Re: [boost] Assign V2 - first impression

Subject: Re: [boost] Assign V2 - first impression
From: er (er.ci.2020_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-06-24 04:45:13

> Thinking out loud, this would be easier to me (made up example):

Before we switch topics, I'd like to summarize the last one, while not 
closing the door to its extension, given that you promised me "more 
feedback". Your initial concern, that I recognize as legitimate, can be 
summarized as:

Do the established design improvements ( code reuse, orthogonal 
features, open for ext ) that I claim provide benefits the user, within 
the quite narrow mandate of this library?

To this end I compared a hypothetical sequence of unit tests using STL, 
to another using V2. Pending your feedback, I have not seen a 
refutation, only that "I don't know work a lot with copy 'n' paste", 
which does not rule out that sometimes you come across something 
similar, or that someone else might have to do such repetitive work. 
Mind you, V2 does not purport to be a swiss army knife. Let me rephrase 
the narrow mandate:

"Its core utility is a compact interface for executing the repetitive 
tasks of assigning or inserting elements in a container"

Even as I'm the one under scrutiny, today, I'm going to say that having 
to study the documentation is not a receivable criticism. Having said 
this, there is quite some leeway to rethink the interface to be more 
friendly. At this stage, I would rather hear suggestions about "how", 
and thank Paul Bristow for doing so.

You do acknowledge that the "library can build complex 
generators/converters of some kind", which has some good in it, I 
suppose, but go on to criticize that "it's integration with the 
containers appears ad-hoc.". First, please clarify "integration" since 
it has come up a few times. Second, your reasoning rests on 
hypotheticals (would): "The above would allow me to only focus on how to 
configure the generators, and use my old-time knowledge on how to use 
these with std::containers.". The proposed library *is* in existence...