dlw_oprs.zip: Special Edition, Just Say "No" to Feature Creep

From: Daryle Walker (darylew_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-01-01 11:30:35

I posted version 18 (special millennium edition) of "dlw_oprs.zip" to the
Boost vault at eGroups.  Here's stuff I changed:

1.  Removed the 'bit_manipulative' templates, since the right-hand argument
of bitwise operators and shift operators aren't generally compatible.
2.  Removed the archetype templates (and cleaned-up implementation of the
iterator helper templates to match).
3.  Added iterator helper templates for input and output iterators.  (Jeremy
Siek suggested the one for input, I added the output one for completeness.)
4.  Changed format of inequality tests in "iterators_test.cpp".
5.  Rip^H^H^H Incorporated material from Aleksey Gurtovoy's doc update,
although some stuff was edited.
6.  Quite a bit of the subsections in the rationale and arithmetic sections
were really general usage guides and didn't fit in their parent sections.  I
moved these to a brand new section, usage.
7.  Put the example in its own section.
8.  Renamed some of the (sub)sections.
9.  Reworded some text.  Added text about reducing chain size with
intermediate classes (my inspiration for the group templates!).

Is my work is the first major update to a Boost library?  Does anyone else
think the six months was too long?  (I wasn't here when this stuff was
originally done, so six months may be short for all I know.)  Barring major
errors, we should stop here and tell Beman to "ship it," and save the
reorganization stuff Dave has been talking about for the next update.
Here's why:

1.  My stuff and the reorg stuff have nothing to do with each other.  Worse,
the reorg stuff is contradictory to my stuff, so they should not be worked
on at the same time.  (My stuff just adds templates or refines existing
ones, while preserving backwards-compatibility.  The reorg stuff could be a
code-breaking change.)
2.  My stuff is done, the reorg stuff is still in the planning stages.  I've
been delaying stuff to finish this already, there's no need for further
delays for something unrelated.

-- 
Daryle Walker
Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie
darylew AT mac DOT com