[cfe-dev] User manual, and GCC functions not implemented

[Renato Golin]

On 28 July 2014 08:49, Csaba Raduly <rcsaba at gmail.com> wrote:
> I guess this includes some random compiler implementer who thought
> it'd be a neat idea to support nested functions in the first place :)

I don't know how nested functions (or VLAIS) got into GCC, but I bet
it wasn't a bored compiler engineer that thought it was cool. More
likely it came as a pressure from a large user group, such as the
Linux kernel, and GCC, in their early ages, had to abide.

I don't know a single compiler engineer, LLVM, GCC or proprietary,
that strongly defends nested functions or VLAIS. But deprecating
functionality is a lot harder than adding it, and that's why I
advocate for collaboration between GCC and LLVM, so that we can get
multiple points of view and also support from both fronts. Strongly
denial from either side is what's going to remove those "features"
from both compilers.

cheers,
--renato