Re: [boost] Re: Formal Review: FOREACH macro

From: Iain K. Hanson (ikh_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-05-04 20:08:08

On Wed, May 04, 2005 at 02:14:59PM -0700, Paul Mensonides wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: boost-bounces_at_[hidden] 
> > [mailto:boost-bounces_at_[hidden]] On Behalf Of Andrei 
> > Alexandrescu (See Website For Email)
> 
> > > And sometimes, I think, it's _the only_ way.  If you are 
> > interested, 
> > > please take a look at typeof_internals.htm.zip in the boost 
> > sandbox file vault.
> > 
> > The only way as long as you commit to not look outside C++.
> 
> Which is the whole point from a library perspective.  Relying on awk (or any
> other external tool) to write C++ isn't so bad, but relying on it to compile C++
> is unacceptable.

Noooh! The preprocessor has nothing to do with C++ except historical accident.
And very little to do with compilation. Straight text substitution is not
a good way forward and leads to obscifation.

The onl good use of macros is to highlight weaknesses in the language that 
need to be rectified. Perhaps the best of these where mpl::containers 
need variable size.

/ikh