-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 03/30/2010 01:38 PM, Jeffrey Hellrung wrote:
That it acts like a pointer but isn't one. Less experienced developers often find even pointer syntax hard to master, and unfortunately, they are the majority of programmers. I was trying to make it as easy as possible for anyone, no matter what their level of experience, to use.
I can't buy this, given that pointer syntax is so prevalent in C++ (pointers, iterator, smart pointers). [...]
I wish I could avoid buying it. My previous company wrote tools for developers, and I had to deal with a lot of customers who couldn't program their way out of a wet paper bag. Including ones that used C++, but probably shouldn't have.
IMHO, any developer should be fine with a Boost.Optional return value (as long as you reference the documentation, and optionally provide a brief 2-sentence summary of Boost.Optional), and he/she might even appreciate the opportunity to learn the utility of another Boost library.
Should, definitely. Would... well, we can hope. :-) That wouldn't necessarily stop them from using C++, or Boost, though -- that's why I wanted to make it as simple as possible.
This would remove the necessity of this special NaN value, noticeably simplifying the interface, implementation, and reasoning of this library.
Sorry to be such a bear; I'm only trying to improve things.
And I'm sorry if I seem to be a stubborn mule about it too. I'm not trying to be, no matter how it might look. :-) I just need a strong enough reason to change the design. I think Scott McMurray just provided such a reason; please see my reply to him for my proposed solution. - -- Chad Nelson Oak Circle Software, Inc. * * * -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkuyaDkACgkQp9x9jeZ9/wQxvQCg37pglFD5NaWfyxa+NPxd3xd4 AKEAoOsm+IbqObZu9rZonSISZwIajlYT =plll -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----