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Re: Switching to C++ by default in 4.8
On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 6:21 AM, Bernd Schmidt <bernds@codesourcery.com> wrote:
> On 04/11/2012 02:57 PM, Torvald Riegel wrote:
>> However, the concern you raised is only one part of the problem. ?The
>> other is that, put in a simplified way, GCC is competing with LLVM about
>> new and/or non-fulltime-compiler developers. ?For me, it looks like LLVM
>> is more appealing to them, and I believe part of the reason for that is
>> the codebase.
>
> There seem to be other opinions as well, some voiced in this thread,
> which just supports my argument that you can't do it right for everyone.
> Part of the reason LLVM is appealing may just be advertising, which we
> don't do at all, perhaps due to the deep-seated inferiority complex we
> have about gcc.
yes -- GCC is not considered old and not 'cool' -- so it is hard to
advertise. One criteria to see GCC's future popularity is how widely
it is adopted by academia ..
>
>> Now, how many release cycles do we have until LLVM is basically good
>> enough to be used as a distro compiler (e.g., until code quality and
>> confidence in bug freedom is sufficiently similar)? ?If we haven't
>> ensured that GCC is appealing by this time, why should new programmers
>> then start considering GCC and not just go by default to LLVM?
>
> Maybe we should concentrate on our own strengths. Improve the
> optimizers, support more targets well, fully implement language
> standards, etc. ?Spending developer time on something fruitless like a
> language switch has an opportunity cost, it just gives competing
> projects more time to catch up in areas that matter for users.
but LLVM is not standing still either ..
David
>
>
> Bernd