Re: [boost] Deprecate BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT?

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-06-23 20:47:13

David Abrahams wrote:
> Beman Dawes wrote:
> ...
>> Also, C++0x static_assert is becoming available in more compilers;
>> should all of the Boost compile-time asserts use C++0x static_assert if
>> available?
> 
> Without knowing anything about how good the error messages are that one
> gets from static_assert, I'd say "probably."

Sample program:

   int main()
   {
     static_assert(1+1==3, "Everyone knows 1+1 == 4");
     return 0;
   }

Output from a beta compiler:

   temp3.cpp:
   Error E2538 temp3.cpp 3: Static assert failed: 'Everyone knows 1+1 ==
   4' in function main()
   *** 1 errors in Compile ***

That's what I'd expect from most compilers; the file name and line 
number of the failure, and an echo of the second argument to static_assert.

So it comes down to writing informative error messages. I like the ones 
that say both what is wrong and what to do to fix it, but that's often 
hard to do in limited space.

--Beman