From 4533943331333793554 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f78e5,c491eb430f6ab75a X-Google-Attributes: gidf78e5,public From: fjh@murlibobo.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus Henderson) Subject: Re: How about #depricate Date: 1997/02/22 Message-ID: <5elr8j$mkq@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 220709953 References: <330B4E75.16FE@strata3d.com> <330CD371.2225@mds.rmit.edu.au> X-Original-Date: 22 Feb 1997 04:04:35 GMT Organization: Comp Sci, University of Melbourne X-Auth: PGPMoose V1.1 PGP comp.std.c++ Newsgroups: comp.std.c++ Originator: austern@isolde.mti.sgi.com Marcelo Cantos writes: >I assume the purpose of #deprecate is >to get the compiler to tell the programmer where all the instances >of this keyword are located. This could easily be addressed by going: > > #define identifier !@$% > >Your compiler will then flag all the occurring instances as errors. No, you misunderstand the purpose. The aim is to flag all uses of the entity _without_ breaking the code. As a library vendor, breaking your users' code will make you unpopular. It's much better to use a warning to encourage them to change their code than to just come out and break it. >An easier approach is to use grep. No, that's not going to help at all. There's no way that a library implementor can `grep' all their client's code. Anyway, both `grep' and the proposed `#deprecate' have the wrong granularity; you want to deprecate particular member functions, for example, not identifiers. >In reality I don't think many identifiers are deprecated and the >compiler vendors usually issue warnings of this nature anyway. Yes, compiler vendors do this sort of thing often. The point of this extension would be to give library implementors the power to do the same. -- Fergus Henderson | "I have always known that the pursuit WWW: | of excellence is a lethal habit" PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3 | -- the last words of T. S. Garp. --- [ comp.std.c++ is moderated. To submit articles: Try just posting with your newsreader. If that fails, use mailto:std-c++@ncar.ucar.edu comp.std.c++ FAQ: http://reality.sgi.com/austern/std-c++/faq.html Moderation policy: http://reality.sgi.com/austern/std-c++/policy.html Comments? mailto:std-c++-request@ncar.ucar.edu ]