Re: Good idea or gimmick: Go-style OO-programming in C++ ?

A class in Go:

type Point struct {
  x, y float64
}

Adding a method to a class works like this:

func (self Point) Length() float {
  return math.Sqrt(self.x*self.x + self.y*self.y);
}

Note that Length() is defined outside struct Point and the this pointer is =
handed over as a parameter (named self). A method in Go is public if the fi=
rst letter is upercase, otherwise it is private.

Inheritance in Go is achieved through delegation, which is built into the l=
anguage:

type Engine interface {
  Start()
  Stop()
}

type Car struct {
  Engine
}

func GoToWorkIn(c Car) {
  c.Start();
  c.Stop();
}

In other words: there is no inheritance in Go. The sample code is taken fro=
m here: http://www.infoq.com/articles/google-go-primer

All right. You cannot mimic this in C++ and there is no point in bending a =
language like that. But the question remains whether more than that is real=
ly needed - at least for systems programming. In that respect, using C++ as=
 a "C with classes" seems appropriate to me and not just a poor man's way t=
o code in C++. I belive many C/C+ systems develpoer just do it like that wi=
thout writing a book about it ...

-- Oliver