[Users] Piraha in the Flesh

[Steven R. Brandt]

On 02/22/2013 09:14 AM, Erik Schnetter wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 10:09 AM, Frank Loeffler <knarf at cct.lsu.edu 
> <mailto:knarf at cct.lsu.edu>> wrote:
>
>     Hi,
>
>     On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 02:11:22PM +0100, Ian Hinder wrote:
>     > I see that Piraha is written in C++, so we
>     > would have to relax the restriction that the flesh can only
>     contain C
>     > code.
>
>     I don't see a reason for this restriction anymore. In fact, using C++
>     would make some of this code much more readable and maintainable.
>     Speaking if C++ in the flesh: How strict was this in the past anyway;
>     looking at src/main/flesh.cc from 1998, written by Tom? Of course,
>     this
>     is just a minimal C++ program, not using any of the features that past
>     C++ compilers could have stumbled over.
>
>
> The main program needs to be written in C++ to allow linking with 
> other C++ code. At that time, the flesh was pure ANSI C.
>
> However, times have changed. Carpet has proved that C++ is possible 
> and efficient on any interesting system. Our current policy is to 
> allow C++ features, in particular if they lead to "better" (simpler) 
> code, and if the code is portable. That means in particular that C++11 
> features are probably not a good idea, but using e.g. STL containers 
> would be nice. In other cases, preprocessor magic and code duplication 
> may be replaced by templates.
I believe that when the decision was made to not allow C++ templates 
were an unstable feature and compilers could not reliably compile the 
STL. But I agree with Erik. C++11 is not a good idea. In fact, I think 
we might require that the flesh compile with -std=C++03 or something.
>
> -erik
>
> -- 
> Erik Schnetter <schnetter at cct.lsu.edu <mailto:schnetter at cct.lsu.edu>>
> http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/personal/eschnetter/

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