Re: [boost] Survey of Libraries and Visual C++

From: Jeremy Siek (jsiek_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-01-19 17:38:13

Hi David,

Thank you very much for doing this survey! I really hope that you take
action based on the responses.

On Fri, 19 Jan 2001 dwolfram_at_[hidden] wrote:
dwolfr> 1. Which third-party libraries do you use?

I use Blitz++, the Matrix Template Library (MTL), the boost libraries
(especially the graph library), and STLport.

dwolfr> 2. If you cannot use Visual C++ with these libraries, what are the 
dwolfr> causes of this?  For example, does the library require partial 
dwolfr> template specialization support? Do other issues also prevent you 
dwolfr> from using the library with Visual C++?

Blitz++ uses partial specialization. The Boost Graph Library and also MTL
have lots of #ifdef workarounds for VC++ because of the lack of partial
spec. Also, the next version of MTL (BTW, I'm the author) will includes
lots of wonderful new features, but they all require partial spec.

dwolfr> 3. If you are a library developer, what workarounds or design 
dwolfr> constraints were required for compatibility with Visual C++? What 
dwolfr> were the most significant ones? Did the workarounds or constraints 
dwolfr> have performance impacts?

The partial specialization is the number one issue. However, there are
others. Standard library conformance is also VERY important, especially
things like iterator_traits.

Also, for performance, the lightweight object optimization done by
the KAI C++ compiler greatly improves performance for modern C++
template libraries. I would like to see VC++ use this optimization
(or use some equivalent optimization).

In addition, I've run into lots of random internal compiler errors when
using/creating template-heavy libraries. I'm afraid these errors are very
difficult to characterize.

I probably spend on average 5 hours every week doing workarounds
for VC++ bugs. My productivity would be greatly enhanced if this
were no longer the case.

dwolfr> 4. Are you mainly a "consumer" or "producer" of  library templates?

Mainly a producer, though often times the libraries I produce are
"in the middle", and use other libraries.

dwolfr> I hope to hear from you, and shall summarize the replies if they are
dwolfr> numerous.

Great, thanks!

Jeremy

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 Jeremy Siek                        www: http://www.lsc.nd.edu/~jsiek/
 Ph.D. Candidate                  email: jsiek_at_[hidden]
 Univ. of Notre Dame         work phone: [phone]
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