Re: Don't shoot the messenger

[Eric Botcazou <ebotcazou at libertysurf dot fr>]

> One other point I must make is in regards to clang's Objective-C support vs.
> that of GCC.   GCC regards Objective-C as a second class language and has
> done so for some time.  Objective-C, according to recent statistics has
> surpassed C++ in the number of developers using it (see this link
> http://www.i-programmer.info/news/98-languages/4462-objective-c-overtakes-c
> -in-tiobe-index.html).

I think that neither GCC nor any other compilers can reasonably compete with 
clang when it comes to Objective-C given that clang is effectively the 
reference implementation of the language through the connection with Apple.

> Clang has, in my experience, at least the above two advantages over GCC.  My
> project is a free software project, but, yet, we are already starting to
> shift towards using Clang as our primary compiler for the above two reasons
> among others.  It will not surprise me if I see more projects go the same
> way.

Your case (implementation of Cocoa + Objective-C parser) is very specific 
though so generalizing from it alone seems a bit fast.

> Is it enough to "win" based on philosophical grounds, but lose on technical
> ones?  And if GCC loses on technical grounds aren't you, in effect, losing
> the war since fewer people will end up using your stuff since it doesn't do
> what they need or want?  I don't believe that making technical decisions on
> the basis of political ends really wins anything.   A message earlier in
> this same thread bears out that many technical decisions on GCC were, in
> fact, made for political reasons and that GCC should carefully consider
> which ones should be rescinded.

Why do you think that there is a war?  It's at most a competition between 
projects with a different focus and different strengths.

-- 
Eric Botcazou