Hello guys,

I've begun research for coding a cross-platform, portable game engine (rendering engine at first). Before you ask, this engine is not because I want to build a specific game with it, it is more of an exercise, a general purpose rendering engine and then game engine that can be used on a multitude of platforms.

When I'm thinking about portable, I don't just want it to be for Windows/Linux/Mac, but also for portable devices like IPhone, Android and other known and well established platforms.

The problem is that I recently read a book (an OpenGL ES programming guide) released in 2008 in which it states that C++ is not supported very well on a multitude of mobile platforms, and it is better to choose C as a programming language for them.

I worked using both of them for more than 10 years now and I'm experienced with both, that is not an issue, however, writing a full blown game engine in C can be a difficult task, and C++ looks much more fit for developing such a software package.

My question is: should I go on with C++, hoping that more and more platforms will support it fully or go with C, and which are the arguments behind your advice?

Thanks.

Well, in the opengl es 2.0 programming guide I've read about, on page 342, there are the following issues stated:

- lack of RTTI support on some
- lack of exceptions support on some
- some platforms don't have STL
- lack of multiple inheritance on some platforms

link to book: http://www.amazon.com/OpenGL-ES-2-0-Programming-Guide/dp/0321502795/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283362309&sr=8-1

[Edited by - meeshoo on September 1, 2010 12:21:27 PM]

Thanks for all your replies, it was very helpful. I will continue then with C/C++ combo that always works best, leaving fancy C++ stuff aside, but benefiting from objects, polymorphism, encapsulation and so on.

Thanks again.

Don't worry about it, I have a lot of experience with both (ranging from Windows drivers to desktop applications). Giving up some features of C++ in order to maintain compatibility won't hurt that much.

Quote:Original post by yckx

Quote:Original post by Echkard
C++ is a superset of C.

This isn't strictly true. Rather, C++ was designed with the aim to be compatible with C code, but it's not a perfect compatibility--there are subtle differences. Approaching C++ as if it were C with classes will ultimately lead you astray.

Edit: Here's some material on the subject.

Here's a more dedicated link, some of you will be shocked: Are You Ready For C99?

Excerpt:

Variadic Macros

void realdprintf (char const *file, int line, char const *fmt, ...); #define dprintf(...) realdprintf(__FILE__, __LINE__, __VA_ARGS__)

(taken from here)

Variable Length Arrays

void foo (int x) {    int frob[x];}

Named Initialization (two years before C#, heh)

typedef struct {    int alpha;    int bravo;} Foo;Foo foo = { .bravo = 1, .alpha = 5 };

"Struct Hack" Support
See this.

And some more.


And to lead "C++ is a superset of C" ad absurdum in a freaking glimpse: You can't use "class" as an identifier for a variable in C++ :D