I agree and we are saying the same thing. There was no C++ compiler, the C++ language was processed by cfront, similar to the preprocessor and include compile phase. AT&T supplied cfront. The language spec was changing. I wrote applications with it, not checking "language lawyer" syntax problems. I wrote general feedback on performance, and things that would make the language practical. It is hard to describe those days, but concepts of object-oriented programming were new to many people, and I was quite interested in building actual applications. The linker was the common linker for multiple other languages, like gcc today.