Re: Nested Functions in C++

[Andrew Haley <aph at redhat dot com>]

Mark Mitchell writes:
 > Steven L. Zook wrote:
 > 
 > >Are there plans for adding nested function support to C++?
 > >  
 > No.
 > 
 > >Are there significant obstacles in the way of doing so?
 > >
 > Technically, it's only work.  But, the C++ maintainers (myself included) 
 > will probably not be keen on accepting such a patch.  We're generally of 
 > the opinion that adding extensions to C++ is a mistake, unless they go 
 > through the ISO standardization process first.

I've always been baffled by this line of reasoning.  The TC is not in
the business of language design AFAIK, and surely they shouldn't be
standardizing features that haven't been implemented by anyone.

So, if we don't implement proposed language extensions people who want
to experiment will probably be forced to use proprietary compilers.

And no, this isn't a call for a free-for-all.  But some extensions are
so useful that we should seriously consider them before the TC has
decided to standardize them.

Andrew.