LibTiff Mailing List

        Richard Minner (rtm@island.com) writes:

>C++ is also notably less stable than C, but there is a large stable subset
>(part of the investment is learning what that subset is :-).  Lacking the
>investment C++ is probably a bad move -- I've heard several horror stories
>along the lines or "more rope" (i.e. give them enough rope and they'll hang
>themselves).

        I would advise against any major attempt at C++-izing libtiff until at
least 1996 or 1997.  The C++ standard is slated to come out in mid-1996, and it
is unlikely that any vendors will have stable C++ compilers out before early
1997.

        There are so many fundamental areas of the language that are not
commonly implemented (e.g. namespaces, subtle template details, the "bool"
type, exception handling, run-time dynamic type casting) that it would be
extremely difficult to produce a libtiff++ that would be immediately useful yet
avoid being cumbersome and archaic three or four years down the road.  The
"stable subset" of C++ is small and weak enough at this time that, in my
opinion, it is a far better idea to custom-write your own C++ interface to
libtiff than to prematurely write a libtiff++ that will neither work on all
machines nor take full advantage of C++.  (In particular, I wouldn't want to
use a libtiff++ interface that didn't make extensive use of, at the very least,
the "try/catch/throw" and "namespace" facilities.)

	The problem of irregular growth is already bad enough in C++ and TIFF.
(Consider the inconsistency of declaring automatic objects within "for" headers
and "if/else" statements, having two different error-handling schemes for the
ios hierarchy, etc.  Some of these problems are young enough to patch up
without upsetting the C++ community; sadly, many of them are not.)  Let's not
compound the problem; until the standard comes out, let's hold off on
libtiff++.

My $0.02 worth,

-- 
John Davison
Electronic Mail: davisonj@ecn.purdue.edu
WWW Home Page: <http://en.ecn.purdue.edu:20002/~davisonj/HomePage.html>


AWARE [SYSTEMS]		Imaging expertise for the Delphi developer
		TIFF and LibTiff Mailing List Archive
	LibTiff Mailing List TIFF and LibTiff Mailing List Archive October 1994 Previous Thread Next Thread Previous by Thread Next by Thread Previous by Date Next by Date Contact The TIFF Mailing List Homepage This list is run by Frank Warmerdam Archive maintained by AWare Systems	Thread 1994.10.21 05:53 "Re: C++ tiff library", by Richard Minner 1994.10.21 14:38 "Re: C++ tiff library", by Richard Minner 1994.10.21 18:36 "C++ tiff library", by Jim Arnold 1994.10.22 12:15 "Re: C++ tiff library", by Yip Chi Lap 1994.10.25 20:49 "Re: C++ tiff library", by John M Davison 1994.10.31 04:52 "Re: C++ tiff library", by Richard Minner 1994.10.25 20:49 "Re: C++ tiff library", by John M Davison Richard Minner (rtm@island.com) writes: >C++ is also notably less stable than C, but there is a large stable subset >(part of the investment is learning what that subset is :-). Lacking the >investment C++ is probably a bad move -- I've heard several horror stories >along the lines or "more rope" (i.e. give them enough rope and they'll hang >themselves). I would advise against any major attempt at C++-izing libtiff until at least 1996 or 1997. The C++ standard is slated to come out in mid-1996, and it is unlikely that any vendors will have stable C++ compilers out before early 1997. There are so many fundamental areas of the language that are not commonly implemented (e.g. namespaces, subtle template details, the "bool" type, exception handling, run-time dynamic type casting) that it would be extremely difficult to produce a libtiff++ that would be immediately useful yet avoid being cumbersome and archaic three or four years down the road. The "stable subset" of C++ is small and weak enough at this time that, in my opinion, it is a far better idea to custom-write your own C++ interface to libtiff than to prematurely write a libtiff++ that will neither work on all machines nor take full advantage of C++. (In particular, I wouldn't want to use a libtiff++ interface that didn't make extensive use of, at the very least, the "try/catch/throw" and "namespace" facilities.) The problem of irregular growth is already bad enough in C++ and TIFF. (Consider the inconsistency of declaring automatic objects within "for" headers and "if/else" statements, having two different error-handling schemes for the ios hierarchy, etc. Some of these problems are young enough to patch up without upsetting the C++ community; sadly, many of them are not.) Let's not compound the problem; until the standard comes out, let's hold off on libtiff++. My $0.02 worth, -- John Davison Electronic Mail: davisonj@ecn.purdue.edu WWW Home Page: <http://en.ecn.purdue.edu:20002/~davisonj/HomePage.html>

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1994.10.25 20:49 "Re: C++ tiff library", by John M Davison