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EDG C++ front-end goes public

249 points · 129 comments · iandinwoodie

  1. jabl · · focus · HN ↗
    What's not mentioned in the announcement (at least based on a quick skim) is that EDG the company is winding down, which is likely the reason why they're open sourcing the front end.

    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Edison_Design_Group" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Edison_Design_Group ref 9: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;herbsutter.com&#x2F;2025&#x2F;11&#x2F;10&#x2F;trip-report-november-2025-iso-c-standards-meeting-kona-usa&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;herbsutter.com&#x2F;2025&#x2F;11&#x2F;10&#x2F;trip-report-november-2025-...

    1. vlovich123 · · focus · HN ↗
      &gt; John was the most vocal person pointing out technical problems with the feature; the committee decided it did not agree and standardized the feature anyway over his and EDG’s sustained objections; and then instead of sitting back and saying “we told you so,” EDG ended up being the only company in the world who ever implemented the feature! To add a sense of proportion: It took the same team longer to implement just the C++98 export template feature than to implement a compiler front-end for the entire Java language. But John and EDG went and did it, to support the committee’s consensus decision… only to have the committee remove export template again a few years later, because John and EDG had been right about the feature’s problems. That’s a model of solid professional behavior.

      Yes, but no reflection on the burn out this causes for the c++ community?

      1. watinthedeutsch · · focus · HN ↗
        EDG has been consistently the most vocal opposers of anything that goes in the language, and in recent years had stopped keeping up. The `export` thign was an exception.
        1. fg137 · · focus · HN ↗
          Doesn&#x27;t make sense. C&#x2F;C++ static analyzers wouldn&#x27;t be using EDG if it can&#x27;t keep up with the language.
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