A working draft of the standard for the next revision of the C programming language, referred to for now as “C2x,” is now available for review.

Most of the changes thus far approved for C2x don’t involve adding new features, but instead clarify and refine how C should behave in different implementations and with regard to its bigger brother C++. The emphasis on refinement is in line with how previous revisions to C—C11 and most recently C17—have unfolded.

[ Git essentials: Get started with Git version control. • 20 essential pointers for Git and GitHub. | Keep up with hot topics in programming with InfoWorld’s App Dev Report newsletter. ]

As described in the C2x Charter, the plan strongly emphasizes keeping future editions of the language compatible with the large body of existing C code, and to avoid (although not totally rule out) “quiet changes” or changes “that cause a working program to work differently without notice.”

To read this article in full, please click here