Re: [boost] Boost.Threads, N2178, N2184, et al

From: Peter Dimov (pdimov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-03-25 15:56:05

Howard Hinnant wrote:

> N2184 takes the minimalist approach.  It is easier to add
> functionality (and the associated expense) than to subtract it.  There
> are many things the N2184::thread does not directly support.  I
> believe this is a feature, not a bug.

This is true under the assumption that we need to target the least common 
denominator. Try/timed joins for example come for free on Windows. So you 
are imposing an unnecessary mutex+cv overhead for everyone wanting to use 
try/timed joins there.

I've decided to adopt a different approach and suggest a way to equalize 
('harmonise' in EU terms :-) ) the platforms via the join2 extensions. In a 
perfect world, this would lead to everyone enjoying _zero overhead_ 
try/timed joins in a few years once pthread implementors adopt the 
extensions.

Yes, I agree that this can be considered idealistic; but the other option is 
to not even give them a chance to offer the functionality as there would be 
no portable C++ way to take advantage of it.