char *'s, structs, and other C madness... (Score 1)

I don't think people use char *'s and structs and write
their own vectors because they are too lazy to use the
STL. It seems like so many compilers don't even come
with it!! We use Sun's C++ compiler and it comes
bundled with RogueWave instead, and frankly RogueWave
sucks, especially if you are trying to write code that
ports to win32. Frustration with mediocre libs is what
drives me to use my own low-level C constructs.

* Bjarne writes:
*
* The compatibility with C at the system interface level
* has encouraged people to use C-style strings, arrays,
* and structs, where they would have been better off
* with some higher-level abstractions presented as
* classes or templates. Instead of leaving the low-level
* facilities at the system level and within the
* implementations of classes, people have let the
* low-level constructs - and pointers to them -
* permeate their designs. Type errors, wild pointers,
* array bounds errors, and memory leaks are the obvious
* results. Lots of macros and casts often adds to the
* obscurity of the code. It saddens me to see some of
* the unnecessary messes people get themselves into.