Re: [boost] Extensions in Boost.Compatibility

From: Jeremy Maitin-Shepard (jbms_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-12-12 13:42:10

On Thu, Dec 12, 2002 at 02:54:46PM +0100, Toon Knapen wrote:
>
> [snip]
> 
> My only remaining question is : if the STL (used by the developer) already 
> provides the algorithm (in the std namespace however), would'nt it be better 
> to reuse it. Maybe that algorithm is written in a way to offer the best 
> performance with that compiler ?

I agree there could be performance benefits in using the compiler
vendor-supplied implementation.  I see several issues with using these
implementations, however.  First, due to the by-definition
non-standard nature of extensions, not all compiler vendors implement
them in exactly the same way, thus making them non-usable.  Even in
the case that a single interface is used by many vendors, by
immediately assuming that the vendor-supplied implementation should be
used when such an implementation exists eliminates the possibility of
imlementating the library with a different interface or more
functionality.

- Jeremy Maitin-Shepard