Re: [Boost-users] Off topic: Interface / design question

From: Daniel Krügler (dsp_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-05-29 08:52:15

Khandelwal, Amit wrote:
> Appreciate your response. Any thoughts on why the designers of boost
> decided not to write interfaces for their classes?

I assume, you ask why boost does not generally provide
functionality via polymorphic classes free of non-static
data members?

If so, the answer is rather simple: They follow the
basic principle in the C++ world, that you should
not pay for what you did not ask. It is always possible
(for you!) to wrap any concrete class behind such an
"interface", but it is not generally possible to obtain
the maximum advantages of statically known classes, inlining,
etc, if that what you get is a firewall interface.

Greetings from Bremen,

Daniel Krügler