Re:Is C++ fast?
by ncmncm on Monday January 21, 2019 @09:32AM
(#18960572)
"C with classes" was never any sort of "source code preprocessor", except in the sense that every compiler is.
From day 1 it was a full compiler that happened to generate C at the back end. At the time this was novel, and was easier for people to understand as if it were a preprocessor like RATFOR. Nowadays, generating C is an extremely familiar approach to bootstrapping a new language, and nobody pretends your compiler is "just a preprocessor". (Also, nowadays, you might better generate LLVM. But that option is new.)
So, saying "C with Classes was a preprocessor" amounts to simple slander.
From day 1 it was a full compiler that happened to generate C at the back end. At the time this was novel, and was easier for people to understand as if it were a preprocessor like RATFOR. Nowadays, generating C is an extremely familiar approach to bootstrapping a new language, and nobody pretends your compiler is "just a preprocessor". (Also, nowadays, you might better generate LLVM. But that option is new.)
So, saying "C with Classes was a preprocessor" amounts to simple slander.