Boost logo

Boost :

From: Andy Glew (glew_at_[hidden])
Date: 1999-07-24 23:01:56


>> I.e. what I want to do is take an arbitrary existing library function foo(),
>> write my own library function foo() that intercepts all existing calls to foo(),
>> which typically does some work, and then may optionally call the original
>> function foo().
>
>That would be quite a trick, although you might could do it at link time on
>some systems with the right shenanigans.

Exactly.

Ever since Xeriox Cedar/Mesa you can play linker tricks to do this,
but not portably.

Or, if you have full source code for EVERYTHING, including the libraries,
you can play #define tricks.

Or... in sufficiently powerful languages like LISP and Smalltalk, you can do this both
statically and dynamically.

(By the way, in case folks are interested: I think that I have just figured out a way
to make the LISP approach "safe" in a C++ like manner. What you need to do
is ensure that all calls to a given signature foo(int,float) all go to the same (new)
function. Calls of that signature to the old function should only be allowed in
a tightly limited, explicitly marked, domain.
    I.e. the problem with the LISP approach is that occasionally you get a mix
of calls to foo(), some of which have been intercepted, and some not, depending
on whether the interception was done lexically or dynamically, and early enough.)


Boost list run by bdawes at acm.org, gregod at cs.rpi.edu, cpdaniel at pacbell.net, john at johnmaddock.co.uk