Re: Use of nested functions (Was: Proposal for default scope)

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Article #1442

#1442

From: Steve Clamage
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 1993 17:33

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greg@qualcom.qualcomm.com (Greg Noel) writes:

>The ``Spirit of C'' is that expensive things are exposed to
>the programmer; C++ inherits much of this spirit.

I have to disagree with this point.  C++ hides a lot of grungy detail
from the programmer, with the consequence that simple constructs may
require a lot of compiler-generated code.

Example 1:  A class in a multiply-inherited hierarchy with virtual base
classes and virtual functions winds up with a very large and complicated
constructor, even if all the constructors for all the classes have
very simple bodies.

Example 2:  User types, with code hidden in a library, may require very
complicated runtime routines.  The very simple expression
	a + b
might invoke enormous amounts of calculation, memory management, and
even file access.
-- 

Steve Clamage, TauMetric Corp, steve@taumet.com

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Message-ID: <1993Jan9.173310.13214@taumet.com>

Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!taumet!steve

References: <9300817.11209@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> <1993Jan8.192906.2342@qualcomm.com>

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Newsgroups: comp.std.c++
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!taumet!steve
From: steve@taumet.com (Steve Clamage)
Subject: Re: Use of nested functions (Was: Proposal for default scope)
Message-ID: <1993Jan9.173310.13214@taumet.com>
Organization: TauMetric Corporation
References: <9300817.11209@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> <1993Jan8.192906.2342@qualcomm.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 17:33:10 GMT
Lines: 22

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