Re: [boost] Re: Sockets: proposal for a library design

From: Aaron W. LaFramboise (aaronrabiddog51_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-03-12 15:29:21

I need to think about this some more before I answer your questions.  I
have never attempted a complete socket library design before.

Two comments though:

-I don't like the obscurity/anonymity of the Wiki.  Who precisely wrote
those socket requirements, and what sort of concensus was there on them?
 Without going into specific detail beyond my initial response, I don't
think that I would give a favorable review to a socket library based on
those requirements.

-Whatever sort of socket library is created, it needs to be shown to
work with real code, LONG BEFORE it makes it into the review queue.  My
experience in this area shows its really easy to require some big
awkward framework that offers no advantage over using the BSD sockets API.

I agree that its a good idea to look towards other frameworks to see how
they did it, to give you a higher chance of success--but real world
vindication is still necessary, in my opinion.

Perhaps a reason that noone has designed a really great sockets library
yet is that there is little practical reason to, as BSD sockets is
probably more portable (from a practical standpoint) than a Boost
library will ever be, and libraries try to that "abstract" it have done
nothing but get in the way.

Aaron W. LaFramboise