Re: [boost] [serialization] Regressions?

From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-06-25 12:54:26

> I'm sorry you've dismissed the rest of us as heretics :-(  I'm done
> with this thread now for good -- you've known my view for a few
> months and chosen to dismiss it -- that's your right.

I think that a little unfar.  I may disagree with your view, but I never
dismissed it.  I've spent a lot of time addressing it - even though its been
raised as an issue only by two people who have actually used the library.

> As for the experience part, only a very small number of people use
> CVS -- most use the releases.  This much discussion of a library
> change prior to it's release is highly unusual -- I expect more of a
> flood than a trickle once the release occurs, people start upgrading,
> and programs start breaking.  And that's why I think this IS a big
> deal...

Of course that's really the crux of the issue.  What will users experience
when this occurs?  I concede I can't know for sure in advance.  I don't
think anyone can know this.  In fact, I've been surprised but a lot of the
things that I see users doing.  Examples are:

ar << *this;  // I can't imagine what this if for

ar << f(...); // function returnng a value on the stack to be serialized

I'm not saying they are necessarily bad, but I do find them surprising and
to me, in explicable.  I've become very skeptical of my ability to predict
how other programmers are going to address things. I'm willing to wait and
see.

So I'm anxious to see where this goes.  If in fact we do get a wave of users
with problems, I'll be forced to modify my point of view in the face of the
facts.  If (almost) no one complains (perhaps unlikely) then there will be
no issue.  If there are a fair number of complaints - but it turns out that
a significant portion are due to real mistakes - we might be in for another
debate. But given more data,  I would expect it to be of a different
character.  If it turns out (almost) none of the cases are real problems,
then I'll have to accept as a fact that its a bad idea.

So I'm optimistic and not at all hyped up.

Robert Ramey