From -768622198999563871 X-Google-Thread: f78e5,e8e0ab29e8861265 X-Google-Attributes: gidf78e5,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!peer-uk.news.demon.net!kibo.news.demon.net!news.demon.co.uk!demon!stump.algebra.com!devnull From: hattons@globalsymmetry.com ("Steven T. Hatton") Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ Subject: Re: If C++ had interfaces, what would they be? Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:42:51 GMT Lines: 75 Sender: mail2news@demon.net Approved: fjh@cs.mu.oz.au (Fergus Henderson , moderator of comp.std.c++) Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: news.news.demon.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit X-Trace: news.demon.co.uk 1121960576 14054 158.152.254.254 (21 Jul 2005 15:42:56 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 15:42:56 +0000 (UTC) X-Robomod: STUMP, ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov) X-User-Agent: KNode/0.9.1 X-DMCA-Complaints-To: abuse@speakeasy.net X-Greylisting: NO DELAY (Relay+Sender autoqualified); processed by UCSD_GL-v1.3 on mailbox8.ucsd.edu; Wed, 20 July 2005 17:38:24 -0700 (PDT) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at cs.mu.OZ.AU X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Received: (from fjh@localhost) by mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.9/Submit) id j6LFgpgZ003711; Fri, 22 Jul 2005 01:42:51 +1000 (EST) X-Path: comp-std-cpp-robomod!not-for-mail X-NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 19:35:25 -0500 X-Delivered-To: std-c++@ucar.edu X-TN-Interface: 209.99.127.20 X-Spamscanner: mailbox8.ucsd.edu (v1.6 Apr 6 2005 07:48:50, 0.0/5.0 3.0.0) X-Postfilter: 1.3.32 X-Authentication-Warning: serv1.gc.dca.giganews.com: news set sender to poster@giganews.com using -f X-Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ X-MailScanner: PASSED (v1.2.8 21790 j6L0ZRW6036438 mailbox8.ucsd.edu) Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.std.c++:1433 Gene Bushuyev wrote: > "Steven T. Hatton" wrote in message > news:dfadnU0KIovHJkbfRVn-3Q@speakeasy.net... >> In TC++PL(SE) there are many different constructs given the designation >> of >> "interface". I'm confident that opinions vary as to what /does/ >> constitute >> an interface. I'm also confident that the term can be meaningfully >> applied >> to many different aspects of a program with significant diversity in >> connotation. >> > > Look at gcc extensions (#pragma interface/implementation) > http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-3.4.0/gcc/C---Interface.html for one > example. http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=15815 > I would rather prefer interface/implementation keywords, which would > create a namespace and all the namespace rules be also applied to > interface/implementation blocks. > interface foo > { > void f(); > void g() { ... } // implemented in interface: same as "inline void > g()" template void h(); // it's ok to have implementation > even in > another file > // because compiler knows that implementation name is the same as > interface name > } > > implementation foo > { > void f() { ... } > template void h() {...} // template implementation > } > > in another file: > implementation bar > { > using interface foo; > void g() { f(); } // or foo::f() > } > > It requires more smarts from the compiler to know where to find interfaces > and include them only once and where to find implementations and compile > them also once and include template implementation with interface, etc. > There are probably some other complications with this scheme that I > haven't thought about, but on the surface it looks feasible. > > - gene It seems to me we are simply asking the computer (C++PP?) to automate the steps the programmer has traditionally performed by hand with #include directives. Would simply giving the `interface' the same functionallity we get from "#include guards" suffice? The notion of doing that with a preprocessor bothers me bacause `interface' not a preprocessor directive in your example. Doing it with the compiler would probably entail a new way of viewing what a compiler does. I'll need to think on this somemore. -- STH http://www.kdevelop.org http://www.suse.com http://www.mozilla.org --- [ comp.std.c++ is moderated. To submit articles, try just posting with ] [ your news-reader. If that fails, use mailto:std-c++@ncar.ucar.edu ] [ --- Please see the FAQ before posting. --- ] [ FAQ: http://www.jamesd.demon.co.uk/csc/faq.html ]