On Mon, 15 Jun 2020 at 17:48, Gabriel Dos Reis <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> These protracted debate over feature test macros always remind me of the sage 
> words of the inventor of macros for C, Doug McIlroy (and the inventor of the 
> field of Software Engineering):
>
>
>
> Ø  Most #ifdef's and #if's memorialize failures of imagination
>
> Ø  or care, often in the name of "portability".  Code is
>
> Ø  NOT portable if it has to be rewritten according to the
>
> Ø  conventions of each environment.  Ifdef expresses just such
>
> Ø  rewriting, and in an egregious style: it inverts the
>
> Ø  logical structure of a program, bringing the tweaks to
>
> Ø  the top while fragmenting the real architecture.
>
>
>
> Source:  https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00795.html

I don't have a shade of illusion of portability here; it's all about
selectively enabling superior
functionality when it's available, and it's not yet available
ubiquitously. Early adopters can adopt
early, without waiting for everything to synchronize into a brave new world.
-- 
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