[Numpy-discussion] Does float16 exist?

[David Cournapeau]

Matthieu Brucher wrote:
>
>     > This can also be true of C code unless you use compilers in the same
>     > family.
>     There are also issues, but they are much simpler.
>     > The C++ name mangling can be worked around.
>     name mangling is just the top of the iceberg. There are problems
>     wrt to
>     static initialization, exception, etc...; ABI compatibility is much
>     easier to break in C++ than in C. And then, there is the problem
>     of C++
>     ability of compilers.
>
>
>
> This is no longer the case, sincerely. I use C++ compilers from 
> different vendors for some time, and I had almost no problem safe from 
> some template depth issues.
C++ ability is not so much a problem with recent compilers, I agree. But 
not all platforms are or can use a recent C++ compiler. In particular, 
proprietary UNIX. Now, maybe that's something we do not want to support. 
If we limit ourselves to gcc 4 and recent intel/MS compilers, then this 
issue indeed is moot, at least for basic things.

cheers,

David