History of <String.h>

[durcott]

Hi - can anyone provide a brief history lesson?

In 1997 (!) I was using a 'String' class, with methods such as after() and at(), which also bundled a RegEx class. This was on a Linux box, which I'm fairly sure had Suse 5 or 6 on it.

Looking at the old code, I can tell that the RegExp facility was very similar to that provided in Borland C++. (There's a small amount of conditional typedef code that lets our 'myString' wrapper work on Windows.)

I've found an old document on the web which describes it. http://www.math.utah.edu/docs/info/libg++_19.html, written in 1996.

I've not touched C++ since then, and find myself wanting to get back into it.

Unless I'm mistaken, this extended String class no longer exists. (It's not in my Slackware 12 distro) In fact, I can only find references to the old regex C library in the current docs.

Could anyone give me a bit of a potted timeline on what's happened in string class land since then, and what's the best place to pick up the Regex thread again. (If it's even relevant now that is)

Thanks

Jeff

[Duthomhas]

This is all I know.
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/g++-FAQ/plain/

The old GNU String class is in the libg++ -- this was before the ISO C++ standard was ratified and before the STL was created/finalized.

The libg++ is not actively maintained anymore, so if you really want to compile old stuff, you'll have to find an old 2.x version of the GCC compiler, or the egcs compiler.

Hope this helps.

[durcott]

Thanks Duoas,

THat was very useful. I hadn't realized the role libg++ had in those days.

It'll be 'fun' to reorganise the code to work with the current standards.