Re: [boost] Re: Threads docs updated in CVS

From: Greg Colvin (greg_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-08-09 12:59:29

From: Ross Smith <ross.s_at_[hidden]>
> Beman Dawes wrote:
> > 
> > If you click on just the right sequence, and your machine is set up just
> > right, and blah blah blah you can actually see the files rendered
> > correctly. But to make it easier to get the whole package for local
> > reading, I've uploaded the following:
> > 
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/threads/thread_doc_snapshot.zip
> 
> Thanks. I'm not going to make any specific comments on the contents; as
> I said a few weeks ago, it's become pretty clear that your way of
> thinking about threads is very different to mine, and that
> boost::threads won't be much use to me. (Although I was surprised to
> find that you'd selected the (IMHO correct) noncopyable thread model;
> the impression I had from the earlier discussion was that the climate of
> opinion had overwhelmingly favoured the (ugh) handle-with-ref-count
> model.)

I'm not wanting to reopen that debate, as the current design is
excellent and thread::ref can always be added later if needed, but ...

On Windows, the thread::ref design does not require any reference
counting and does not require any heap allocation: the thread::ref
can be a very small object containing little more than a HANDLE.

So it isn't clear to me what your objection to the thread::ref
design is, or to the current design for that matter.  All I can
gather is that you hate the name "join" and prefer to risk race
conditions with Events, which would be difficult to implement on
pthreads, and dislike the much safer and long established Monitor
concept provided by condition variables.

> On a tangential note, though: is it now official Boost policy that
> everything goes in CVS? When was that decided? The intention of the
> Boost project, according to your web page, was to provide libraries to
> the C++ community at large; do you really want to restrict the
> discussion and approval process to only those who grok CVS?
> 
> -- 
> Ross Smith <ross.s_at_[hidden]> The Internet Group, Auckland, New Zealand
> ========================================================================
> "Unix has always lurked provocatively in the background of the operating
> system wars, like the Russian Army."                  -- Neal Stephenson
> 
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