toString refactor in druntime

[Steven Schveighoffer via Digitalmars-d]

On 11/3/14 4:37 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 11/3/2014 9:36 AM, Tobias Müller wrote:
>> Presenting OpenSSL as a case for good interface design is a crime by
>> itself!
>
> Not at all. I presented it as an example of a C library that has a
> metaprogramming interface, but that interface has not prevented bug fix
> updates to the shared library itself without requiring recompiling of
> apps that call it.
>
> All shared C libraries have a metaprogramming interface if they have
> macros in the .h file.
>

I had a very nasty experience with using a template-based API. I vowed 
to avoid it wherever possible.

The culprit was std::string -- it changed something internally from one 
version of libc++ to the next on Linux. So I had to recompile 
everything, but the whole system I was using was with .so objects.

templates do NOT make good API types IMO.

-Steve