gnustandards standards.texi

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /sources/gnustandards
Module name:    gnustandards
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       13/07/19 15:59:37

Modified files:
        .              : standards.texi 

Log message:
        Update the statement about which languages to use.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/gnustandards/standards.texi?cvsroot=gnustandards&r1=1.227&r2=1.228

Patches:
Index: standards.texi
===================================================================
RCS file: /sources/gnustandards/gnustandards/standards.texi,v
retrieving revision 1.227
retrieving revision 1.228
diff -u -b -r1.227 -r1.228
--- standards.texi      27 Apr 2013 15:44:35 -0000      1.227
+++ standards.texi      19 Jul 2013 15:59:37 -0000      1.228
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 @setfilename standards.info
 @settitle GNU Coding Standards
 @c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
address@hidden lastupdate April 27, 2013
address@hidden lastupdate July 19, 2013
 @c %**end of header
 
 @dircategory GNU organization
@@ -291,34 +291,11 @@
 @cindex programming languages
 
 When you want to use a language that gets compiled and runs at high
-speed, the best language to use is C.  Using another language is like
-using a non-standard feature: it will cause trouble for users.  Even if
-GCC supports the other language, users may find it inconvenient to have
-to install the compiler for that other language in order to build your
-program.  For example, if you write your program in C++, people will
-have to install the GNU C++ compiler in order to compile your program.
-
-C has one other advantage over C++ and other compiled languages: more
-people know C, so more people will find it easy to read and modify the
-program if it is written in C.
-
-So in general it is much better to use C, rather than the
-comparable alternatives.
-
-But there are two exceptions to that conclusion:
-
address@hidden @bullet
address@hidden
-It is no problem to use another language to write a tool specifically
-intended for use with that language.  That is because the only people
-who want to build the tool will be those who have installed the other
-language anyway.
-
address@hidden
-If an application is of interest only to a narrow part of the community,
-then the question of which language it is written in has less effect on
-other people, so you may as well please yourself.
address@hidden itemize
+speed, the best language to use is C.  C++ is ok too, but please don't
+make heavy use of templates.  Other languages commonly used in the
+free softwre community, such as Java, Python and Ruby, are ok too.
+Please implement the GNU configure and make interface no matter which
+language you use.
 
 Many programs are designed to be extensible: they include an interpreter
 for a language that is higher level than C.  Often much of the program
@@ -333,8 +310,8 @@
 Guile also includes bindings for GTK+/GNOME, making it practical to
 write modern GUI functionality within Guile.  We don't reject programs
 written in other ``scripting languages'' such as Perl and Python, but
-using Guile is very important for the overall consistency of the GNU
-system.
+using Guile is the path that will lead to overall consistency of the
+GNU system.
 
 
 @node Compatibility