RE: [boost] Re: Formal Review: Template Metaprogramming Library ( MPL)

From: Aleksey Gurtovoy (agurtovoy_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-07-29 21:07:58

Peter Dimov wrote:
> > To tie this in with what Mat said about denoting 
> > something's role, or function. For "metafunction class", 
> > "metafunction" tells about its role - it's a metafunction 
> > (compile-time function), and "class" tells about its
> > form. Kevlin Henney would love this one, with his "Function 
> > follows form" articles. :)
> 
> No, this analogy isn't good, either. We are creating a new 
> terminology from scratch. "Metafunction" means a class template 
> with a nested type named 'type.' 

Yep, at least it is now, see below.

> Since we aren't calling it "metafunction class template" to reflect
> the form, 

Actually, we were, or at least I was. My original terminology preferences
were to use "metafunction" as a general term denoting _any_ invocable
compile-time entity, and to use "metafunction class template" and
"metafunction class" when I was talking about the particular form of
metafunctions. "class template" was dropped later on.

> the "other" form should have an abstract name as well for
> consistency reasons.

Aleksey