gcc : c++11 : full support : eta?

[Uday Khedker]

On Tuesday 22 January 2013 10:27 PM, Richard Kenner wrote:
>> Perhaps it'd be worthwhile to consider making the compiler easier to
>> understand, maybe by devoting a lot of effort into the internals
>> documentation.  There's a lot of knowledge wrapped up in people that
>> could disappear with one bus factor.
>
> That is definitely a worthwhile goal, and one that's had mixed success
> in the past, but:
>
> - compilers are extremely complex programs and there's a limit to how
>    much even the best-written internals documentation can explain
> - even fewer people are interested and competant to write such documentation
>    as there are to do the necessary development work
>


This is because no matter what one has done, unless one has contributed 
code, one is not considered a contributor to GCC.

I had said in http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2012-11/msg00270.html

>
> So while we continue to improve the technology, we have to also give due importance to making it easier for newer people to become contributors to the technology.
>
> GCC is not just about a code that works. It is also about building succinct explanations of what that code is and why it has been designed the way it is.

The way code maintainers are appointed, I think we need to identify and 
appoint people who would be willing to take the responsibility so that 
the developers could rally around such activities to make them more 
meaningful. We need to build a group whose primary responsibility is not 
development but who understand the nuances of the development and can 
engage with academia and attract people who can contribute to GCC.
And such a group cannot be identified using the criteria of code submitted.

For every piece of code, there are dozens of people who take keen 
interest in it, express opinion on it, review it critically and 
contribute to improving it because eventually it could go in the compiler.

Unless there is an express statement from the steering committee that 
tutorials and training material should be accorded a similar status, 
they would remain neglected and personal projects with limited reach.
Of course even in the presence of an official mandate, there is no 
guarantee that things will change but we would not know until we have 
tried :-)


Uday.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Uday Khedker
Professor
Department of Computer Science & Engg.
IIT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India.
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