I was reading through the discussion of the api-style (draft two) for Allegro 5. And if I'm correct, Allegro 5 will be prefix functions with al_, Al_ or Al. I personally prefere the first, but that's beyond the scope of this thread.

The problem I see with this, is that OpenAL already does this. Exactly. So this could create some confusion couldn't it?

OpenAL prefixes functions with "al" and constants with AL_. What happens if Allegro does the same and someone uses both libraries together? (Which is not as far-fetched as you would think.)

What's your thoughts on this?

It's pointed out in the article that Allegro 5 will have no C++ (unless I missed something) and will therefor have no namespaces.

[edit]

Took me a sec to find it again (it's quite big).

There will only be a problem if OpenAL and Allegro have an identically named identifier. No problems otherwise.

Oh, and one of the UWIP's (Uber Work In Progress) for Allegro 5 uses C++ in the core for the driver system. but exposes a C and C++ compatable API to the user.

The C++ thing is for internals only. The Allegro API will remain C only.

Yes, we do know prefixes still have issues: OpenAL uses the same ones, and so do several other libraries. It's not something we can really avoid - there simply is no way to isolate expoerted C code.

(edit: s/OpenGL/OpenAL/)

all my wisdom tells me C++ internal and C extern is a REALISTIC WORKABLE SOLUTION.

those 3 words are VERY important.

as for AL_ i suggest alg_ much better chance of it avoiding name conflicts.

Just to be sure, it should be allegro_game_programming_library_. No confusion could possibly arise from such a prefix.

Bob! Let's just port Allegro to C# and only support C# that way, EVERYONE is happy! Namespaces! Circular dependances! It's heaven!

Back to sanity:

I don't think it'll matter much either 23, but to be sure, I thought I'd ask here, just incase is hasn't been thought about.

I still don't understand the aversion to C++ to begin with. Clearly people who use C ONLY won't be able to use C++ code. But who is so hardcore C that they don't use C++? Is there really anyone out there who refuses to use C++? (which has been standardized as of 2 years ago) If these strange and illusive people are out there maybe someone should slap them back to reality.

I prefer to use C over C++ for any project that I'm going to be doing solo. If I wanted C++ Allegro, I could create a wrapper of sorts around any features that I really cared to have as OOP.

You are shallow minded if you think C++ is always better than C. There's more out there than just high-end PCs, and there's more than just large scale projects that benefit from OOP.

Question:
The, a C++ compiler will be required to compile Allegro, even if I only want to use it for C coding (and thus, I don't have the C++ stuff) ?

I mean, for example, If I only have installed GCC, but not GPP, it will still be possible to compile Allegro?

I hardly use C++ at all. The only reason I'm writing C++ code at the moment is because I had a good use for object inheritance and constructor/destructor functions.
I still prefer to use C or C-like constructions for a lot of things though.

It being standardized is not an issue. FORTRAN has been standardized over twenty-five years ago, and I don't actively use that either.

anyway, what can C++ do that C cant ?

C++ is offering some higher level coding, what you use depends on what suits you best.
Some people don't understand some of this stuff, and others just don't like the way it's done.