[boost] Re: Re: Re: BGL ported to C#

From: Edward Diener (eddielee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-12-13 13:56:43

Ferdinand Prantl wrote:
>> From: Edward Diener [mailto:eddielee_at_[hidden]]
>>
>> Patrick wrote:
>>
>>>> Surprised you didn't try to port it to MC++. It might have
>> been easier.
>>>
>>> But much less portable.  With C#, people at least have a
>> few compiler
>>> and runtime options.  Beyond that, C#-based assemblies can
>> actually be
>>> used on multiple platforms unlike those compiled from MC++.
>>
>> This is not true. MC++ is just as portable as C#. It is a
>> .NET CLS compliant language. Every .NET CLS compliant
>> language can produce assemblies which can be used by any
>> other CLS compliant .NET language in a .NET environment.
>
> Patrick means source code portability; even if the bytecode
> is standardized, there is only one product (currently), which
> produces it from managed C++ - MS Visual Studio. Freely
> available solutions (MS .NET Framework, mono and pnet)
> have (currently) limited support for anything else than C#.

I agree that MC++ does not come with the .NET framework SDKs, but currently
only with VC++ .NET instead. This should change as MS is working on an ISO
CLI approved binding which shouiild make it universally available to other
vendors.

The comment above, however, has to do with assemblies, which are the
versions of MSIL in binary form not source code form. It is to that which I
was replying.

>
> There may be some changes in the managed support in the
> Microsoft C++ in Whidbey, whereas one can rely on C#.

If "reliability" meant no changes, then I would agree with your last
sentence, but it means much more as a lookup in a dictionary will tell you.
The proposed CLI binding changes are there to make MC++ much easier to use
with C++ standard code. As such I welcome the changes, which nevertheless
will not impede the current use of the language for mixing MC++ and standard
C++ code.

BTW, I am not advocating programming with MC++ rather than standard C++, but
rather attempting to correctly point out what MC++'s use is for. As such it
has just as much functionality within the .NET programming environment and,
with a few .NET idioms, actually has a little more.