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I understand that the "mm" suffix [in various GTK-associated C++ binding libraries] means "minus minus," but where exactly does it come from?
I understand that there is a programming language called "C--," but if there were bindings (and I'm pretty sure I've seen some), they would be suffixed "--".
TL;DR: Is there some page on gnu.org that explains the "mm" suffix in various C++ bindings or is it just a de facto standard adopted by the open source community with no reasoning behind it?
gtkmm was originally named gtk-- because GTK+ already has a + in the name. However, as -- is not easily indexed by search engines the package generally went by the name gtkmm, and that's what we stuck with.
--. But, alas, I've not seen one (and "Voices are" doesn't cut it).
Jan 1, 2016 at 17:32
--originally came from the strongly opinionated view that C was a superior language and C++ was just a necessary evil. It was then changed inmmfor the reasons stated in @Stephen's answer.--because it subtracts so much of the boilerplate tedium associated with using plain Cgtk/glib. I'm very impressed by what they managed to do with C, but let's not pretend it looks nice. But until someone provides a proper explanation, my guess is no better than yours - although at least I properly qualified it as a guess.