[boost] Re: Serialization Formal Review #2

From: Jeff Flinn (TriumphSprint2000_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-04-26 07:16:50

"Andreas Huber" <ah2003_at_[hidden]> wrote in message
news:loom.20040426T101217-326_at_post.gmane.org...
> Robert Ramey wrote:
> > Message: 11
> > Andreas Huber wrote:
> >
[snip]

> > I used save/load consistently specifically to distinguish from
> > read/write which seemed to me too suggestive of persistence, files
> > and streams.
>
> Streams have nothing to do with persistence and files, do they? As I
mentioned
> below an archive *is* in some way a stream, so read/write seems more
> appropriate, especially since standard stream classes also use this
> terminology. Save/load seems *much* closer to persistence and files than
> read/write is.
>
> >> 3. archive naming:
> >> The word archive also seems to be associated with persistence. I
> >> think serializer would much better describe the functionality.
> >> Another option I could live with is serialization_stream (I slightly
> >> disagree with the assertion in archives.html that an archive as
> >> modelled by this library is not a stream. It might not be what C++
> >> folks traditionally understand a stream is but to me it definitely
> >> is a more general stream, i.e. a stream of objects/things/whatever).
> >
> > Archive is perhaps a little too suggestive. I borrowed from MFC.
> > Making changes would have a huge ripple effect through code, file
> > names, namepace names and documentation. I don't find any proposals
> > for alternate naming sufficiently compelling to justify this.
>
> Global search/replace is your friend ;-). Seriously, if I'm the only one
with
> these concerns I rest my case now and will happily use your library as is.

>From Merriam Webster Dictionary:

Main Entry: 1ar·chive
Pronunciation: 'är-"kIv
Function: noun
Etymology: French & Latin; French, from Latin archivum, from Greek archeion
government house (in plural, official documents), from archE rule,
government -- more at ARCH-
: a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved;
also : the material preserved -- often used in plural

and

Main Entry: 2archive
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): ar·chived; ar·chiv·ing
: to file or collect (as records or documents) in or as if in an archive

IMO Archive is about as good a name as we'll get.

Jeff F