Re: [boost] Review: lambda library

From: David A. Greene (greened_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-03-25 13:51:27

Peter Dimov wrote:
> From: "David A. Greene" <greened_at_[hidden]>
> 
>>I don't know whether my vote counts since I've really just been
>>watching things here, but I felt the need to speak my peace.  I'm
>>afraid that by accepting LL, Boost will cut itself off from
>>accepting similar libraries like Phoenix.  I'd absolutely hate
>>to have to do without Phoenix closures.
> 
> Could you please elaborate on Phoenix closures a bit? What are they, what
> specific problem do they solve?

Joel has elaborated on this quite extensively already, so I'll just
comment quickly: local variables.  Phoenix closures allow the recursive
invocation of anonymous functions.  This is obviously of great value
in a parser.  :)  I haven't looked at using them outside the parsing
domain -- I'm sure others more familiar with FP could provide examples.

After reading the comments in this thread, I realize my message may
have come across too harshly.  I'd like to see something like LL in
Boost ASAP.  The concern I have is that accepting LL now might prevent
consideration of a library like Phoenix later.  Perhaps that's not a
valid reason to vote against a library because it considers aspects
outside of the libray designer's control.  Even so, I think the
code duplication issue is an important one.  If LL were accepted
with the understanding of it's more limited scope (as compared to
Phoenix, etc.) I'd be a lot more comfortable.  I don't mean "limited
scope" to be a pejorative.  It's entirely appropriate for a library
to concentrate on a small(er) problem and solve it well.  For these
reasons I agree with Asger that a different name might be appropriate.

In my original message, I wasn't very clear about my intent.  I talked
about a "vote" but never really did vote.  I indicated I was unsure,
much as Dave has indicated his abvilalence.  So please don't count my
message as a "no" vote.  Apologies for the confusion.  I'm just really
not sure and I don't think I have enoguh experience with the various
libraries to cast an informed vote.  I simply wanted to raise the
concerns I have.

                                   -Dave
-- 
"Some little people have music in them, but Fats, he was all music,
  and you know how big he was."  --  James P. Johnson