[boost] Re: What I Hate About How We Abstract System Dependence

From: Chris Just (cpjust_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-03-08 09:46:11

Rob Stewart wrote:
> Another possibility is to provide another level of indirection. For
> example, boost::thread can have an accessor which returns a
> boost::platform_thread, which has the OS thread ID, plus member functions
> which mimic OS operations not reflected in the portable (boost::thread) API.
> The advantage of this approach is that boost::platform_thread member
> functions may be able to preserve invariants that otherwise might be broken
> if the user was allowed to manipulate the underlying OS thread ID itself, and
> if the coverage of the boost::platform_thread member functions is large
> enough, it might not even be necessary to expose the OS thread ID at all.

This is exactly what I would like to see.  Boost::thread and other classes should be platform
neutral, but provide a method to get at the private handles so that people can extend the class
for specific platforms on their own.

Another thing I would REALLY like to see is better documentation.  I'd love to use more Boost
classes, but I don't have time to reverse engineer them to figure out how they work.

    Chris.

        
                
__________________________________ 
Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday! 
Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web 
http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/