Just having finished reading the entire topic, I want to just say that I understand why GCC is proposed as "the most feasible choice" for OSDev, but is this really a debate? Ameise merely stated the reasons that he prefers VC++ (and the accompanying IDE, but this is of lesser importance) over GCC for his OS. Even though most of the people here don't agree to that choice or don't see the use of that, doesn't mean that he should be personally attacked for that. I do not think any less of Ameise after this topic, nor will I question his authority or knowledge in further topics on this forum because of this thread (but then again, I may not fall in the "more observant readers" category). It seems as if all his arguments are merely coming forth from personal opinion, rather than facts. I never read any of his posts in this topic stating that GCC is crap or MSVC is the best, he merely expressed his personal preference.Combuster wrote:If it wasn't for the argument, I'll just conclude that you've been purposefully breaking forum rules then. Not that it matters for your reputation anymore.Ameise wrote:insults do not quality as ad hominem attacks, unless the argument itself is an insult. Saying "you're dumb" is not an ad-hominem, but saying "You're wrong because you're dumb" is.
You have three members opposing your point of view, of which two seniors. You have zero supporters. Apparently you need to call us names in an attempt to win the debate. I can't show you the light among this madness, but it'll be obvious to the more observant readers that you have lost this debate.
To get back on topic (well, on topic might not be the right word) and to add to the point of discussion around GCC being designed ("these days") for Linux, I think it's more circumstantial than actually a design choice. GCC is used on, and can target, a load of platforms, but one can't get around the fact that it is shipped with the majority of the Linux distributions out there. One could argue that a consequence of this is that developers using Linux (who are perhaps looking to contribute to a project) lean towards GCC and add features to it. Most of these developers are probably also Linux sympathisants (seeing as "the uninitiated" usually don't use anything other than Windows, and sometimes Macs) and spend more time on features that will sooner or later benefit the OS they are working on, causing these features to develop sooner than other features, making it seem as if it was dedicated to Linux. One could then again argue: if it seems to be dedicated to something (not necessarily Linux) and, be it due to circumstances or not, provides a "favoritism" towards something, is it actually dedicated towards it?
I'm not trying to troll this thread further, but rather to add a different perspective to the previous posts (and hopefully, somehow cool the engines ).