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From: jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West)
Newsgroups: net.lang,net.lang.st80
Subject: Information on C++
Message-ID: <1158@sdcsvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-Oct-85 11:31:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.1158
Posted: Thu Oct 24 11:31:34 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Oct-85 07:23:49 EDT
References: <131@vecpyr.UUCP>
Organization: CACI, Inc - Federal, La Jolla
Lines: 41
Xref: linus net.lang:1662 net.lang.st80:279
Summary: C++ now available

In article <131@vecpyr.UUCP>, markl@vecpyr.UUCP (Mark Patrick) writes:
> I would be most grateful if someone could provide me with information
> on the availability of documentation/source for C++.  Does it support
> any form of dynamic typing at runtime?

This is as good an excuse as any to talk about a piece of mail that
recently crossed my desk.

While I have not used C++, I did do fairly extensive research on
object-oriented languages a few months back.  C++ and Apple's Object
Pascal were the two new compiled languages (as opposed to Smalltalk
and the Lisp-based languages) and were similar in providing dynamic typing 
and other object-oriented constructs cleanly integrated with the base 
(C, Pascal) language.  (I'm omitting Simula, if only because the base
language is Algol-60.)

C++ seemed slightly more powerful, particularly in the availability
of constructors, which were devilishly clever macros that give an
almost Lisp-like extensibility to the language.  

To my knowledge, Object Pascal is still in Beta testing on Lisa's only.
However, as a System V licensee I had a notice from 800 828-UNIX
cross my desk, announcing the availability of C++ from AT&T.

The gist seems to be that if you have an AT&T license, you can
get the source code for a C++ to C translator for $2k, supplied
without support (shades of pre-divestiture).  Although it's
designed only for AT&T computers, it is said to run on machines
that have a C compiler that 
	* supports variable names of arbitrary length, and
	* support structure assignment.

I know it has run on VAX's running System V and BSD 4.2.

For more info, it's 800 828-UNIX.

	Joel West	CACI, Inc. - Federal (c/o UC San Diego)
	{ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!jww
	jww@SDCSVAX.ARPA

I am not in any way affiliated with the purveyors of the cult of UNIX.