Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

Thinking in C++
Prev Contents / Index Next

Alternate linkage specifications

What happens if you’re writing a program in C++ and you want to use a C library? If you make the C function declaration,

float f(int a, char b);

the C++ compiler will decorate this name to something like _f_int_char to support function overloading (and type-safe linkage). However, the C compiler that compiled your C library has most definitely not decorated the name, so its internal name will be _f. Thus, the linker will not be able to resolve your C++ calls to f( ).

The escape mechanism provided in C++ is the alternate linkage specification, which was produced in the language by overloading the extern keyword. The extern is followed by a string that specifies the linkage you want for the declaration, followed by the declaration:

extern "C" float f(int a, char b);

This tells the compiler to give C linkage to f( ) so that the compiler doesn’t decorate the name. The only two types of linkage specifications supported by the standard are “C” and “C++,” but compiler vendors have the option of supporting other languages in the same way.

If you have a group of declarations with alternate linkage, put them inside braces, like this:

extern "C" {
  float f(int a, char b);
  double d(int a, char b);
} 

Or, for a header file,

extern "C" {
#include "Myheader.h"
} 

Most C++ compiler vendors handle the alternate linkage specifications inside their header files that work with both C and C++, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Thinking in C++
Prev Contents / Index Next

 
 
   Reproduced courtesy of Bruce Eckel, MindView, Inc. Design by Interspire