[boost] Re: Thoughts on Boost v2 (was: Re: Is Boost dead? [Re: Anyone is interested in being review manager of ‘Applicationâ€

Subject: [boost] Re: Thoughts on Boost v2 (was: Re: Is Boost dead? [Re: Anyone is interested in being review manager of ‘Applicationâ€
From: Niall Douglas (s_sourceforge_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-05-16 19:01:24

On 16 May 2014 at 13:03, Nevin Liber wrote:

> > 1. Boost isn't sexy any more.
> 
> 3. All the interesting new C++ 11 libraries you find around the
> > internet have zero interest in trying to join Boost, with a very few
> > honorable exceptions. That speaks volumes, to me at least.
> 
> Or, if you really believe this,

I would challenge anyone to find a better fitting explanation of the 
evidence.

> maybe you ought to go and start another
> separate project for developing C++ libraries that is not affiliated with
> Boost.  Seriously.

The big question mark, technically, is just how powerful clang AST 
analysers can be made. If I can write one which will port code from 
Boost to the C++ 11 STL and red flag all remaining use, I see no 
remaining technical obstacles. For example, those parts of Boost such 
as expected<> and optional<> one would need in a fork, but equally 
you want the fork to be live to the source.

Meanwhile I continue to build out the automated test infrastructure 
for AFIO and its extending libraries. As there are many of these, I 
have made them generic, and there is no reason other libraries could 
not also work. My next step is a proper Travis CI API based test 
controller rather than the hack shell script I have right now.

All this is six months away, and only if I'm happy testing my own 
code and the review of the C++11 libraries in the review queue goes 
badly (by which I include they don't get timely reviews), then we'll 
see where we are at.

> > 3. Eliminate peer review in favour of a suite of automated libclang
> > based AST analysers. Instead of persuading people to review
> > libraries, persuade them to review and improve the AST analysers.
> 
> What AST analyser do I use to determine if I have a good interface for my
> library?

That is an excellent technical question.

Niall

-- 
ned Productions Limited Consulting
http://www.nedproductions.biz/ 
http://ie.linkedin.com/in/nialldouglas/