[groff] 04/06: HACKING: Add section about C++ dialect used.

[G. Branden Robinson]

gbranden pushed a commit to branch master
in repository groff.

commit 9aeb25f4f777a1f2bc3ef5c5de2137cded0728e6
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
AuthorDate: Sat Jun 10 22:43:56 2023 -0500

    HACKING: Add section about C++ dialect used.
    
    Also add editor aid "comments", like other top-level plain text files.
---
 HACKING | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+)

diff --git a/HACKING b/HACKING
index 3e1b9fd2d..6b6c449e5 100644
--- a/HACKING
+++ b/HACKING
@@ -10,6 +10,19 @@ system and build groff using the instructions in 
'INSTALL.repo'.
 Familiarize yourself with the structure of the source tree by studying
 its 'MANIFEST' file at the top level.
 
+Implementation languages
+------------------------
+
+Beyond what is said under "Dependencies" in 'INSTALL.extra',
+contributors should note that due to the age of the code base, much of
+the C++ dialect employed by groff components, while standard, is older
+than C++98--closer to Annotated Reference Manual C++ (Ellis, Stroustrup;
+Addison-Wesley, 1990).  groff implements its own string class and the
+Standard Template Library is little used.  A modest effort is underway
+to update the code to more idiomatic C++98.  Where a C++11 feature
+promises to be advantageous, it may be annotated in a code comment.
+
+
 Automake
 --------
 
@@ -155,3 +168,11 @@ Here are some portability notes on writing automated tests.
     N;/Foo[. ][. ]*1/p;
     };
     }
+
+
+##### Editor settings
+Local Variables:
+fill-column: 72
+mode: text
+End:
+vim: set autoindent textwidth=72: