Editing Acorn Archimedes (section)

====C++====
Acorn's [[C++]] strategy was the subject of a degree of criticism. Initially, the company announced the availability of [[AT&T]]'s [[CFront]] to its registered developer community, this translating C++ code for further compilation by Acorn's Desktop C product.<ref name="acornuser199312_cfront">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser137-Dec93/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Object oriented C | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1993 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=9 }}</ref> Acorn followed up by offering a new product, replacing Desktop C, that integrated CFront 3.0 to support C and C++ compilation, albeit without support for exceptions.<ref name="acornuser199503_compiler">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser153-Mar95/page/n86/mode/1up | title=Acorn C++ compiler launched | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1995 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Matthewman | first1=David | pages=87 }}</ref> Feedback from developers had been negative, however, citing poor-quality code and slow compilation times, with developers apparently wanting "a true native C++ compiler with good RISC OS environment support".<ref name="acornuser199504_compiler">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser154-Apr95/page/n12/mode/1up | title=Acorn criticised for C++ solution | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1995 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=13 }}</ref> Despite the adoption of C++ [[Library (computing)#Class libraries|class libraries]] on other platforms, Acorn chose to provide user interface component functionality using a collection of modules, known as the Toolbox, accessible at the system call level instead.<ref name="acornuser199508_desktop">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser158-Aug95/page/n44/mode/1up | title=Acorn C/C++ | magazine=Acorn User | date=August 1995 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Mumford | first1=Steve | pages=45–46 }}</ref>
Apart from a port of the [[GNU]] C++ compiler, itself requiring at least 4&nbsp;MB of RAM to run,<ref name="acornuser199508_desktop"/> the only significant competition to Acorn's C and C++ products were the Easy C and Easy C++ products from Beebug, with the former being announced in late 1993 as a Risc Developments product costing £49 plus VAT.<ref name="acornuser199311_easy_c">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser136-Nov93/page/n13/mode/1up | title=Easy Life | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1993 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=10 }}</ref> Priced significantly less than Acorn's compiler, Easy C provided a narrower range of tools, lacking the debugger of Acorn's product in particular, and had also not been validated as conforming to the [[ANSI]] language standard, unlike Acorn's compiler. Nevertheless, it did provide the essential compiler, assembler, linker and build tools, aiming to be "an easy to use C development system aimed at the lower end of the market".<ref name="acornuser199401_easy_c">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser138-Jan94/page/n54/mode/1up | title=Take it easy with C | magazine=Acorn User | date=January 1994 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Craig-Wood | first1=Nick | pages=55–56 }}</ref> In late 1994, Beebug followed up by announcing Easy C++ in advance of the availability of Acorn's own C++ product. Easy C++ compiled C++ source code directly to ARM object code and supported both templates and exceptions. It was priced at £99 plus VAT or £49 plus VAT as an upgrade from Easy C.<ref name="acornuser199412_beebug">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser149-Dec94/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Beebug launches C++ compiler | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1994 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=9 }}</ref> The product was seemingly positively received, with the developers having "achieved the target they set themselves" by delivering a native C++ compiler, although the lack of updated documentation and the need for further development to improve the product were also identified.<ref name="acornuser199511_beebug">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser161-Nov95/page/n84/mode/1up | title=Easy C++ | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1995 | access-date=9 August 2022 | last1=Craig-Wood | first1=Nick | pages=85 }}</ref>

Ultimately, the stated lack of a suitable C++ compiler and accompanying class libraries for the platform led prominent development houses to focus on products for other platforms and to abandon plans to release new software for RISC OS. In 1994, [[Mark Colton]] of Colton Software criticised Acorn for not complementing its C compiler with "C toolbox" libraries to assist with application development, and regarded Acorn as being "at a standstill" relative to broader development tool trends such as the introduction of [[Visual Basic]] and the increasing adoption of C++ together with class libraries for application development.<ref name="acornuser199412_I_wrote_that"/> Charles Moir of Computer Concepts justified the development of Xara Studio, a graphics application described as effectively "ArtWorks for the PC",<ref name="acornuser199410_camelot">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser147-Oct94/page/n16/mode/1up | title=CC wizardry on the PC | magazine=Acorn User | date=October 1994 | access-date=9 August 2022 | pages=17 }}</ref> indicating that only the larger market for Windows software could make the necessary investment in such a sophisticated application worthwhile. Since Windows development could leverage C++ and platform-specific class libraries, Computer Concepts had expected Acorn to deliver comparable tools and resources to make the development of such software possible on the Acorn platform "to no avail".<ref name="archimedean1995_moir">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Archimedean_Issue_11_1995_Computer_Concepts_GB/page/n1/mode/1up | title=Comment | magazine=The Archimedean | date=1995 | issue=11 | last1=Moir | first1=Charles | pages=1 }}</ref> Ben Finn of Sibelius Software indicated that Sibelius 7 had been a "completely new piece of software" written in C++, in contrast to earlier versions written in assembly language, primarily due to the difficulties of implementing requested features in such a low-level language. The portability of C++ software also permitted Sibelius to be made available for the PC and Mac platforms. However, with Acorn unable to provide a suitably updated C++ development suite, the company was unable to deliver its new product on RISC OS.<ref name="acornuser199904_finn">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser206-Apr99/page/n72/mode/1up | title='Sibelius finished' Part II | magazine=Acorn User | last1=Finn | first1=Ben | pages=73 }}</ref>