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Temporary file removed; should never have been commited in first place

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[SVN r8984]
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Beman Dawes 2001-02-06 19:21:47 +00:00
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<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
<title>Use other Boost or C</title>
</head>
<body>
<ul>
<li>Use other Boost or C++ Standard Library components only when the benefits
outweigh the costs.</li>
</ul>
<p>(Details)</p>
<p>The benefits of using components from other libraries include clearer, more
understandable, code, reduced development and maintenance costs, and the
assurance which comes from using well-known and trusted building blocks.</p>
<p>The costs incurred may include added compilation and runtime costs, and
undesirable coupling between components.&nbsp; If the interface to the
additional component is complex, using it may make code less readable, and thus
actually increase development and maintenance costs.</p>
<p><b>Example where another boost component should be used:</b>&nbsp;
boost::noncopyable (in boost/utility.hpp) has considerable benefits; it
simplifies code, improves readability, and signals intent.&nbsp; Costs are low
as coupling is limited;&nbsp; it uses no other classes and includes only the
generally lightweight headers &lt;boost/config.hpp&gt; and &lt;cstddef&gt;.&nbsp;&nbsp;
There are no runtime costs at all. With costs so low and benefits so high, other
boost libraries should use boost::noncopyable except in exceptional
circumstances.</p>
<p><b>Example where a standard library component might be used:</b> Providing
diagnostic output as a debugging aid can be a nice feature for a library. Yet
using Standard Library iostreams for the purpose involves a lot of additional
coupling, if iostreams is otherwise unused, and may be a complete waste if the
library is used in a GUI or embedded application.&nbsp; It might be better to
redesign the boost library so that the user supplies the output mechanism,
avoiding marginal use of iostreams.</p>
<p><b>Example where another boost component should not be used:</b>&nbsp; The
boost dir_it library has considerable coupling and runtime costs, not to mention
portability issues with unsupported operating systems.&nbsp; While completely
appropriate when directory iteration is required, it would not be reasonable for
another boost library to use dir_it just to check that a file is available
before opening, since Standard Library file open functionality does this at
lower cost.&nbsp; Don't use dir_it just for the sake of using a boost library.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</body>
</html>