Re: [Boost-users] Maintenace Guidelines wiki page

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] Maintenace Guidelines wiki page
From: Tomas Puverle (Tomas.Puverle_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-11-24 23:04:03

> In other environments, programmers work on huge projects which might
> go on for years.  In this constext, this is not such a huge problem as 
> things
> are constantly evolving anyway.

If you don't mind me chiming in, it is a huge problem.  With small projects, 
it's not difficult to keep the whole codebase in one's head if there are 
changes, to remember to go and fix the relevant places.
The problem with most big codebases is precisely what you describe: They 
have evolved over a significant amount of time.  No one developer may know 
the whole codebase.  As a consequence, when changes are made, people are 
unsure as to the assumptions that were made by the original authors and all 
the locations where changes should go.  Even with test cases, it's a little 
more like "plug and pray" than what you portrait here.

> So continuing to break things and
> having to fix them is a normal and in any event unavoidable.

Certainly unavoidable but I would prefer for it not to be considered 
"normal" by the boost developers.

> I try to avoid making
> a big commitment to a library - or anyone else's code so
> that I can drop one library if I have to in the future.

These things are much more problematic in large code bases.  Once a library 
is in, it's likely to be there in ten years time.