Re: [boost] Library dependencies and intrer-library code reuse

Subject: Re: [boost] Library dependencies and intrer-library code reuse
From: John Phillips (phillips_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-03-27 00:26:00

Peter Dimov wrote:
> Steven Watanabe:
>> AMDG
>>
>> David Abrahams wrote:
>>> Every dependency should be an
>>> informed and conscious decision on the part of a library developer.
>>>
>>
>> Humph.  It's not as though #includes mysteriously appear
>> in your code when you're looking the other way.
> 
> They do, as part of bug fixes made by others and as indirect 
> dependencies. This goes unnoticed because the test infrastructure always 
> has the whole of Boost available. One needs to actively fight 
> dependencies, or they do creep in.

   They also do thanks to bad coding choices. I just had a job applicant 
doing a coding test today who opened his source file with a couple of 
dozen lines of includes and defines that he referred to as his "standard 
header" that he uses for everything. Unfortunately, only about 3 lines 
of it had anything to do with the coding problem he was supposed to be 
solving.

   One more way is by removing dependencies in the code. If a change or 
improvement eliminates the existing references to a header that lead to 
it being included, it is not always easy to know that and remove the 
include directive. Especially if this removal happens incrementally over 
a few changes.

                        John