On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 11:33:27 -0400, Dylan Trotter wrote
When I was reading documentation for the iostreams library I was pleasantly surprised to find an example that was both as informative and hilarious as the Presidential Filter example. I've had my eyes glaze over too many times while reading example code to think that it's a bad thing to get a little humour out of them once in a while.
I don't have a personal objection to the humor either -- it's just, what if some mother or father of a US/British/Italian, etc soldier read it and was offended? Far fetched? Probably, but the fact that one reviewer objected points out the danger. Boost is about C++ libraries and anything that is part of boost needs to stay out of politics or anything else that might distract from that. Quite aside from the politics, I found the title disorienting -- so I think renaming and refactoring the example can actually improve it. Duller, probably -- more to the point -- for sure. Lastly, in 10 years will anyone get the joke? I've discussed this with Jonathon and I think he has some good ideas for improving it.
So while there may have been at least one complaint, let me be (perhaps one of) the first to praise the Presidential Filter example as a good joke and as a good example. I know praise doesn't count as much as complaining in the world these days. Unfortunately this means that good things are often thrown away in our zeal to make the complainers shut up and thus I'm sure the Presidential Filter example will never again show up in Boost.
Actually, I don't share your view. Yes, critical review and debate are a big part of the process hre, but I think praise is highly appreciated as well. Boost authors and others here contribute and incredible amount of time energy and talent to the cause of improving C++ for everyone -- we all like to hear a thank you now and again. Note the last line of my email:
I'd like to thank the reviewers for their time and many thoughtful reviews. And finally thanks to Jonathan for an excellent library!
Jeff