Re: GCC

[Mike M <linux-support@earthlink.net>]

On Sun, Feb 22, 2004 at 03:07:53PM -0800, Dave Carrigan wrote:
> Mike, I'm trying to say this in the nicest way, but please stop being
> such a twit. I'm not going to argue with you any more. 

That was very nice, thank you.  And please do.  Good arguments are
hard to come by.

> If you want more
> information, you should look at items 28 and 49 in Meyers' _Effective
> C++_, or take it up with the C++ gurus in comp.lang.C++{,.moderated}.

References that support the namespace feature are abundent. They hide
its problems. Namespace is a sparsely implemented _optional_ feature that
requires a large human re-engineering effort.  Next comes the arguement
that one day .h files will no longer be available.  I've found evidence
that the day has been postponed for roughly six years now.  I doubt
the day will ever come.

I am not about to go for a bitch-slapping in a language forum.  I'm a
blue-collar programmer barely getting by on his wits - or twits as the
case may be.  Besides, I'd be spotted instantly as a noob trying to 
pick a fight.  I might put it on my todo list though.

> As a final note, namespaces are here to stay whether you like it or not,
> so you may want to spend your time finding another windmill to tilt at.

Namespace is here to stay as an optional feature in compiler space.
What's in standards space is less authoritative if all compilers and 
all people are not using the standard.  You may not like .h files in C++ 
code, but they work and they always will because the standards committee can't
change all the compilers and they can't change all the programmers.

This is hardly a quixotic issue.  It is a practical issue that affects
my work and those working on mozilla projects.  That's why I've spent 
effort on this thread.  I drank the C++ standards kool-aid and learned
STL and namespace only to have code returned as unsupportable 
It seems that STL knowledgable programmers are too sparsely distributed 
to make STL an acceptable tool. 

My position is this: I can't use STL, and namespace mostly supports STL, so
I don't need namespace. Header files sans .h extensions supports namespace,
and since I don't need namespace, I can use .h files if I want to.  I
don't have to worry about .h files going away (see argument above).

I am happy to let the topic rest, or argue more.  I think it's interesting 
and I'm doing my best to present arguments based on research and thought. 

-- 
Mike