Re: Metaprogramming VC++ - more of Loki ported

From: williamkempf_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-11-30 10:15:32

--- In boost_at_y..., "David Abrahams" <david.abrahams_at_r...> wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <williamkempf_at_h...>
> 
> --- 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.

I realize that, and I suppose Boost must cater to that fact, but it's 
sad.  VC++ 6 is so old, and so non-compliant, that any company that 
doesn't port to 7 ASAP is a company I wouldn't care to be at.

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

The work arounds for partial specialization, however, often run into 
bugs in VC++ 6 that require even more work arounds.  In the end, it's 
simply easier to get this stuff to work with VC7.

Bill Kempf