[cfe-dev] C++/CLI (Ecma 372) support in Clang

[Douglas Gregor]

On Jul 19, 2012, at 5:10 AM, João Matos <ripzonetriton at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> What is the opinion of the list / community in regards to adding
> support for the C++/CLI language standard to Clang?
> 
> More info about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B/CLI

I suspect that opinions on the list will differ, so I think it's good to have this discussion.

> I've started adding some early parsing support for C++/CLI, but would
> like to know if this is something that would be accepted. The syntax
> also overlaps a bit with the new C++/CX extensions used in WinRT, so
> some of it can be reused.


My personal opinion is that C++/CLI is not a good match for Clang. It's a fairly extensive and complicated extension to C++, and it seems unlikely that Clang will ever actually be a useful C++/CLI compiler. Moreover, the advent of C++/CX and the recent push toward native code makes the long-term future of C++/CLI completely unclear, and I'd rather not have us chasing yesterday's technology.

C++/CX seems like a more reasonable goal for Clang as a project, because (1) it's more conceivable that we could actually provide a useful C++/CX compilation environment, and (2) it seems to be the new direction for Microsoft. Plus, I think it might be a little smaller and, therefore, slightly easier to implement.

	- Doug