I'm not sure what the right way to handle this is. However, I can give one
explaination for choosing C over C++.
Nobody agrees on what is the best style for writing C++. I don't mean
irrelevant things like where braces go or naming conventions. I mean
complicated things:
- When to use inheritance instead of containment.
- The use of Resource Acquisition Is Initialization.
- The use of exceptions.
- The use of Pimpl.
- How much templating to use.
- How much operator overloading to use.
I have my own ideas about what good C++ style is. I like them, and I have a
pretty good defense of them. I even have a rarely-updated Blog about what I
consider to be good C++ coding style.
But programmers are a very, VERY picky lot. C++ programmers are pickier than
most, because choosing a library that clashes with your preferred coding
style is very painful. If you're not using exceptions and RAII, trying to
use a library that does can be nightmarish.
The takehome point being this: C isn't nice. It isn't as clean as C++ can
be. But it's *standard*. Everyone knows what good C code looks like.
Everyone understands it, even if things like "typedef struct" are confusing
to C++ programmers. And it will never hurt you the way that using exceptions
when your user doesn't want to will.
On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 2:37 PM, Branan Riley <br...@gm...> wrote:
> We're getting a lot of flac for choosing C over C++, especially now
> that people have had a chance to see the math library. I still think C
> was the right decision, but it's very hard to convince everyone of
> this. C gives beter access to under-the-hood stuff for the curious
> neophyte than a complicated C++ class/template library would.
>
> We should, however, better articulate our reasons for choosing C, and
> get a better answer on the subject in the FAQ. The current answer just
> won't cut it in the long term, especially since C is percieved as an
> old, crusty language by many (Knackered's comments in the forum thread
> illustrate this quite vividly).
>
> Any thoughts on how we should handle this would be appreciated. I may
> be the de facto PR guy, but that doesn't mean I'm actually any good at
> PR :-P
>
> Branan
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