Re: [boost] [GSoC] Helping out Phoenix v3

Subject: Re: [boost] [GSoC] Helping out Phoenix v3
From: Hartmut Kaiser (hartmut.kaiser_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-05-04 07:37:26

> > > I will have to examine it more closely. On first sight it looks very
> > > clean. What i miss is the easy extentability. Do you have an idea
> > > for that? I am currently working on getting Joel Falcous more phoenix
> like.
> > > After that, i think i will want to merge your two approaches.
> > > What do you think?
> >
> > Sorry for the delayed response. Extensibility is the strength of this
> > phoenix design. Notice that it takes only about 80 lines of code to
> > implement the core of phoenix. Even the placeholders are implemented
> > as non-invasive extensions of this core. It's an open question whether
> > it's desirable to hide the proto bits when exposing these
> > customization points, and if so, what that would look like.
> 
> After playing a little bit with your prototype I saw exactly what you
> mean.
> Plus, the question wether to hide proto details completly (if that is even
> possible) is quite complicated. After seeing your work I think we should
> not aim for that. I tried to combine the two different approaches and what
> i realised was, that most stuff was handled automatically by proto
> already.

Even if I'm only remotely connected to this I would like to emphasize the
importance of a simple extension interface. By 'simple' I mean: hide Proto!
We do not need the full power of Proto here and forcing every user to
understand Proto's fine details before he is able to write his own actor is
not good. Yes, it is possible to hide Proto completely behind a set of
well-crafted domain specific (i.e. Phoenix) interfaces. This has been done
already in Spirit (V2) and has proven to work well.

Regards Hartmut

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