[wx-discuss] wxTNG: using external libraries

[Julian Smart]

Hi,

Here are some concerns about use of external libraries:

1. By basing our future on libraries like boost, we're
tying ourselves to them and have to commit to their
future direction, whatever that might be. What if their
license changes, or they make some other decision
we don't like? (Then we're stuck maintaining their
old code I guess...)

2. Do these libs support all our platforms? (For example,
embedded ones.)

3. Will we have to drop support for any significant compilers?

4. What about overhead? STL-based apps can increase
in size significantly. How would this affect embedded
apps? What about library and app compilation speed?

5. What about overall coherence of the API? It becomes
a collection of libraries, probably with different
documentation sets that may be a pain to navigate around.
Similarly, we would need to clarify licensing carefully.

6. What happens when the external libraries don't do
things we need them to do? (If we want to change them
we have to straddle several projects, and we might not
get permission.)

7. Existing users have to learn new stuff. Obvious
and not a show-stopper in itself, but listed for completeness.

The main arguments for external libraries are (AFAIK):

1. They're better than our classes. (Sure, but are they
*so* much better? Are people beating their head against
the restrictions and if so, can we have some examples?)

2. It'll be easier for us to maintain. (Except we also
have to maintain bridge classes, and be aware of changes/bugs
in these other libraries.)

3. People don't have to learn new APIs. (What proportion
of potential users are already using the classes we intend to use?)

4. It looks good if we follow standards. (Hm.. Microsoft seem pretty
successful making it up as it goes along, but of course
it's a slightly more powerful organisation :-))

Overall, my main fear is that we erode the project's identity
and coherence and end up with a mish-mash that's more restrictive,
less portable and with a more verbose syntax. Apart from that
it seems obviously the [politically] correct thing to do...

Regards,

Julian



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Julian Smart                           julian at anthemion.co.uk
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