• "Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> Feb 11 2004
• "Walter" <walter digitalmars.com> Feb 11 2004
• Bastiaan Veelo <Bastiaan.N.Veelo ntnu.no> Feb 12 2004
• "Matthew" <matthew.hat stlsoft.dot.org> Feb 12 2004
• =?iso-8859-1?Q?=22Robert_M._M=FCnch=22?= <robert.muench robertmuench.de> Feb 12 2004
• Sean Kelly <sean ffwd.cx> Feb 12 2004
• "Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> Feb 12 2004
• "Angelo Moscati" <a.moscati newmail.net> Feb 14 2004

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> writes:

One thing that would be a huge plus for D compared to any other language
would be good C++ interoperability of some kind. Playing well with C is a
requirement for any serious language. My bet is playing well with C++ will
be just as important in the future, if not already.
Java has a useful but fairly clunky interface to C++ (JNI) and C# has
Managed Extensions to C++ (though I don't know any details about it). D
doesn't seem to have anything planned here or a story to tell users. Any
time C++ code wants to talk to D code or vice-versa you have to go through
C.

I noticed the dmd source code has a linkage enum entry for C++ (in addition
to the C, Pascal, D and Windows options already implemented). What are the
major obstacles to implementing it?

-Ben

"Walter" <walter digitalmars.com> writes:

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
news:c0dugh$enh$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 One thing that would be a huge plus for D compared to any other language
 would be good C++ interoperability of some kind. Playing well with C is a
 requirement for any serious language. My bet is playing well with C++ will
 be just as important in the future, if not already.
 Java has a useful but fairly clunky interface to C++ (JNI) and C# has
 Managed Extensions to C++ (though I don't know any details about it). D
 doesn't seem to have anything planned here or a story to tell users. Any
 time C++ code wants to talk to D code or vice-versa you have to go through
 C.

 I noticed the dmd source code has a linkage enum entry for C++ (in


 to the C, Pascal, D and Windows options already implemented). What are the
 major obstacles to implementing it?


The problem is the layout of the vtbl[]. To get that right, you have to
build part of a C++ compiler.

Bastiaan Veelo <Bastiaan.N.Veelo ntnu.no> writes:

Walter wrote:
 "Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
 news:c0dugh$enh$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 
One thing that would be a huge plus for D compared to any other language
would be good C++ interoperability of some kind. Playing well with C is a
requirement for any serious language. My bet is playing well with C++ will
be just as important in the future, if not already.
Java has a useful but fairly clunky interface to C++ (JNI) and C# has
Managed Extensions to C++ (though I don't know any details about it). D
doesn't seem to have anything planned here or a story to tell users. Any
time C++ code wants to talk to D code or vice-versa you have to go through
C.

I noticed the dmd source code has a linkage enum entry for C++ (in


 addition
 
to the C, Pascal, D and Windows options already implemented). What are the
major obstacles to implementing it?


 
 The problem is the layout of the vtbl[]. To get that right, you have to
 build part of a C++ compiler.
 


If I understand this right, it _can_ be done, but implementing C++ 
interoperability would to a large extent undo the advantages of the D 
design for clean compiler code, and the added complexity would not be in 
proportion to what is needed to compile plain D.

As much as it would be a pain for all of you putting so much effort in 
getting rid of C++ badness, would not it be doable to have two flavors 
of D compilers? One that does clean D and takes full advantage of its 
design, and an other that provides C++ interoperability, however cludgy?
You would use the beautiful pure D compiler whenever possible, and the 
bulky ugly one when you need interoperability with C++.

The D.gnu newsgroup is showing promising results recently, and since GCC 
already compiles C++, would it be possible to use the vtbl[] stuff that 
is already there? Also DM has a C++ compiler, which I hope means that 
relevant parts can be glued into its D compiler...? Not that this would 
be trivial, but probably not as bad as having to build part of a C++ 
compiler (from scratch) either.

I am not in the same leage as most of you, and I have great respect for 
the work being done here. But I had to mention this --- I hope it makes 
sence :-)

Bastiaan.

"Matthew" <matthew.hat stlsoft.dot.org> writes:

I vote no

"Bastiaan Veelo" <Bastiaan.N.Veelo ntnu.no> wrote in message
news:c0fija$35n$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 Walter wrote:
 "Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
 news:c0dugh$enh$1 digitaldaemon.com...

One thing that would be a huge plus for D compared to any other language
would be good C++ interoperability of some kind. Playing well with C is






requirement for any serious language. My bet is playing well with C++






be just as important in the future, if not already.
Java has a useful but fairly clunky interface to C++ (JNI) and C# has
Managed Extensions to C++ (though I don't know any details about it). D
doesn't seem to have anything planned here or a story to tell users. Any
time C++ code wants to talk to D code or vice-versa you have to go






C.

I noticed the dmd source code has a linkage enum entry for C++ (in


 addition

to the C, Pascal, D and Windows options already implemented). What are






major obstacles to implementing it?



 The problem is the layout of the vtbl[]. To get that right, you have to
 build part of a C++ compiler.


 If I understand this right, it _can_ be done, but implementing C++
 interoperability would to a large extent undo the advantages of the D
 design for clean compiler code, and the added complexity would not be in
 proportion to what is needed to compile plain D.

 As much as it would be a pain for all of you putting so much effort in
 getting rid of C++ badness, would not it be doable to have two flavors
 of D compilers? One that does clean D and takes full advantage of its
 design, and an other that provides C++ interoperability, however cludgy?
 You would use the beautiful pure D compiler whenever possible, and the
 bulky ugly one when you need interoperability with C++.

 The D.gnu newsgroup is showing promising results recently, and since GCC
 already compiles C++, would it be possible to use the vtbl[] stuff that
 is already there? Also DM has a C++ compiler, which I hope means that
 relevant parts can be glued into its D compiler...? Not that this would
 be trivial, but probably not as bad as having to build part of a C++
 compiler (from scratch) either.

 I am not in the same leage as most of you, and I have great respect for
 the work being done here. But I had to mention this --- I hope it makes
 sence :-)

 Bastiaan.

=?iso-8859-1?Q?=22Robert_M._M=FCnch=22?= <robert.muench robertmuench.de> writes:

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 20:18:02 -0800, Walter <walter digitalmars.com> wrote:

 The problem is the layout of the vtbl[]. To get that right, you have to
 build part of a C++ compiler.


Well, you have a nice C++ compiler at hand. I wouldn't mind if I only can 
link it with DMC++ compiled code. At least this would makes bootstrapping 
D projects much simpler. Over time D libraries will develop and replace 
more and more C++ libaries.

I would add DMC++ compatibility.

-- 
Robert M. Münch
Management & IT Freelancer
http://www.robertmuench.de

Sean Kelly <sean ffwd.cx> writes:

Robert M. Münch wrote:

 On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 20:18:02 -0800, Walter <walter digitalmars.com> wrote:
 
 The problem is the layout of the vtbl[]. To get that right, you have to
 build part of a C++ compiler.


 Well, you have a nice C++ compiler at hand. I wouldn't mind if I only 
 can link it with DMC++ compiled code. At least this would makes 
 bootstrapping D projects much simpler. Over time D libraries will 
 develop and replace more and more C++ libaries.
 
 I would add DMC++ compatibility.


I think it would add too much complexity to the D compiler 
implementation.  I vote no.


Sean

"Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> writes:

"Walter" <walter digitalmars.com> wrote in message
news:c0ev8k$24q3$1 digitaldaemon.com...
|
| "Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
| news:c0dugh$enh$1 digitaldaemon.com...
| > One thing that would be a huge plus for D compared to any other language
| > would be good C++ interoperability of some kind. Playing well with C is a
| > requirement for any serious language. My bet is playing well with C++ will
| > be just as important in the future, if not already.
| > Java has a useful but fairly clunky interface to C++ (JNI) and C# has
| > Managed Extensions to C++ (though I don't know any details about it). D
| > doesn't seem to have anything planned here or a story to tell users. Any
| > time C++ code wants to talk to D code or vice-versa you have to go through
| > C.
| >
| > I noticed the dmd source code has a linkage enum entry for C++ (in
| addition
| > to the C, Pascal, D and Windows options already implemented). What are the
| > major obstacles to implementing it?
|
| The problem is the layout of the vtbl[]. To get that right, you have to
| build part of a C++ compiler.
|

Would it be possible to have an API to use D objects from C++ (instead of the
other way around)? I notice the
D spec describes the object layout and vtbl, so that is a start. Some way to
call constructors would probably
be needed.

Also it occurred to me that COM provides a basic story on win32. For other
platforms maybe CORBA could help
(though that would probably bring a lot of infrastructure). It wouldn't be as
nice as seemlessly
interoperating but it is a step beyond "extern (C)".

-Ben

"Angelo Moscati" <a.moscati newmail.net> writes:

I don't have a good knowledge about compilation, but I thought if it is
possible
to write a tool that automatically generate from a c++ library a interface
for use it.

I'm sorry for my english, what i mean is that the tool write a D module that
define
a class.
This class has all the public methos of the original class in the c++
library.
When someone calls a method from this class, it will do all the necessary
operations
(I don't know what) and after it executes the original method ( I assume we
can know where
the method is from the vtbl).
Please tell me if something lime this is possible.

"Walter" <walter digitalmars.com> wrote in message
news:c0ev8k$24q3$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 "Ben Hinkle" <bhinkle4 juno.com> wrote in message
 news:c0dugh$enh$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 One thing that would be a huge plus for D compared to any other language
 would be good C++ interoperability of some kind. Playing well with C is




 requirement for any serious language. My bet is playing well with C++




 be just as important in the future, if not already.
 Java has a useful but fairly clunky interface to C++ (JNI) and C# has
 Managed Extensions to C++ (though I don't know any details about it). D
 doesn't seem to have anything planned here or a story to tell users. Any
 time C++ code wants to talk to D code or vice-versa you have to go




 C.

 I noticed the dmd source code has a linkage enum entry for C++ (in


 to the C, Pascal, D and Windows options already implemented). What are




 major obstacles to implementing it?


 The problem is the layout of the vtbl[]. To get that right, you have to
 build part of a C++ compiler.