Re: [DotGNU]DotGNU FAQ

[Fergus Henderson]

On 23-Nov-2001, Norbert Bollow <address@hidden> wrote:
> 1.13 Will C and C++ be supported in DotGNU?
> 
>   Code which is written in C or C++ can be used with DotGNU, *if* it
>   is distributed with DotGNU or otherwise installed on the end
>   user's PC like you normally install software - it cannot be
>   transported as bytecode to a Secure Execution Environment (SEE) on a
>   remote machine, like it will be possible with e.g. Java, Ada, C# and
>   Perl.  Hence C and C++ are fine for implementing parts of DotGNU,
>   but they will not be an acceptable language for implementing
>   webservices - at least not until someone solves the difficult issues
>   of compiling C to some kind of portable intermediate representation.

This answer is slightly misleading, IMHO.
There are no significant technical obstacles to
compiling standard C or C++ to CLR bytecode (IL),
which is a portable intermediate representation.
For example, Microsoft's C++ compiler does that.

The difficult part is compiling to *verifiable* IL,
which is needed if you want to safely run the code in a
Secure Execution Environment.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <address@hidden>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.