Re: [boost] Metaprogrammers, all of you!

Subject: Re: [boost] Metaprogrammers, all of you!
From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-10-13 11:20:59

At Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:01:46 +0100,
Robert Jones wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 3:10 AM, David Abrahams <dave_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> 
> > At Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:40:38 -0500,
> > Andrew Sutton wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > I find it interesting, but also a bit sad, that the thread on
> > > > metaprogramming “plumbing” is very active, while this fundamental
> > > > question of abstraction and generic programming has gone unaddressed.
> > > >
> > >
> > > ... Says the guy who, quite literally, wrote the book on metaprogramming
> > :)
> > > Sorry.
> >
> > The irony is not lost on me.  But I fear I've created a monster :(
> >
> >
> For the mere mortals among us, who are struggling to keep up with
> the metaprogramming astronauts, am I right in thinking that you are
> lamenting the emphasis on 'bells and whistles' to support SIMD
> iterators, while the more fundamental aspects of iterator
> segmentation are being ignored?

You're in the ballpark.  I'm lamenting the focus on tricky techniques
(a catch-all bucket for metaprogramming and JIT and...) when there's a
more fundamental question of abstraction to deal with.  IMO, first you
should get the abstractions right, and only then should you go back
and apply tricky techniques to optimize if/where necessary.

> And in your last remark are you saying you fear that metaprogramming and
> the Boost MPL are monsters!?

No, but I do fear that the Boost community has become so adept at
fancy TMP that we have lost track of our roots in generic programming,
per this thread:

http://news.gmane.org/find-root.php?message_id=%3cm2wrq5zpxq.wl%25dave%40boostpro.com%3e

-- 
Dave Abrahams
BoostPro Computing
http://www.boostpro.com