Will The New WPILib and WindRiver Support the New C++11 Standard?

[davidthefat]

Will The New WPILib and WindRiver Support the New C++11 Standard?

[jtdowney]

That would be dependent on if WindRiver updates their product to use a newer version of GCC. I do not have WindRiver installed on this computer so I am not sure what the current version it is using.

Fortunately a large number of the new C++11 features have already made it into GCC over the years. You can see their supported feature list for more information. There is also a good comparison of how much other C++ compliers support C++11 already.

[AustinSchuh]

Originally Posted by jtdowney

That would be dependent on if WindRiver updates their product to use a newer version of GCC. I do not have WindRiver installed on this computer so I am not sure what the current version it is using.

3.4.4 last time I checked (might be a slightly different version though since I pulled mine from the NI site), and very unlikely to change.

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by jtdowney

That would be dependent on if WindRiver updates their product to use a newer version of GCC. I do not have WindRiver installed on this computer so I am not sure what the current version it is using.

Fortunately a large number of the new C++11 features have already made it into GCC over the years. You can see their supported feature list for more information. There is also a good comparison of how much other C++ compliers support C++11 already.

Yea, I've been using the new C++11 standards on linux. So, it is a slim chance that they would actually support the new version. Now, there is a way to use the new GCC 4.x versions on WindRiver right? I thought they had their own compiler instead of GCC.

[jtdowney]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

I thought they had their own compiler instead of GCC.

There are actually few C++ compilers and it takes an enormous investment to develop your own. Even if you did you would still be decades behind GCC in terms of optimization. Most companies, especially in the the embedded space, will either use a stock copy of GCC or slightly modify it for their needs and release their changes per the GPL.

[AustinSchuh]

I have a couple patches to GCC 4.5.3 that work for me. I have compiled code on Linux using the latest stdlibc++ that can be loaded onto the cRIO and will run correctly. I have enough notes in the form of a script that should build everything correctly, but it is a bit rough around the edges and not many people will be able to answer any questions if you run into problems.

Windriver has their own compiler, and uses GCC.

[taichichuan]

I wouldn't hold my breath on C++11 from the WRS Workbench. I think we're still using VxWorks 6.3 on the cRIO for 2012. Perhaps one of the beta test teams would care to comment? What version do you have for the 2012 beta?

Remarkably, in the professional world, VxWorks 6.3 was one of the versions to be skipped due to bugs and problems with the workbench itself. Most commercial companies skipped 6.3 and waited for 6.4. Of course, the big problem for FIRST with 6.3 is that 64-bit platforms (most laptops purchased in the past 2 years) are not officially supported. So, using Workbench on Windows 7 64-bit is sketchy at best. For me, most of it seems to work except the ability to deploy code to the cRIO. For that I have to use Filezilla. Others who have tried Workbench on 64-bit platforms have met with various failures.

HTH,

Mike