Can I have a project that has some parts written in c and other parts written in c++ ? Is this possible ?
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Why make it complex. Pick a language and stick to it!Loki Astari– Loki Astari2010-09-23 12:09:44 +00:00Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 12:09
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@Martin York: I disagree. (1) we should have less rules, not more (2) it gets the computer closer to understanding us (via development of techniques and tools to cope). Granted, not all projects can afford to contribute to this pie-in-the-sky goal ;)sje397– sje3972010-09-23 12:35:50 +00:00Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 12:35
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1Less moving parts less chance of breaking.Loki Astari– Loki Astari2010-09-23 12:42:51 +00:00Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 12:42
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Yes, that's what I meant when I said not all projects can afford to contribute toward the effort of ironing out the kinks: not enough time, motivation, money, whatever. It will obviously introduce some challenges to use more than one language. But it will also provide some valuable lessons and experience.sje397– sje3972010-09-23 13:02:31 +00:00Commented Sep 23, 2010 at 13:02
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6 Answers
Yes.
If you have control of the C code, then inside your C header files you should have:
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
// normal header stuff here
#ifdef __cplusplus
};
#endif
That way they can be properly interpreted when included by both C and CPP code files.
If you include C code in your C++ via a header, and it doesn't include the code above, and you don't have enough control of it to make the necessary modifications, be sure to use e.g.
extern "C" {
#include "some_c_header.h"
};
Note that you can use this as a modifier for declarations too, e.g.:
extern "C" void someFunction();
Note that C++ has this mechanism for importing C functionality. C doesn't have one for importing C++, and trying to include C++ code in a C compilation unit will pretty quickly end in a bunch of error messages. One consequence of this is that your main function will need to be C++.
10 Comments
Björn Pollex
You do not need that when you compile the C code with a C++ compiler.
sje397
No but it's a good idea in any case. This way you can link to code already compiled with a 'plain' C compiler, and your code is more portable.
Mike Seymour
@Space_C0wb0y: compiling C with a C++ compiler is a bad idea, since valid C often isn't valid C++.
Björn Pollex
@Mike: That is true, but, as the link in my answer explains, it can be made to work if you can change the C-code (restrict it to the part of C that is a subset of C++), and that might even be beneficial for the quality of the code.
sje397
@Martin York: fixed the guard. Ty.
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You need a compiler that can compile both languages (I have not heard of a C++ compiler that cannot do that), or compile them with a fitting compiler each and link them (in which case the answer of @sje397 applies). There is a good explanation on the subject in the C++ FAQ Lite.
1 Comment
Loki Astari
Yet most build systems will use the compiler appropriate for the language. Thus they will use the C compiler to compile the C code and the C++ compiler to compile the C++ code (even if the C++ compiler can potentially compile the C code). This is the standard behavior of all build systems (Make/Visual Studio/Eclipse etc).
How to mix C and C++:
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/mixing-c-and-cpp.html
Comments
Yes it is very much possible. In fact usually legacy systems refactored later on usually have legacy code which is C as the core but with C++ wrappers on top of it.
Comments
Yes you can. C++ is mainly a superset of C. There might be some exceptions, but for the most part it is quite normal to include stuff written in C in your C++ projects.
2 Comments
Loki Astari
Mainly being the operative word. The weird gotcha's will kill you.
Daren Thomas
But the weird gotcha's is what makes C++ fun... It's called OOP :p
Yes, you can have a project with both C and C++ code.
