Re: Any unusual C++ implementations?
On Jan 4, 5:29 am, Pascal Bourguignon <p...@informatimago.com> wrote:
[...]
Is there a C++ compiler for every machine that has a keyboard and a
monitor?
Of course not, far from it.
Of course, you then have to define exactly what he means by "has
a keyboard and a monitor". Back in the old days, a lot of
embedded processors supported a serial interface, so that you
could connect a terminal for debugging. On the other hand, even
in C, you had to access the IO ports yourself, with some
implementation specific extensions to the compiler.
(Inport/outport, or some such---writing to the "monitor" meant
polling the serial controller until it was ready for output,
then writing your byte.)
I doubt that there are many machines which support a fully
hosted implementation of C, and don't have a C++ compiler as
well.
If not, then what kind of proportion of machines are we talking?
Hard to tell. In number of instances or in number of classes?
In number of classes, the hundred of millions of PC count as only one,
and I wouldn't bet that 32-bit machines are the majority (there was
much more architectural variation before 32-bit machines became
common).
In number of instances of course anything that's not 32-bit intel is
insignificant. Even Apple uses Intel nowadays.
In number of instances, I suspect that ARM surpasses even Intel.
And I wouldn't be surprised that some small 8 bit embedded
processor surpasses both, by a significant margin. (Of course,
when I was working in the field, the most widespread of such
processors was also Intel. But not x86.)
Will I get a phonecall from my friend in Antartica telling me he can't
get a C++ compiler for his desktop computer?
Not unless he planed to melt all the ice of Antartica by bringing his
old Univac 1 there. (Univac 1 has a keyboard and monitor (or at least
tty), has 72-bit bytes (in which you can easily pack eight 9-bit
characters) and consumes 125 KW).
The modern Unisys mainframes are still 36 bit 1's complement.
(But again, we come back to the question of what he means by
"has a keyboard and monitor". I rather doubt that you can
connect a terminal directly to the Unisys mainframe. You
connect through a special front-end processor---which at Unisys
uses either an Intel or an AMD processors, I forget which.)
--
James Kanze (GABI Software) mailto:james.kanze@gmail.com
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