Open Watcom C++

[ntmtk]

Hello !

I want to suggest to add open watcom c++ to the reactos toolchain, because I think both projects can benefit from each other. I know the GNU compiler is well suited for operating system development, but still lacks some features like structured exception handling and is simply not the compiler of choice for most windows developers. But the use of the free visual c++ versions is not allowed for non-windows software (see EULA).

pros:

- open source(!)
- compatible with visual c++ (mostly) and nasm, gdb etc. as well
- powerfull 16 bit and 32 bit compiler
- a lot of rtl routines can be used in romable/startup code
- includes winapi headers from w32api project (mingw)
- includes a lot of helper tools (intel assembler, ide, remote debugger, ressource editor etc.)

cons:

- untested

regards
Stefan

[loki1985]

big con: it is buggy as hell.....

and even MinGW optimises better than this crappy tool.

[ntmtk]

I do not agree. In fact the watcom compiler optimizes very aggressively. But you have to choose the right options and your code must be ansi c(++) compliant, e.g. volatile variables must be marked with the volatile keyword etc. The compiler is not reponsible for wrong optimization settings or bad coding style. Yes the compiler has some bugs, but this also applies to mingw. In my opinion it's better to have one compiler with known bugs than three ones(mingw, sometimes visual c++, turbo c++ 1.01? for 16 bit code).

[loki1985]

turbo c is a DOS compiler....

[ntmtk]

turbo c is a DOS compiler....

Of course it is and it is used by various projects because of the lack of a good 16 bit compiler in the gnu compiler collection. I don't want to discuss such basics here. Have you ever written some protected mode startup code ?

[oiaohm]

Open Watcom. Good complier to a point piece of junk when compared next to gcc 4.1.0. Yes this is a Apha tree. Harding from buffer overflows. Bound Checking to remove buffer overflows. First GCC to require export functions declared because it does internal optimisation like VC or Watcom. Look forwards to gcc 4.1.0 advantages make the time cost of Watcom compad not worth it.

-structured exception handling-

Common windows programmer problem. You have three options.
Use http://cexcept.sourceforge.net/ what is crossplatform.
Port http://home.rochester.rr.com/bigbyofrocny/GEF/ to windows.
Or use reactos internal structured exception handling the recomended.

There was a version of GCC with SEH that you can find around. Borland/Microsoft will sue anyone without a licence to use it embeded in a complier building C. Watcom had a licence.