On Sat, Mar 1, 2025, 7:07 PM G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> wrote:

Did Sun's proprietary C compiler also handle C++ at that time?

Yes. They had a cfront interim release that we tested, but their SUNWpro

compiler later replaced it with something better, but I don't recall the exact

details. I do recall SUNWpro was pickier than the older pcc + cfront one

that we used before.

If it did, it _still_ might have made sense, because while I was only
barely conscious of the C++ marketplace at the time, with the language's
standardization nigh (for definitions of "nigh" stretching out many more
years than anyone planned), Sun's compiler guys might have feared giving
up mindshare and influence on the future ISO C++ to Borland or
Microsoft.

SUNWpro compilers pre-date any standardization efforts... The ARM

was in this time, and C++ was struggling to finalize enough things to

make it worthwhile to get it to ISO/ANSI.

The foregoing speculative concern is consistent with the speed of Sun's
pivot to Oak/Java around the time Microsoft showed that (1) Windows NT
was going to block further penetration of Unix into the server OS sector
and substantially erode Unix's place in workstation and high-end PC
configurations _and_ (2) it was going to destroy Borland C++ with Visual
C++ by hook or by crook (the sort of stuff that got Bill Gates haled
into a CSPAN-televised Congressional hearing a few years later, but with
respect to Web browsers).

JAVA post-dates this pivot by a few years...

That said, I'm sure it would surprise no one if the "real reason" turned
out to be a stupid one.

Warner