Re: C++ Frequently Questioned Answers

From:

Walter Bright <walter@digitalmars-nospamm.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.c++.moderated

Date:

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:49:23 CST

Message-ID:

<ApmdnfIju6SC3KbanZ2dnUVZ_qHinZ2d@comcast.com>

Jerry Coffin wrote:

In article <zPSdnVyYcoE8VqXanZ2dnUVZ_qWtnZ2d@comcast.com>,
walter@digitalmars-nospamm.com says...
[ ... ]

Let's look at it another way. If my C++ code has a 90% chance of
working
on another platform without problems, and Tool X has a 70% chance,
the
combined chance of it working is 63%. As someone who'd want wide
adoption of whatever I'm working on, or to minimize tech support,
I'll
choose the 90% C++ only solution over the 63% combined solution,
even if
it costs me significantly more in development effort.

The question is whether you're using a tool with only a 70% chance of
working on another platform, and if so why. TeX may well be a giant
beast to port -- but (just for one example) byacc most assuredly is
not.
In fact, I'm pretty sure it's compiled and worked the first time, with
every C compiler I've ever tried, without my having to define a single
macro or edit a single line of code.

Having a tool compile successfully on another platform is not at all
the same as it being debugged and tested on that platform.

And yes, I've downloaded source code to tools and tried to compile
them on various platforms. Often, the build instructions leave much to
the imagination. Then, when you try and build it, various messages pop
out, and maybe it doesn't build. It's not always obvious how to fix
it. I had this problem recently with putty. I eventually solved it by
finding already ported/debugged/tested binaries and downloading those.

And then, if the resulting executable doesn't appear to work right,
how am I supposed to go about debugging it? Learn the inner workings
of a complex program? No thanks.

You're starting with the assumption that there's triple the chance of
such tools causing a problem on another platform as the chance of

your

code breaking on another platform. I think that's unjustified.

It's very difficult to know this in advance for a particular tool.

----
Walter Bright
Digital Mars C, C++, D programming language compilers
http://www.digitalmars.com

--
[ See http://www.gotw.ca/resources/clcm.htm for info about ]
[ comp.lang.c++.moderated. First time posters: Do this! ]

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