[boost] Re: [wave] tool/lib

From: Edward Diener (eddielee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-03-21 20:25:13

Gennadiy Rozental wrote:
> snipped...
> I thought it should be clear: imagine if all C++ issues both core
> language and STL development would be discussed in a single big
> group. They are separated because they represent different domains.
> Libraries and tools are also separate domains with different
> requirements
> for portability, clarity, flexibility.
> Tools for us more like black box - we don't need to know how they do
> their work. While with libraries we interested how they do, whatever
> they do. Libraries directed for the end user to compile with. Tools
> on the other hand are to be executed.

Wave is not just a tool, if one defines a tool as just a program to run with
some command line options, or a GUI in which one fills in some dialog and
runs. While Wave has a command line, it also has a programming interface
which allows one to examine the preprocessing tokens and even do some traces
for macro expansion. Because it has a programming interface which allows a
programmer to use it for his/her own purposes, it fulfills IMO the library
concept as used in Boost, even though it also presents a tool command line
concept. For this reason I do not think Wave will necessarily be treated
like a black box by all programmers, so I do not find your argument to treat
it differently than a Boost library compelling. To me, if it has a
programming interface, it is a "library" in Boost terms, and Wave definitely
has that.