alt Hacker Newswell, shouldn't not-up-to-date code use the corresponding compiler flag instead of someone starting a greenfield project, who might then write outdated code?
well, shouldn't not-up-to-date code use the corresponding compiler flag instead of someone starting a greenfield project, who might then write outdated code?
No? The "corresponding compiler flag" is a new feature. I mean, who told folks at Bell Labs in 1978 how the GCC --std= arguments would work in the coming decades? Legacy code is legacy, it doesn't know it needs to use the correct flags. When it was a greenfield project, it was the default!
Like, think about it: if you think the defaults should be good for greenfield projects, then greenfield projects won't be using the correct flags (because if they are, then the whole argument is specious anyway). And when C++34 shows up, they're going to be broken and we'll have this argument again.
Compatibility is hard. But IMHO C++ and gcc are doing this wrong and C is doing it much better.