Re: [boost] [#pragma once]

Subject: Re: [boost] [#pragma once]
From: Sid Sacek (ssacek_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-04-10 18:34:23

>> #if defined( _MSC_VER ) && ( _MSC_VER >= 1020 )
>> # pragma once
>> #endif

> IMO, there is absolutely no reason to /rely/ on non-standard
> features even if /all/ compilers supported it in this case.
> Steven Watanabe

Just to make a small point; this is from the C++ standard...

[quote]
     16.6 Pragma directive [cpp.pragma]
     1 A preprocessing directive of the form
     # pragma pp-tokensopt new-line
     causes the implementation to behave in an implementation-defined
manner. The
     behavior might cause translation to fail or cause the translator or
the resulting
     program to behave in a non-conforming manner. Any pragma that is
not recognized
     by the implementation is ignored.
[unquote]

If unrecognized pragmas are ignored, then I don't see why boost
developers should jump
through a hoop to satisfy the "el-cheapo" compilers. In other words, if
a compiler gives
a warning about the #pragma-once, then let the programmer turn off the
warning locally
for the build, which is usually done in a single location within a
makefile.

On the other hand, every boost.hpp file has to surround the "#pragma
once" with the
silly looking guards.

I tried this experiment just to see what happens. I added the
non-existing #pragma to
my code and got the following warning:

      #pragma once_upon_a_time

      foo.cpp(20) : warning C4068: unknown pragma

My opinion is that the boost headers can happily contain the following
code:

     #ifndef __HEADER_FILE_GUARD__
     #define __HEADER_FILE_GUARD__
     #pragma once
     ...
     #endif

I have not yet heard about a compiler that doesn't support this #pragma.
I would be
surprised if a single developer calls up to complain about this. The
compilers that
warn against this #pragma can turn off the warnings with a single
makefile change,
like I mentioned before.

Regards,
-Sid Sacek