From 6583485620053144215 X-Google-Thread: f78e5,ea98f3a176444971 X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gid7894ca11fe,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.glorb.com!news.alt.net!frodo.cs.rpi.edu!not-for-mail From: Francis Glassborow Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ Subject: Re: Any hopes for export ? Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:08:19 CST Organization: unknown Lines: 54 Sender: cppmods@cs.rpi.edu Approved: james.dennett@gmail.com Message-ID: References: <4c4b9020$0$274$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> NNTP-Posting-Host: netlab.cs.rpi.edu Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed To: (Usenet) Return-Path: X-Original-Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:43:22 +0100 X-Submission-Address: std-c++@netlab.cs.rpi.edu Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.std.c++:2811 Timothy Madden wrote: > > Hello > > I sadly find that at the last meeting export keyword was voted for > removal, and I still wander weather there are good technical reasons. > > Export has been recently discussed here, before the meeting, and the > discussion proved to noisy for this newsgroup, so anyone still > interested is kindly directed to this thread on > comp.lang.c++.moderated now: > http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.c++.moderated/browse_thread/thread/ad69cc51488c4a3c/ce9ef235bf3f9941 > > I would like to know if there is now, after the vote, any chance or > possibility that the issue be considered or discussed, before the next > version of C++, that will likely again last for 10 years or so ... ? No. Many thought that the original introduction of export was a mistake. The attempt to remove it from C++98 effectively failed because EDG had an implementation (and that had cost them a good deal to achieve). Had there not been an implementation then I am certain that the vote to remove it would have succeeded. It is now 12 years since it was placed in the Standard and it has been substantially ignored. That is long enough and I am delighted to see it go. Now the field is open to tackle the problems that it was designed to address. > > > P.S. > Please bear with me and do not find this new post of my too > aggressive (many people have had it with endless debate on export). > I have a general feeling people are against export because it is > controversial and not for solid reasons. > Please replay on comp.lang.c++.moderated. I think you are mistaken. People are against export because it was ill-conceived (you may not realise it but it was a largely political solution, unwanted by most implementers) and has failed to solve some very real problems. EDG implemented it at a considerable cost (they are a very small company). It isn't something you can simply bolt on to a compiler but can(probably will) require a radical overhaul of the entire implementation with the resulting suspension of other development work. In addition we all know that major overhauls almost inevitably result in periods of instability. These are not welcomed by developers so implementers need a great deal of confidence that the benefits will be worth it and cannot be achieved alternatively. -- [ comp.std.c++ is moderated. To submit articles, try just posting with ] [ your news-reader. If that fails, use mailto:std-c++@netlab.cs.rpi.edu] [ --- Please see the FAQ before posting. --- ] [ FAQ: http://www.comeaucomputing.com/csc/faq.html ]