[Edu-sig] Compatibility and legacy in language evolution

[Radenski, Atanas]

Jan Claeys wrote: 
> Op za, 09-09-2006 te 13:49 -0700, schreef Radenski, Atanas:
>> Bjarne Stroustrup was educated in the Simula tradition and recognized
>> the benefits of objects, so he decided to improve C by adding objects.
>> Most notably, Stroustrup preferred compatible design in his transition
>> from C to C++. Indeed, C programs are C++ programs as well.

> That's not true and mr. Stroustrups own books explain how and why; even
> basic C programs might be invalid as C++ programs (or they work
> different in C than in C++, which is even worse).

Strictly speaking this is true, but Mr. Stroustrups own papers also explain how important the full C/C++ compatibility is - and that achieving it is his ideal (sect. 5 in this paper):

http://www.research.att.com/~bs/compat_short.pdf