Re: [boost] [rfc] Flyweight library

From: Joaquín Mª López Muñoz (joaquin_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-11-14 13:24:00

"JOAQUIN LOPEZ MU?Z" ha escrito:

> Hi all,
>
> After a year since the last published draft, I think the
> flyweight library I'm working on is in a sufficiently
> polished state to issue a request for comments on its
> usefulness and eventual suitability for inclusion into the
> Boost review queue.

Thanks Jeff, Joseph, Sebastian, Ion, Matías, Kevin, Joel, Dean Michael
and John for your warm expressions of interest! Given the favorable
reception of the lib, I've just submitted a formal review request.

Judging from the review backlog size we're a good many weeks from a
review, so in the meantime I'd really appreciate your suggestions for
improvement, reports of usage etc. In particular, there's an issue that
I think will attract some discussion:

The flyweight factory is instantiated by means of a so-called *holder*,
which is similar to a singleton, and as such has the usual complications
regarding thread-safe static initialization. The solution adopted by the
current version of the lib guarantees that the holder (and its associated
factory) is constructed at dynamic initialization time (std 3.6.2). Theoretically
such initialization can be deferred to the first usage of the object, though
in current practice by all compilers this is done before entering main(), which
renders the procedure thread safe unless threads are spawned before main.
I'd like to know whether this is judged satisfactory or if, on the contrary,
more control on the process is needed.

Best regards,

Joaquín M López Muñoz
Telefónica, Investigación y Desarrollo