OT: Linux g++

[Greg Munt]

On Wed, 11 Feb 1998 s001gmu at nova.wright.edu wrote:

> what's wrong with linux g++, as far as templates go, btw?
> haven't had a need for a template class yet, but then I'm not very far
> into things.  :)

Linux g++ fails miserably at implementing:

  templates
  namespaces
  exceptions

You can (sometimes) get away with basic uses of these features, but, 
since we are all writing non-basic programs, that doesn't help too much. 
I know that the exception handling is so poor that it has to be turned on 
with a flag.

Additionally, I have heard that libg++ is not threadsafe (why I'm 
avoiding use of threads), and only the more recent Linux kernels can cope 
on multiprocessor systems. Libg++ itself has 'workarounds' (GNU's word 
for it) for limitations within g++ - they have an extensive GNU-only 
class library, and the method you have to use to instantiate containers 
is confusing, at best.

I have heard that EGCS (www.cygnus.com/egcs) is much better than g++,
though I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Also, having (just now)
looked at the FSF web site, I have found that gcc is now on version 2.8; I
have 2.7.2. Does anyone know what/if improvements were made to the
compiler's handling of the 3 C++ features specified above? Let's hope my
comments don't still apply. 

> > I'm free of Cobol now! Hurrah! > 
> heh.  I've never touched COBOL, and if I can help it, I never will.  :)

It was mind-numbingly boring, and lost most of its challenge after about 
9 months. Some companies are paying contractors 1000 pounds sterling, a 
day, to make their legacy systems Y2K compliant (a possibly exagerated 
report!) though.

--
Greg Munt, greg at uni-corn.demon.co.uk   "I'm not bitter - just twisted."
http://www.uni-corn.demon.co.uk/ubiquity/