[Boost-users] [Join] Simplified concept introduction?

Subject: [Boost-users] [Join] Simplified concept introduction?
From: Nat Linden (nat_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-03-09 15:15:40

I saw the Join library on the review queue and am somewhat curious.
But I find the terminology a bit off-putting: ports, chords, joints.
I've read the Introduction, the discussion on Join concurrency and the
comparison with Futures/Promises. I know this sounds awfully dumb, but
I still don't understand the moving parts or how they relate to each
other. The Introduction leaves the impression that I could only
understand (would only be interested) if I were already a fan of
JoCaml or C(omega), neither of which I'd ever heard of before.

The library author might reasonably assert that I should read all the
available documentation if I want to understand the library. But
that's backwards: I have not yet found any reason why I should want to
understand this library.

When I encounter a new Boost library, my first question is always: how
would I use this? What problems in my work would be addressed by this
library? How could it make my life easier? The closest I've so far
gotten with Join is a vague sense that I could use it to implement
Futures, if I didn't already have such a thing.

Were I not already somewhat curious about ways to organize async code,
I wouldn't have read even this much of the documentation.

What's the point of this rant?

- I'd like to request a bit more introductory material. If one of the
References includes an excellent discussion of why I should be
interested, please promote the link (a specific section link) to the
Introduction. Otherwise, please add some new prose with specific
examples.
- I'm aware that this may be clearer to others than it is to me. If
you understand the proposed Join library and feel its documentation is
sufficient, now would be a good time to say so.

My assumption at the moment is that if the Join library were accepted
as-is into Boost, few people would even attempt to understand it
because, like me, they would have a tough time figuring out how it
might apply to their problem space.