On 20 Nov 2009, at 18:30, Patrick Horgan wrote:
Tom Brinkman wrote:
Neverthless, boost needs to keep on pushing the envelope. Functional programming is the future and boost is where you come to see whats possible in that domain. I would hate to see that change.
If boost's focus is switched to addressing the needs of day to day "average" programmers, I would loose interest. I want boost developers to continue to reach for the stars.
If "average" developers happen to find boost useful, of course they can use it, but they need to appreciate where boost priorities have been and use it appropriately.
+1
The second line on the boost website is: We emphasize libraries that work well with the C++ Standard Library. Boost libraries are intended to be widely useful, and usable across a broad spectrum of applications. The Boost license encourages both commercial and non-commercial use. The users page says: Why should an organization use Boost? In a word, Productivity. Use of high-quality libraries like Boost speeds initial development, results in fewer bugs, reduces reinvention-of-the-wheel, and cuts long-term maintenance costs. To me, that reads as encouraging average developers to make use of boost in long-term projects. If boost doesn't want to help day-to-day programmers, that's fine, but it shouldn't advertise it self as a library which helps long-term maintenance. Chris