Chrome Browser Beta Now Supports C, C++ Apps

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Oh gawd, now they can look forward to memory leaks, BSODs and virii... These things should really be done in either a managed language like Vala, or something like Perl or Python.
 
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I think Google's marketing plan is to have their own OS and browser tied to their eco system. Very similar to Apple's vision back in the 90's. However, even Apple finally decided you can't compete unless you make steps towards opponent. When Apple trashed the Power PC chip and adopted Intel chips. It brought so many opportunities for Apple. The ability to have a Mac and run Windows was one of the biggies. Google however is choosing a more closed system then Apple had.
 

Kamab

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@jescott, I really doubt that. Google's goal always has been to have their web apps and software be available on all platforms. They don't make money off of "locking you" into their closed system the way that apple does. They make money through advertising, which means support for Java apps is probably not going away any time soon.

So much so is this true that they spent millions showing smartphone developers how to make a good android smartphone to improve competition in the market (and to encourage development of android phones).

I'm curious what you are basing your assumptions off of.
 

wifiwolf

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The first thing that came to my mind was that Google is getting really serious about making Chrome an OS in the browser.
 

cheepstuff

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Considering that this is Chrome, Google is probably looking for a logical way to introduce optimizations into their browser by allowing developers to write in an unmanaged language. This seems like a step backwards in some ways because a managed language more simple syntactically, naturally allows for less bugs (particularly in the dreaded memory realm) and is all around far easier to write than the lower level counterpart. One glaring problem with browser apps, however, is it can never compete with an application in performance. An app created for a browser has an associated overhead because it, by being a script parsed by an application, is necessarily several more steps removed from the processor than a program compiled to native calls in the first place. This feature would erode the performance disadvantage that browser developers occasionally have to struggle with. Naturally, it makes sense that Google would have an interest in introducing a way to have high-performance applications on a browser because, if it works, this would be a feature foundational to Chrome OS, their browser-based operating system.

As far as this taking over conventional browser development, like javascript, there is no chance of that. This would only be a useful tool for a developer trying to get more performance than the traditional script can offer. In any other case, it would not be worth the effort.

The thing I don't understand however, is unless these programs are wrapped in some sort of local API or library suite, aren't they just introducing a huge target for virus exploit?
 

ojas

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Been wondering the same as others have, viruses may be an issue this way...i'm even scared of the potential bugs, one unnoticed bug makes it's way through and we'd be stuck in an infinite loop! :D
 

martel80

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[citation][nom]viriii[/nom]Oh gawd, now they can look forward to memory leaks, BSODs and virii... These things should really be done in either a managed language like Vala, or something like Perl or Python.[/citation]
Garbage collection is necessary only for garbage programmers.
Additionally, C++ has auto pointers.
 
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imo, this will be a decision that makes a turn in OS history. especially mobile's one
Google is threatening Apple and Microsoft with the same stone.
imagine all those C++ applications working in a browser online, with the coming of cloud; im sure its gonna be a winner.
good strategy ras Al'Google.
 

razor512

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does that mean we can write malware and have it simply run in the browser instead of having to make something that has to exploit the browser and do privilege escalation on the OS.

If you are ok with c++ but not java script, you can write something that will cause the browser to bruteforce the login of the users router and change the DNS servers to something malicious, especially if it allows more functionality than java script.
 

annymmo

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Wouldn't NaCl be better used to compile javascript to C++ and then executable code?
This way it works immediately for everything.
 

mjpereira76

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[citation][nom]martel80[/nom]Garbage collection is necessary only for garbage programmers.Additionally, C++ has auto pointers.[/citation]

Pure ignorance. You are either an old school programmer whose skills are no longer needed and stuck in the past or you just don't know much about anything programming related.
 
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What exactly is the difference between this and an activeX control written in c/c++?
 

calinkula

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[citation][nom]martel80[/nom]Garbage collection is necessary only for garbage programmers.Additionally, C++ has auto pointers.[/citation]

AHHH HA HA HA HA HA...... You're killing me..... AAAAHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..... with laughter... AAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ha ha ha ha ha........ can't breathe......
 
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cnoo13/jorerr, can I come to your house and club you over the head with a golf club and then take a 20-lb sledge to all of your electronics equipment?
 

husker

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[citation][nom]kitchen_table[/nom]NaCl a.k.a Salt. Thus, you get Salt & Pepper. Get it?[/citation]
That was my first thought. I was really surprised that someone could write this article and not use that fact to demonstrate their writing skill and wit. I mean, it was handed to them on a Ag platter!
 

doorspawn

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From the article, NaCl is sandboxed. I can't be bothered looking up how.
But, just like virtualization, it is possible to redirect system calls from directly-executed machine code, including those that manage memory. In this way you can prevent excess memory use and stop virii. Since the C++ code will be running in a separate thread or process, lockups won't lock up chrome.

Also, garbage collection is for programmers that are happy to accept performance hits (that only matter in large programs) in exchange for an easier-to-understand and somewhat safer model that is also slightly more succinct, (although arguably less elegant) than C++'s RAII templates.
I prefer not to use GC, but I have no issue with GC users who don't have issue with non-GC users.
 
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