[boost] [Parameter] Best Practices

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-06-30 23:16:37

According to http://lists.boost.org/boost/2004/12/17263.php we 
need to add a "Best Practices" section to the Parameter library
documentation:

I think this is the original request, from
http://lists.boost.org/boost/2004/11/16298.php:

  1) A "guide for library writers" that helps one organize a library
  properly for named parameters. For instance, where should we put
  keywords? I know we should use an anonymous namespace, but should
  that be in namespace boost? In a "keywords" subnamespace?

With a follow-on, from http://lists.boost.org/boost/2004/11/15941.php,
with answers in http://lists.boost.org/boost/2004/11/15991.php:

  > Since they may be used so often,
  > should they be defined in a single library-specific
  > header, e.g. <boost/graph/keywords.hpp>?

  Not neccessarily. They should probably be decoupled and included as
  needed in each header.

  > And would it
  > help if each name had an appropriate prefix, like
  > "bgl_", to help avoid object collisions?

  Not much; I would nest the unnamed namespace inside boost (or a
  sub-namespace thereof).

I don't know if we have enough here to warrant a separate "best
practices" guide.  Did anyone have anything else in mind for this
section, or should we consider rolling the answers into one of the
other sections of the documentation?

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com