Beginning C++ in FreeBSD

[Chris Ashlee]

DoubleF wrote:
> [etc] If you think C++ can be translated to C, just translate this:
> 
> // one module
> 
> class	A
> {
> public:
> 	A();
> };
> 
> A::A()
> {
> 	/* some code here */
> }
> 
> static A a;
> 
> // another module, which doesn't know about the former's existance
> 
> int
> main(void)
> {
> 	/* some other code here */
> }
> 

Based on my (limited) knowledge of C++, the constructor for the object 
'a' of type A will be called before main... So if you were to translate 
this to C, the other module, which doesn't know about the A module, 
would have to have a call to the constructor inserted before any other 
code in main, and 'a' would have to be referenced from the module 
containing main.

So it seems that some information would be lost in the translation to C, 
namely that some details of other modules should not be visible. 
However, the compiled code for both the C++ program and the C 
translation could well wind up the same. Any high-level optimizations 
that can be done on C++ but not C could probably be done in the 
translation itself. Remember, C is basically a glorified, portable 
assembly language, and just about anything can be translated to it - 
even machine code. It's translating to a more high-level language that's 
hard.


Chris