Re: [boost] RE: Re: Re: Re: is_class

From: Daniel Frey (daniel.frey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-02-16 12:14:09

David Abrahams wrote:
> 
> Daniel Frey <daniel.frey_at_[hidden]> writes:
> 
> > See also the discussion about a "general coding guideline" to
> > "always provide a name for template parameters".
> 
> I never saw that discussion.

http://www.mail-archive.com/boost%40lists.boost.org/msg05124.html

> > Here, the maintainer already did the right thing when he received
> > the patch. I think we should aim for removing as many #ifdefs as
> > possible.
> 
> AFAIK we always do.

Often, granted. But the above patch (the link I gave) shows, that we
also have already evidence of #ifdefs that should be removed.

> > Maybe we can't do that in case of the type-traits, but I would like
> > to try it first before giving up and creating yet another
> > implementation that is guarded by #ifdef. (Which then might no
> > longer be an improvement).
> 
> I think everyone is happy to have improvements as long as they work.
> The bottom line is, if you want your "improvements" to be accepted,
> you have to invest the energy to make sure you're not going to break
> things for existing clients of the libraries. It's unrealistic and
> unfair to expect volunteer library maintainers to take your code and
> figure out how to make it work correctly, especially without ifdefs.
> Boost code lives in the real world, not in an idealized one where
> everything can be done "on principle."

I tried my best to create an implementation that works in the real
world. I tested it for the GCC and the Intel compiler, which is all I
can do. I hoped for a discussion which might lead to an implementation
that works for a great variety of compilers, but it is not going to
happen AFAICS. I don't see why it is unrealistic or unfair to think that
some boosters might be interested to work on it, though. I don't expect
my "improvements" to be the holy-grail that is applied immediatly - it
was just meant to start a discussion about it. If you re-read the first
message of this thread, I think you can see that.

Regards, Daniel

-- 
Daniel Frey
aixigo AG - financial training, research and technology
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eMail: daniel.frey_at_[hidden], web: http://www.aixigo.de