[boost] Threads

From: Dietmar Kuehl (dietmar_kuehl_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-08-04 13:58:42

I just noted when reading Beman's mail: We should actually come up with
a bunch of rather concrete scenarios where threads are solving some
problem in the first place! Sure, I have a feeling where threads seem
to be a solution to some problem but are they indeed or are they just
some hyphe which is currently around? Since MT support by a language is
not just some add on but causes all kinds of strange interactions there
will be a fair amount of resistance when trying to convince the
committee that this is indeed needed. Here are some issues which will
be asked immediately (if nobody else does, the German delegation will
bring them up :-) when this stuff comes up in the C++ standardization
committee:

- What happens to platforms which don't have threading support, ie. are
  threads important enough to make optional standard components?

- What is the impact on programs not needing multi threading support?

- How do exceptions and threads interact. For example what happens if
  two threads throw exceptions at the same time?

Now, currently we are not discussing to bring this stuff into the C++
standard (Boost is *not* a workgroup of WG21). However, since different
platforms provide rather different MT support for C++ programs, there
is clearly at least some need for common basics.

... and even if this will never be brought to the standardization
committee, we should have good reasons to devote any effort from the
Boost library: There are lots of other areas we can cover instead. So
apart from answering the questions brought up in my previous mail, we
should also come up with sample uses of threads where threads are
indeed an advantage over other techniques - without any hand waving!

=====
<mailto:dietmar_kuehl_at_[hidden]>
<http://www.dietmar-kuehl.de/>

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites.
http://invites.yahoo.com/