[luau] ics412: operating systems

[Jimen Ching]

On Tue, 22 Oct 2002, Dustin Cross wrote:
>BeOS was written in C++ and it was one of the best operating systems I have
>ever used.  It was fast and efficient.

Do you know if they use exceptions, STL, and RTTI?  These aren't the main
features of C++, but I can't imagine an OS using these things.  The only
way I can see C++ being used to implement an OS is if it is used as a
better C compiler.  There is nothing wrong with this, but it can't be
considered C++.

On Tue, 22 Oct 2002, Ray Strode wrote:
>C offers more portability and better abi compatibility than C++.  C++
>compilers tend to be more buggy than C (which contributes to the
>portability problem).  C is better for making bindings to other languages
>(in part because of it's better abi compatibility).

I agree, in the past I did have problems with linking C++ objects (not
compiling C++ source).  But I haven't experienced such problems in a
while.  Are people still having these problems now?

>I think he's saying that the syntax is harder to get right, so it takes
>more changes to get the code to compile.

Seems like what I'm hearing is that if a programmer doesn't know the
syntax well, s/he shouldn't use that language.  Well, I have a hard time
disagreeing with that.  Though I wouldn't generalize this statement.

>In my opinion C is a good language for libraries and application
>frameworks (e.g. like GNOME), but I think applications themselves should
>be written in something more highlevel like Python.

A GUI framework in C?  I guess if you've done it before, you have the
benefit of experience.  But if I were to start from scratch, I wouldn't do
anything GUI based in C.  The GUI domain is perfect for the OO
methodology.  And like Eric said, using C to emulate OO is just evil.
;-)

--jc
-- 
Jimen Ching (WH6BRR)      jching at flex.com     wh6brr at uhm.ampr.org