Re: [boost] [Hana] Informal review request

Subject: Re: [boost] [Hana] Informal review request
From: Steven Watanabe (watanabesj_at_[hidden])
Date: 2015-03-08 13:42:34

AMDG

On 03/08/2015 11:20 AM, Louis Dionne wrote:
> Mathias Gaunard <mathias.gaunard <at> ens-lyon.org> writes:
> 
>> On 05/03/2015 15:41, Louis Dionne wrote:
>>
>>> - Lack of support for mainstream compilers: The library is now almost fully
>>>    functional with Clang 3.5. A GCC 4.9 port with reduced functionality is
>>>    also underway on the `redux` branch.
>>
>> This might sound discouraging, but I consider any library that doesn't 
>> work fully with GCC 4.9, Clang 3.5 and MSVC14, which are already 
>> bleeding-edge compilers, to not be suitable for real use, and thus not 
>> suitable for inclusion into Boost either.
>>
>> The risk is that this library might never be more than a mere curiosity.
> 
> First, Clang 3.5 is now fully supported. Second, you imply that any
> library which uses variable templates, extended constexpr or other 
> C++14 features that are not well supported yet is not suited for 
> real use. I humbly disagree.
> 
> On the contrary, I think it is a good occasion to push compiler implementers 
> a bit by making more cutting-edge libraries available to the large public. 
> Then, there will be a bigger incentive to support C++14 properly, but most
> importantly there will be more bug reports comming in, which triggers
> improvement.
> 
> I hope the rest of this community is not feeling the same towards
> cutting edge libraries. I would suspect that some of the most 
> groundbreaking libraries that are now well accepted and supported 
> by compilers were in Hana's position when they started.
> 

Back in the day, most libraries bent over backwards
to support VC6.

Anyway, I'm with Louis on this.  As long as
you conform to the current standard, I don't
have a problem if your library only works on one
compiler right now.  The caveat is that you'll
need to be much more careful about standard
compliance if you can't check against multiple
implementations.  Of course, I also expect you
to make make a commitment to getting your
code to work with more compilers as they
catch up with the standard.

In Christ,
Steven Watanabe