David Leimbach wrote:
The main reason that intel and other C compilers implement gcc extensions is because there is a lot of software that relies on them, like the linux kernel for instance.
Yes, the standard question asked here when a company comes in with a whiz-bang C compiler is 'can you build a bootable the linux kernel'. The initial answer is always "no". It in the usual case remains "no". For those companies that care (there are not many -- in fact there is only one I can think of) it takes several years before the answer is "yes".
It's surprising how hard it is to write a "modern C compiler", as an infrequent contributor to this list once described gcc.
That's life. ron
