> > > This can also be true of C code unless you use compilers in the same > > family. > There are also issues, but they are much simpler. > > The C++ name mangling can be worked around. > name mangling is just the top of the iceberg. There are problems wrt to > static initialization, exception, etc...; ABI compatibility is much > easier to break in C++ than in C. And then, there is the problem of C++ > ability of compilers.
This is no longer the case, sincerely. I use C++ compilers from different vendors for some time, and I had almost no problem safe from some template depth issues. http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/C%2B%2B_Portability_Guide This is... well... outdated. I'm sorry, but the issues mentionned there are pre- 2003 standard and since then, the C++ compilers follow the standard. http://techbase.kde.org/index.php?title=Policies/Binary_Compatibility_Issues_With_C%2B%2B KDE wants to maintain binary compatibility across versions. I don't know if Numpy wants to stay compatible this way, but even there, I don't think Numpy will use many virtual functions (too slow), and for the change of the signature of a function, it is logical that it should not work. I am not saying it is not possible, or that we should not do it: just > that it has a high cost. IMHO, the benefits would have to be high. I agree. > I'm just thinking out loud about these things. Note that numpy already > > uses what are essentially templates to generate C code using a Python > > preprocessor, although perhaps the design could be a bit cleaner and > > maybe a bit more general so as not to be limited to the C builtin types. > I agree on this point (custom code generators use). Note that there are > standard tools to generate simple templates in C (autogen). > > If what you want to do is to be able to use simple templates (by simple, > I mean template function parametrized with the numerical type), C++ is > overkill IMHO. There are some other stuff that are interesting, but I don't think it would be easy to use, like expression templates, but some operator overloading are very simple to use (like specializing a template multplication to use CBLAS if available). Matthieu -- French PhD student Website : http://matthieu-brucher.developpez.com/ Blogs : http://matt.eifelle.com and http://blog.developpez.com/?blog=92 LinkedIn : http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthieubrucher
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