On the richness of C++

[Walter Bright]

Edward Diener wrote:
> Walter Bright wrote:
>> Kevin Bealer wrote:
>>> I was amazed that Boost could do things like the Lambda support with 
>>> _1 _2, etc.
>>> Those Boost guys are geniuses.
>>
>> I agree, they are geniuses. But that's really what is wrong with C++, 
>> you shouldn't have to be a genius to get advanced things done.
> 
> Are D's templates a complete replacement in functionality for Boost's 
> MPL ? If so could you write an article on your web site about the how's 
> and why's of that ? I am still trying to understand D's templates based 
> on the sparse documentation of them.

I don't really understand Boost MPL, but D's template system is 
considerably more powerful than C++'s. I agree that more documentation 
is needed, but one can easily write a book about it.


> Remember that part of the difficult for the Boost developer is also 
> supporting many non-conforming C++ compilers, so part of the genius of 
> what they are doing is manipulating around compilers that do not deal 
> with C++ templates correctly ( perhaps because the details of the C++ 
> template system are so abstruse and difficult to understand and implement).

It's amazing even not considering compiler bug workarounds. And yes, a 
large reason for the compiler bugs is because it is so hard to 
understand how it is supposed to work.