[cpp-threads] C++ committee meeting in Mont Tremblant

[Kevlin Henney]

In message <434B3092.8000400 at metalanguage.com>, Andrei Alexandrescu 
<andrei at metalanguage.com> writes
>
>I think there's a tad of misunderstanding in here, caused by the fact
>that C++ is unusual in a particular way.
>
>Unlike most languages, of which parsers are just a tiny part of the
>processing chain, C++ has a horrendously big complicated syntax. That
>creates problems so wicked, that people who haven't actually tackled
>them can hardly imagine them.
>
>As a consequence, people in the committee and toolchain writers do NOT
>want to change the syntax of C++, even in the simplest ways, for the
>simple reasons that touching the parser and perhaps even the formal
>grammar would be a big undertaking.
>
>When they resist to "changing the language" and prefer "library-based
>solutions", most people (some even without realizing it) are really
>thinking "changing the syntax of the language" and prefer "solutions
>that look like library-based". See what I mean? If you give them a
>concurrency model wrapped in a syntax that looks like invoking functions
>and instantiating objects, everybody will like them, even though the
>semantics are "magic" that couldn't be achieved solely via a library.
>
>Makes sense?

I think this is a good way of putting it.

The term that is normally used -- "adding threads via a library" -- is 
perhaps too loose. I think that "presenting threads via a library" is 
another way of looking it.

Of course, such a library-styled solution is going to be limited in what 
it can achieve, eg introducing monitor objects or a rendezvous mechanism 
is less than transparent. But I am not sure that the committee has a 
general appetite for language changes, judging by what I am hearing 
about feedback on proposed Daveed Vandevoorde's module mechanism.

Kevlin
-- 
____________________________________________________________

   Kevlin Henney                   phone:  +44 117 942 2990
   mailto:kevlin at curbralan.com     mobile: +44 7801 073 508
   http://www.curbralan.com        fax:    +44 870 052 2289
   Curbralan: Consultancy + Training + Development + Review
____________________________________________________________