Re: Depending on C99 (Re: GtkBindingSignal changes)

[Tor Lillqvist <tml iki fi>]

Tim Janik writes:
 > - how old is VC++6.0

Umm, I think its latest service pack (SP6) is from as late as 2002?
The product as such is from 1998, I think, and it probably is not
available for purchase as a separate product any longer. MSDN
subscribers can download it, though. It's included on even the least
extensive MSDN edition's media. This probably indicates that there
indeed is a steady demand for it.

It's the last "lean and mean" Microsoft compiler that doesn't require
you to install tons of Visual this-and-that and goddess knows what
crap just to get a command-line C compiler ;-)

I think it's also the last Microsoft compiler that you can use (at
least without major hacks) to build code that runs against the C
runtime that is part of the operating system, MSVCRT.DLL. This C
runtime is what the prebuilt GLib, GTK+, GNOME etc Win32 binaries
uses. When building GTK+-using code one really should use the same C
runtime as GTK+ and GLib do, or be *very* careful and know exactly
what one is doing.

 > - what version of VC++ has proper C99 support and when
 >    did it come out

I would assume the versions from 2003, or at least 2005 have such.

 > - is VC++6.0 something wide-spread that needs to be supported?

Hard to say. I would assume that many people who code in C, don't care
for flashy IDEs, don't need .NET, and don't need whatever technologies
that MS might have hyped at various times, haven't really seen any
reason to upgrade.

That doesn't mean I would absolutely demand we keep supporting it (as
a compiler that GTK+/GLib/Pango can be built with), though. Personally
I use gcc. The only think I envy MSVC users for is faster compile
times, and a nicer debugger. (I don't have anything against gdb as
such, I only wish there was a less buggy build of it available for
Win32... Maybe I need to look harder.)

--tml