on Tue Sep 27 2011, Ben Robinson <icaretaker-AT-gmail.com> wrote:
This submission would make it possible to write a complete set of unit tests for meta-programs, to test both the positive, compiling statements, and the negative, non-compiling statements. These tests will all compile, and the negative tests can throw an exception instead of failing to compile.
I think you're over-promising here. You can't turn all non-compiling code into compiling code by wrapping it in something. Some errors are hard errors and there's nothing you can do about it without modifying the code. If I write a metaprogram component that is designed to generate a compilation error if it is mis-used, and then I write a test to prove that it does generate that compilation error, and you can somehow turn that into a test that throws without modifying my component... you are a god. [You may still be a god, but not because you solved this problem ;-)] I think what you mean to say is that it tests both positive and negative assertions without responding to failed assertions by generating a compilation error. Personally I am very uncomfortable with the use of exceptions to deal with failed assertions, and in a test that's just a bunch of compile-time assertions, I don't see *any* advantage whatsoever in using exceptions. -- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing http://www.boostpro.com