On May 13, 2005, at 3:58 AM, Ben Laurie wrote:
Mark Brooks wrote:
The chief objection I have to using C to write the VM is that it introduces a host of common errors and delays associated with using C or C++ for large products. C is an excellent language for its purposes, but this isn't 1972. Java was created to resolve a number of problems that arose from the ever-growing design of C++, which I swear is rapidly becoming the new PL/1. We could use a restricted subset of C++ I guess, but a lot of "gee-whiz" features would have to be left out to assure cross-platform compatibility. So why not use Java?I hope you use C to write the VM for Harmony.
One of the reasons why not, from my POV, is because it runs so badly on most platforms. If you happen to use Windows, Solaris or Linux(? I don't, so I don't know) you may be happy developing in Java. Anywhere else, its a PITA.
I've tried to sell C++ in the ASF many times. Even back when it wasn't quite so bloated as it is now it wasn't a popular idea. Far fewer people can write C++ than C, and hardly any of those can write _good_ C++.
I used to write good C++ (or so I thought :)
I'm happy dusting off C++ and using it again.
So, I think we'll end up back at C. As I've said before, I'd like to see a framework that _allows_ most of the VM to be run in Java (or Python, or Perl, or Erlang, or whatever-floats-your-boat), but doesn't require it.
Right. And I really probably can't handle doing everything in C. It will be like banging rocks together :)
But I think that this will be something we are led to by what gets donated, or what we start playing with, rather than setting out the direction before-hand
geir
-- Geir Magnusson Jr +1-203-665-6437 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
