Carsten Lang <carsten@2net.de> said:
> i don't want to start discussing the pros and cons of using C++ in kernel
> development.
Right.
> BUT: why do we blame people if they want to?
Just because.
> It is possible to produce stable and good C++ modules (i have one for a
> framegrabber device) and it is much easier to port already exsiting C++
> drivers from windows to linux.
Write good C++? Sure. Making porting from Windows to Linux easier? The
_least_ problem there is the language...
> So all i want to ask for is to give an easy way to people to
> write their modules in C++.
Right. _Very_ easy, just redesign the whole kernel to make it C++
> All we have to do is to change some few
> lines in the kernel (the variable names "class", "public" and so on).
Do a patch then! Or just fork off a C++-friendly Linux. It is a free
software project after all.
> I'm VERY sure, that after this annoying problem is solved, we have
> a C++ capsule which can be used by hardware manufacturers to
> provide their Linux-drivers very fast by porting them from windows to
> Linux by using a generic (C++) interface.
Ever heard what happened to the last effort for "drivers portable among
OSes using a generic interface"? Never heard of it? Was announced with much
brouhaha all over the place by $LIST_OF_MAYOR_UNIX_VENDORS, with the
intention of getting Linux hackers to write the stuff, or Linux users to
use their (binary only) modules. Was dead a month later, tops.
> I don't need a very good and fast operating system, because of being
> written in C, which is not supported by my hardware...
So you have hardware that supports C++, but not C. May I have a peek?
Sounds quite interesting...
> Somebody thought about that?????
Yep. That's why Linux is written in C, not i386 assembly.
> In my opinion we should not change the whole system to C++,
> that would be very crazy (although i'm quite sure the quality of
> Linux would increase), but I want to choose the language i'm
> writing my device drivers in.
Perhaps it increases the quality, by the second system effect. But then
again, Linux changes so much internally that this shouldn't make much of a
difference. And it is second (or even third) generation Unix anyway.
"Write your programs in $FANCY_NEW_LANGUAGE, and the quality automatically
goes way up" is pure marketing, no facts are involved.
If you want to choose the language you program in, go ahead. It is another
kettle of fish to get others to follow...
> And if the changes are so ridiculous small, why don't we start doing
> them????
Because it isn't considered useful? Not worth the effort? Nobody has _done_
them, instead of just demanding that "others" do them?
-- Dr. Horst H. von Brand mailto:vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl Departamento de Informatica Fono: +56 32 654431 Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria +56 32 654239 Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile Fax: +56 32 797513 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 30 2000 - 21:00:25 EST