http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh409293.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh409293.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2013/07/19/c99-library-support-in-visual-studio-2013.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2013/07/19/c99-librar... http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2014/06/03/visual-studio-14-ctp.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2014/06/03/visual-stu...

by dottrap 12y ago

pjmlp 12y ago

> Why they have the only world's C++ compiler that can't handle C baffles me. Why? C++ was born at AT&T, the same place C was born. Given its design to be as compatible with C as possible, it was quite natural for C compiler vendors to bundle a C++ compiler with their C compiler. There isn't any requirement in ANSI/ISO C++ that a C++ compiler vendor is obliged to support C. Microsoft's decision is not technical, but political. From their point of view, if you want to write C style code, there isn't nothing in C++ that prevents it. On the other hand, C cannot provide at the language level the mechanisms available in C++ to write safe code. Not to mention that Windows APIs are mostly COM based since the Windows XP, anyway. If you want C on Windows, or to have fun using COM or WinRT from C, there are plenty of other compilers available. Both Symbian and BeOS were C++ based OS. I for one, enjoy seeing Windows going into the same direction.

wahern 12y ago

See my post down thread. Or just read these pages http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh409293.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh409293.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2013/07/19/c99-library-support-in-visual-studio-2013.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2013/07/19/c99-librar... http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2014/06/03/visual-studio-14-ctp.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2014/06/03/visual-stu...