Re: [boost] On splitting headers (Re:Objectionstoremovingtheoldsmartpointerclasstemplates?)

From: Thomas Witt (witt_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-02-06 09:05:36

On Wednesday 06 February 2002 01:57, you wrote:
> At 04:29 PM 2/5/2002, vesa_karvonen wrote:
>  >> *  Increased errors by experienced programmers.  Experienced
>  >> programmers recover immediately, but still complain of what is seen
>  >> as an unnecessary burden.  The STL headers have been cited as
>  >> specific examples of overly fine-grained headers.
>  >
>  >...splitting existing headers does indeed cause some grief. That is
>  >why headers should be atomic in the first place. Then there will be
>  >no grief caused by change as is happening now with Boost.
>  >
>  >I'd like to see references to articles/whatever that complain about
>  >STL headers being overly fine-grained. Not that I would doubt such
>  >would exist, because I can certainly imagine some people complaining
>  >about the subject.
>
> The C++ committee's LWG has been discussing headers recently.  I think that
> Bjarne was the most recent person to complain about the stl headers.  There
> is some discussion about providing a single <stl> to deal with that.  There
> is also discussion of a <std> header which includes all the C and C++
> standard headers.
>

I am quite astonished cause this is the exact opposite of what I am 
experiencing in day to day work. I never heard anybody complaining about to 
fine grained headers in stl, but there are frequent complaints about missing 
forward decl's and the not so fine grained headers. Most people I talk to try 
to have fine grained headers in their projects. I can't think of a reasonable 
application for a behemoth like <boost>, <stl> or even <std>.

If it comes to teaching and ease of use the fine grained approach provides 
real benefits. To me it's no problem remembering to include a map if I use a 
map(a one on one mapping really helps), problems arise if I have to remember 
pair is in <utility> or auto_ptr is in <memory>.

That's just my personal opinion. I'd like to cast my vote for fine grained 
headers.

Thomas

-- 
Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Witt
Institut fuer Verkehrswesen, Eisenbahnbau und -betrieb, Universitaet Hannover
voice: [phone] - 4273, fax: [phone]
http://www.ive.uni-hannover.de