Re: [boost] 5 Observations - My experience with the boost libraries

Subject: Re: [boost] 5 Observations - My experience with the boost libraries
From: David Bergman (David.Bergman_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-03-24 00:05:43

On Mar 23, 2010, at 11:53 PM, Jonathan Franklin wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 9:35 PM, David Bergman
> <David.Bergman_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>> What changes would we need to make to Boost in order to stay relevant (to that C/C++ mixed reality)? Would it require us to provide C wrappers for all our libraries?
> 
> My hunch is that the C wrappers are really only useful for exporting
> boost functionality to other languages.  IME, it's usually the lowest
> level pieces that are written in C (or asm), and get aggregated into a
> C++ compilation unit.
> 
> I would be curious to know if there are current use cases for
> importing boost into C compilation units.  Anyone?

We are getting closer to the crux of all this...

Tom has to explain if he wants Boost to:

1. still provide C++ interfaces, and thus only usable from C++ compilation units, but make those interfaces - or perhaps wrappers of existing interfaces - a bit less modern, to accommodate the lower C++ skill levels of developers in that C/C++ mix (that he talks about); or

2. provide C interfaces so separate compilation units can link with C units.

Which is it?

/David