Re: Do C++ Programmers Overuse Templates?

From:

James Kanze <james.kanze@gmail.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.c++

Date:

Sat, 6 Dec 2008 02:15:42 -0800 (PST)

Message-ID:

<8aac5b94-8cbc-4e0f-bea7-41deb428143d@f3g2000yqf.googlegroups.com>

On Dec 5, 6:53 pm, Noah Roberts <u...@example.net> wrote:

dertop...@web.de wrote:

I see it with a bit of concern that many open source
projects require template-ridden libraries like boost
without the least thought that this could turn off many
programmers

Completely silly. Such programmers are best lost anyway.

The problem isn't the programmers. Many shops forbid Boost
because it is so difficult to install and maintain. (Or for
other reasons, but the fact that it uses a non-standard build
system makes it a real pain.)

And I don't know of any serious Open Source project which
requires Boost. Most of them are overly restrictive in the
other direction---either banning templates entirely, or
seriously restricting their use.

The boost libraries may be template ridden on the inside, but
very few of them require direct interaction from the user.

The qualities of the boost library varies from one component to
the next, but it's certain that once installed, some of them
make life a lot, lot easier.

Implementation details that clients and users need to concern
themselves about unless they're actually interested. Many of
the things boost does are not possible without templates.

Better get used to it too. A good portion of those "template
ridden libraries" are getting sucked into the next standard.

Which will solve the installation problem:-).

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:james.kanze@gmail.com
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