Re: Understanding MPL

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-04-03 04:15:00

"Edward Diener" <eddielee_at_[hidden]> writes:

>> What specifically would you have me do?  The pp-lib docs do not
>> attempt to explain the implementation of the pp-lib itself.
>
> I don't want an explanation of the inner workings of the pp-lib. I would
> like to see an explanation of the pp-lib which attempts to explain the
> functionality of it from the user's point of view. Something like a grouping
> of the macros in it from the point of view of general areas of
> functionality, with the specific macros grouped and explained within each
> area.

...and, to be fair, Paul, this isn't the first time Edward and I have
described the nature of an introductory section which would help new
users to get a grip on the library.  If I had any reasonable
connection bandwidth I'd dig up the Boost messages for you.  As I
remember, after much discussion we came up with a fairly detailed
description of what was needed, and at that point the conversation
stopped.

I draw an analogy to Comeau C++, an inexpensive, very high-quality
compiler, but because the installation documentation is presented so
inaccessibly, one which most people can't get started with unless they
have personal handholding from the implementor.  The preprocessor
library doesn't need to be that way.  Users don't need to understand
the ugly workarounds and nitty-gritty details of C++ preprocessor
implementations in order to use the library effectively.  I'm living
proof of that.  One might say that's the whole point of any
high-quality library.  An overview of the concepts and idioms users
need to understand in order to make use of the library itself would be
a huge help.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com