CompuServe Messages

This is a nature of C++. Without going into much explanation, function names in C++ are "mangled" in order to differentiate between similar named functions in different classes. Because these names are exported [by the linker] you must use a same compiler that "mangles" a function name the same way. This is the reason. Unless another compiler mangles the names in the same way VC++ does, you must use it to generate DLL's for MAX. It is possible, however, to write, using VC++, an interface plugin. This would allow anyone to write anything using any language. A direct plug-in for MAX will have to be written using VC++ as they are classes derived from MAX (which was written with VC++). That, in itself, does not mean you couldn't write a plug-in in Algol, provided you also write an interface for it.