Re: Why GNOME uses C?

[Ryan McDougall <NQG24419 nifty com>]

On Tue, 2005-31-05 at 15:07 -0300, Carlos Eduardo Rodrigues Di�es
wrote:
> The GNOME Desktop is object oriented? Why it don't use a programming 
> language that support this paradigm???
> 
> I talked with a GNOME programmer and one of the reasons that he gives 
> for me is that the objects don't have and specification yet and 
> different compilers generate the code in differentes, but this is not a 
> problem if we use only gcc... there is a major problem in using only gcc...
> 
> There is a place where I can find more information about this 
> question... I look in the discussion list, google, gnome site, but don't 
> find anything to answer this question... and if anyone knows other 
> reasons why C is used, tell me please...
> 
> Thanks,
> Carlos.

Firstly GNOME *does* support OO via the GObject system.

The reasons gnome uses C are largely historical, but when you have
hundreds of thousands of lines of C code, you don't throw them out over
night just because its not ideologically pure enough. There are moves to
use a more modern language (the reasons for which have *nothing* to do
with object orientation), but they are hindered by several unknowns and
internal divisions.

If you don't like C, the current recommendation is to use Python, which
supports OO natively.

Cheers,
Ryan