What are Vectors and < > in C?

Question

I was looking at the source code for gcc (out of curiosity), and I noticed a data structure that I've never seen in C before.

At line 80 and 129 (and many other places) in the parser, they seem to be using vectors.

80:  vec<tree> incomplete_record_decls;
129: ridpointers = ggc_cleared_vec_alloc<tree> ((int) RID_MAX);

I've never encountered this data type in C, nor these: < >. Are they native to C?

Does anyone know what they are and how they are used?

Answer 1

Despite the .c filename, this code is not valid C; it is C++, using that language's template feature. If you inspect the gcc build process, you will find that this file is actually compiled with a C++ compiler.

https://gcc.gnu.org/codingconventions.html

The directories gcc, libcpp and fixincludes may use C++03. They may also use the long long type if the host C++ compiler supports it. These directories should use reasonably portable parts of C++03, so that it is possible to build GCC with C++ compilers other than GCC itself. If testing reveals that reasonably recent versions of non-GCC C++ compilers cannot compile GCC, then GCC code should be adjusted accordingly. (Avoiding unusual language constructs helps immensely.) Furthermore, these directories should also be compatible with C++11.

Keep in mind that although compilers will usually by default infer a source file's language from its filename, this default can always be overridden. It is entirely possible to have C++ code in a .c file, or C code in a .bas file for that matter; you just may have to tell the compiler some other way what language is in use.

I expect that gcc chose this file naming convention because this code was originally written in C and later converted to C++, and they found it too much of a pain to change all the filenames. It would mean a lot of work to update all the makefiles, etc. It may have been less of a pain to just change which compiler was used, and to explain the convention to all the developers. Of course, in general it is better programming practice to name your files in the standard way, but apparently the gcc developers felt it was not the best course of action in this case.

Answer 2

GCC has moved from C to C++ since GCC 4.8

GCC now uses C++ as its implementation language. This means that to build GCC from sources, you will need a C++ compiler that understands C++ 2003. For more details on the rationale and specific changes, please refer to the C++ conversion page.

GCC 4.8 Release Series - Changes, New Features, and Fixes

The work has actually begun long before that, with the creation of gcc-in-cxx branch. The developers first tried to compile the source code with a C++ compiler, so there weren't any name changes. I guess they didn't bother to rename the files later when merging the two branches and officially have only one C++ branch

You can read GCC's move to C++ for more historical information