"Andy Little" <andy@servocomm.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message news:c4t3tl$pp7$1@sea.gmane.org...
[...] My views are my own and in no way reflect the opinions of the boost community at large.
However, your views on this mailing list become a matter of public record and reflect *on* the Boost community. When Mr. Marcus says that Brian posts in a most professional manner, he says as much by what he doesn't say as by what he does. That is, we should all hold ourselves to a high standard of professionalism here. Let's leave petty bickering to other fields.
I don't really like the way that came out. I believe that quotes like "C++ is not the solution for you" or "Whether anyone has the guts to employ you" don't belong on this list.
C++ is a great language. Functional programming is a great idea. Brian MacNamara IMHO is one of the view people that may see something beyond either.
I would say that is something akin to a holy grail on boost.
I don't see how that justifies the comment "C++ is not the solution for you". What if I said: "the failure to produce a unit/quantities library that is accepted by a large majority means that C++ is not the language for this type of problem"? That hardly seems justifiable or appropriate.
Some employers do have 'guts'. If you dont like the visceral term, replace it by faith, courage, vision, and belief.
It's not a matter of the term being "visceral". It's a matter of the implied value judgement you are making. My "visceral" reaction to your statement was that you think Brian is out in left field, which is the only reason it would take "guts", "faith", "courage", "vision" or "belief" to hire him. Is that an unfair reading?
[...] The general response of the ' boost community', which purports to embrace FP was frankly pathetic throughout the FC++ review.
I think at least part of the problem is due to the problems stated in the review summary. FC++ is a large, monolithic library. Many people who did not have an immediate use case for it were probably somewhat intimidated to try it out. Or maybe they didn't feel they had the time to devote to reviewing it. There are any number of reasons why there was an attenuated response. That doesn't mean Boost is uninterested in FP. I think the presence of Bind, Lambda, MPL, Spirit, et al indicates a strong interest in and support of FP (so far as C++ allows it).
[...] However I get the impression, which I stated in the review that C++'s place is as an Assembly language for FP. To (try to) use FP in C++ expressions is not very productive.... sorry lambda. [...]
I get the impression that you haven't done much metaprogramming. Dave --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.581 / Virus Database: 368 - Release Date: 2/9/2004