[boost] Re: [iostreams] Review Results -- Iostreams Accepted

From: Jonathan Turkanis (technews_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-10-01 12:02:40

"Jeff Garland" <jeff_at_[hidden]> wrote in message
news:20041001140415.M13015_at_crystalclearsoftware.com...
> Jonathan Turkanis's Iostreams library has been accepted into boost.  Final
> vote tally from reviewers was:
>
> 14 accepts
> 1 reject
> 1 abstain
>
> There were many issues brought up and resolved during the review.  I won't
> even attempt to repeat all those here.  There were also many interesting
> suggestions about enhanced approaches.  Most reviewers recommended acceptance
> regardless of the resolution of these, so I leave it to Jonathan's capable
> hands to deal with those.
>
> Some issues that need to be resolved:
>
> 1) Overlap with current io and more io library
>
>  Recommendation: Move the library to a new directory (iostreams) and
>  document any overlap with other io libraries.
>
>  Rationale:  While there is overlap, iostreams is taking a somewhat new
>  approach that departs a bit the approach of the I/O library.  Both
>  approaches have merit and rather than trying to combine them prematurely
>  it would be better to have both available and see which approach is
>  better in practice.
>
> Since there was some discussion about the library name during the review, but
> no conclusive conclusion I'm going to leave the directory name as an issue for
> open discussion on the list.
>
> 2) Memory-Mapped Library
>
>  At the moment the portable memory-mapped library is an implementation
>  detail of Iostreams.  It would be best if this library could be brought
>  out of detail and made a standalone library that could be used
>  independently of Iostreams.  We need a volunteer to take this on (sounds
>  like Jonathan will help with this).
>
> 3) zip/bzip2 library components
>
>   The library source currently contains headers for zlib and bzip2.  These
>   headers should be removed from the source tree since they will complicate
>   boost licensing.  They should be replaced with instructions on how to
>   obtain these libraries and how to configure bjam to find the headers and
>   libraries.  Since these libraries are already widely distributed they are
>   often already installed on a platform.
>
> 4) 'piping' interface
>
>   There was some support for adopting a 'pipe like' interface as originally
>   implemented by JC van Winkel in another library, eg:
>
>   filter_stream out(tee(std::cout) | encode | gzip | file("some file"));
>
>   While this interface is not required for adoption, Jonathan has already
>   implemented and will provide this interface.
>
> 5) Resource concept naming
>
>   There was a long discussion of the naming of the concept Resource -- 
>   should it be Device, etc.  Final resolution of this issue needs to
>   be discussed and adopted.
>
> 6) Presidential filter example
>   While many of us see the humor in this, there was at least one objection to
>   introducing 'political comedy' into boost.  Overall, the example should be
>   renamed and reformulated since in a few years no one will get the joke
>   anyway.  Sorry to go politically correct here, but boost needs to be
>   above the fray.
>
> I'd like to thank the reviewers for their time and many thoughtful reviews.
> And finally thanks to Jonathan for an excellent library!
>
> Jeff
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