Re: [boost] Boost is supposed to serve *the entire C++ community; it isn't Boost's goal to serve Boost's community*

Subject: Re: [boost] Boost is supposed to serve *the entire C++ community; it isn't Boost's goal to serve Boost's community*
From: Emil Dotchevski (emildotchevski_at_[hidden])
Date: 2016-05-21 18:46:40

On Sat, May 21, 2016 at 3:03 PM, Peter Dimov <lists_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> Niall Douglas wrote:
>
>> I began putting together an initial checklist of potential automatable
>> C++ style and design checkers via a clang AST parser at
>> https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/BestPracticeHandbook. The idea was
>> that people could submit their library, and get it scored and ranked on a
>> dashboard. All automated.
>>
>
> You can't automate out human judgment. And even if you could, human
> judgment is the basis of reputation. "A collection of libraries that have
> passed certain scripted checks" doesn't have the same value, because a
> script has no face.
>

+1

I would even say that it is dangerous to use some form of automated score
to rate the quality of a library. The net effect will be that it'll make
bad libraries look good "on paper". Library design, like any other design,
can only be properly evaluated by people intimately familiar with the
problem domain.

Emil