Re: [boost] Re: Metaprogramming VC++ - more of Loki ported

From: David Abrahams (david.abrahams_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-11-30 10:13:58

----- Original Message -----
From: <williamkempf_at_[hidden]>

--- In boost_at_y..., "Andrei Alexandrescu" <andrewalex_at_h...> wrote:
> > Great stuff, Mat.
> >
> > > 3. Solicit help in porting more of Loki and other metaprogramming
> > >    libraries. Is anyone else interested in helping to bring these
> > >    libraries to VC?
> >
> > You may want to get in touch with Jonathan H Lundquist. He ported
> the whole
> > Loki to MSVC 6, something that I didn't even think possible, and
> MSVC
> > portability would be very important in the process of proposing
> Loki to
> > boost.
>
> I question the wisdom, however, of putting much effort into porting
> to VC++ 6.  VC++ 7 will be released in about 3 months and many of the
> work arounds needed for 6 will no longer be needed since 7 is more
> compliant and has a LOT fewer bugs.  There's still going to need to
> be some work arounds with 7, to be sure, but porting should be much
> easier.  Maybe the effort should be on porting to the 7 beta for
> now?  (And I mean this for documenting how to port any library as
> well as for attempts to port Loki.)

Sadly, VC6 will continue to be highly relevant long after 7 is released.
Those companies who are still using VC6 are often the same ones who will
wait to upgrade to VC7 because of the widely held (if incorrect) belief that
a new piece of software is always buggier than an existing one. A more valid
concern is that software which has worked around VC6 bugs may well break
under VC7 just because the bugs are incompatible, or the compiler has become
stricter.

Anyway, I think the major hurdle in porting to VC6 is the lack of partial
specialization, which is an issue for VC7 as well.

-Dave