Re: [boost] Formal review: New Boost.Test Library

From: Ullrich Koethe (u.koethe_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-12-06 12:08:12

Peter Dimov wrote:
> 
> From: "Ullrich Koethe" <u.koethe_at_[hidden]>
> >
> > I *strongly* disagree with your opinion. Perhaps you are right from the
> > standpoint of purity and beauty, but in practice floating point and
> > collection equality are among the most frequent tests. So, until someone
> > implements the external module you are proposing, they *belong* to the
> > unit test framework. One can still refactor this later.
> 
> Why refactor later when you can refactor now? 
>

If the 'float comparison module' existed, I would certainly agree to
refactor now. But as it doesn't, a requirement 'float comparison must
not be part of the library' would either

* lead to the loss of important testing functionality, or
* result in a substantial delay for library release.

I don't like either outcome. So, I'm voting for 'accept the suboptimal
design now, and leave the refactoring for the next release' (I really
want the testing library to be included into boost, so that I can get
rid of my now outdated version).

> Why do people think of boost
> "libraries" as monolithic entities and use terms as "is a part of
> Boost.LibFoo" and "belongs to Boost.LibBar"?
> 

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that the granularity implied
by "belongs to Boost.LibBar" is too small or too large? If you mean "too
big", then what are the parts of the testing library? If you mean "too
small", I disagreee: I think that boost has grown to a size where clear
boundaries between its various parts and careful dependency management
are becoming increasingly important. So, speaking of different boost
libraries is only natural. 

Ulli
-- 
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