Re: Help- selective symbol exposure after link

> The real problem is that C doesn't need it and has no ability to
> express this layer of scope. With languages like Algol 68, Fortran 90,


Oh yes it does! C does need it. If C had it then we could write
portable shared libraries. Have you ever looked into how difficult and
pathologically different every Unix system is when it comes to
shared-lib bindings?


E.g. under Solaris 2.5, all public symbols are exported. Under AIX,
no public symbols are exported - you have to explicitly state which
ones. DEC Unix is similar.


You can write portable code but when it comes to shared libs, nothing
is portable. Just look at the hacks that Microsoft have added to their
C language over the years (_near, _far, __declexport, etc).


Microsoft have nearly got it right and I hope that they soon finish
tampering. its a shame their DLL implementation leaves an awful lot to
be desired.


Why oh why do the compiler people ignore the linker?
_______________________________________________________
| Paul David Fox Lehman Brothers.
| E-mail: pfox@lehman.com |
| Home: fox@crisp.demon.co.uk |
| Tel: +44 171 601 0011 x6397 |
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