C and C++: Case Studies in Compatibility

This article gives examples of how one might go about increasing the degree of compatibility of C and C++. The ideal is full compatibility. Topics covered includes, variadic functions, v o i d *, b o o l , f (v o i d ), c o n s t , i n l i n e , and variable length arrays. These topics allows a demonstration of concerns that must be taken into account when trying to increase C/C++ compatibility. A companion paper [Stroustrup,2002a] provides a ‘‘philosophical’’ view of the C/C++ relationship, and another companion paper presents a case for significantly increased C/C++ compatibility and proposed full compatibility as the ideal. [Stroustrup,2002b].