Re: Mut. Recurs. in Ada9X w/o Breaking Encaps.? (LONG)

[bs@alice.att.com (Bjarne Stroustrup <9758-26353> 0112760)]

stt@dsd.camb.inmet.com (Tucker Taft) writes

 > Bjarne Stroustrup <9758-26353> 0112760 <9758-26353> wrote:
 > >
 > >stt@dsd.camb.inmet.com (Tucker Taft) writes
 > >
 > > > This capability of Ada 9X is vaguely related to the "assignment attempt"
 > > > of Eiffel, and the dynamic_cast of ANSI/ISO C++-to-be,
 > >
 > >Ah. Hmm. I have noted a tendency to treat newer C++ features as if they were
 > >some sort of science fiction. Features such as dynamic_cast are currently
 > >available in widely-used commercial implementations of C++ as well as being
 > >part of the emerging standard.
 > >
 > >I think it would be best to leave out phrases such as ``ANSI/ISO C++-to-be''
 > >as possibly prejudicial. Alternatively, one could start a flamewar by trying
 > >to be fair by applying matching adjectives to Ada9X and Eiffel.
 > 
 > Sorry about that.  It seemed wrong to write ANSI/ISO C++; is there a version
 > number like 3.0 or 4.0 that identifies the set of features expected for
 > ISO C++ (and is already in some current C++ compilers)? I just wanted those 
 > non-C++ folks out there to know that dynamic_cast is a feature that 
 > is anticipated in the ANSI/ISO C++, and might not be familiar to 
 > those of us who have only read older C++ reference manuals.

Yes. It is hard to know exactly how to refer to these things. I generally use
a phrase like ``in the upcoming ANSI/ISO standard'' when I want specifically
to refer to standards stuff. I tend to refer to features introduced over the
last 3 or so years as ``new features'' and for each try to point out where it
has been implemented and whether it has been made available commercially.

I guess that is too elaborate, and I shouldn't have been grumpy about your
posting. Sorry. It is indeed a pity that there is no generally accepted numbering,
but with a dozen or so implementors out there it just doesn't seem feasible
to refer to C++ with all the ANSI/ISO features as, say, C++ v5.

The most current generally accessible source is my ``The Design and Evolution
of C++'' book.

	- Bjarne