RE: [boost] Fix for old style for scoping (e.g. MSVC)

From: Jason Shirk (jasonsh_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-15 13:42:55

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Douglas Gregor [mailto:gregod_at_[hidden]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 10:29 AM
> To: boost_at_[hidden]
> Subject: Re: [boost] Fix for old style for scoping (e.g. MSVC)
> 
> On Tuesday 15 January 2002 01:08 pm, you wrote:
> > - Which is the best solution in the long term:
> >   A) let unportable (in this case, relying on a particular compiler
> > feature/bug) code propagate
> >   B) not let unportable code propagate
> >
> > Personally, I have incorporated this fix into our codebase about a
year
> ago
> > and I've never heard a single complaint from my colleagues. I
suggested
> > this fix here now, because one of my colleagues didn't know about
the
> fix
> > and asked about it earlier today.
> 
> This is a great trick, but it is not for Boost to decide as to whether
a
> project uses it or not. It surely belongs on the MSVC portability
hints
> page,
> but we can't force a change like this on users.
> 
> 	Doug
> 

It's worth noting other compilers support the old style with a command
line switch (notably GCC and Comeau, not sure about others.)

So anything that Boost might do in this area would not be VC specific.

I think this is a very reasonable case of "rely on the lowest common
denominator" and don't rely on the conforming for init scoping in Boost
code.

BTW, VC7 does support the conforming behavior, and you can even turn it
on and off on a per header basis via a pragma.

Jason Shirk
VC++ Compiler Team