Hi Arjun- Thank you for your efforts on the ActiveMQ C++ library!
I commented on your PR and will help support your efforts, despite my C++ experience being rusty =). Thank you! Matt Pavlovich ActiveMQ PMC Member > On Feb 28, 2025, at 11:11 PM, Arjun Ray <ara...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On Fri, 28 Feb 2025 19:08:37 -0500, Christopher Shannon > <christopher.l.shan...@gmail.com> wrote: > > | Thanks for the PR! It's very much appreciated to have some help with > | the C++ client. > > Let's hope the PR can be merged into the repo expeditiously! There are > 4 people "officially" (I don't know the correct term here) associated > with the repo as reviewers/committers, but none of them seems active. > There have been PRs and JIRAs over the past decade, but the last real > activity seems to date to early 2019. > > I think it needs to be said that while my work looks extensive, it > really isn't. The bulk of it took only a weekend. Just about all of > it could have been done a decade ago by tackling the official C++11 > deprecations (viz., std::auto_ptr and throw specifications.) The only > extra work was cleaning up the warnings. > > Which, of course, raises the old meta-issue of why interest in working > on the C++ client has languished. Not that there is any dearth of > users. I think there are two basic reasons for this, which in turn > don't bode well for the future. > > The first reason is the overtly Java-esque character of the code base. > Java people have no idea how off-putting and disincentivizing reams of > sustained non-idiomatic C++ code can be, especially when it's clear > that an alien idiom is being used instead. Which C++ programmer would > even want to work on a code base where in order to understand it, he > has to "think" like a Java programmer? I spent time struggling with > this myself when I was fixing the warnings. I had to check, as best I > could, that my replacement code wasn't tripping up some Java-ish > assumption I wasn't aware of. My only assurance that I may have got > it right is that the code compiles cleanly and all tests pass. But I > wouldn't be suprised in the least that I've introduced new bugs > waiting to bite, when I emended some Java-influenced infelicities. > > The second reason is perhaps fundamental. It's related to the first > in being Java-inspired. The code base systematically heap-allocates > _everything_, using smart pointers to handle the ensuing difficulties. > This is inefficient, clumsy, and profoundly anti-C++ in spirit. This > is also reflected in the CMS API itself, where the objects and their > methods practically force user level code to work with heap-allocating > code. I mentioned this problem, and how to tackle it, on this list > four years ago. > > https://lists.apache.org/thread/v66hx30fcwb79pps3sxq1nq3q6j2vygy > > Rather than persevere with the C++ API, i think the effort going > forward should be to develop an equivalent C API. > > A library implemented in C++ exposing a C API is by no means unusual > or uncommon. It's an itegral part of the so-called Hourglass API > pattern (not to be confused with the hourglass graphic.) > > https://blog.sigbusfactor.com/2022/05/29/efficient-hourglass-api.html > > (For a quick introduction, see > https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hourglass-interface-cc-apis-c-libraries-jarno-ralli-phd-lfgrf) > > A CMS-like C++ API can be built on it for those that need it, but the > real benefit of a C API is the stable ABI and bindings to other > languages (especially scripting ones.) > > I have some materials of a simplified API built on treating CMS > objects as "typed void pointers", with working examples, here: > > https://github.com/arayq2/utility/tree/master/amq > > > Arjun > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@activemq.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@activemq.apache.org > For further information, visit: https://activemq.apache.org/contact > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@activemq.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@activemq.apache.org For further information, visit: https://activemq.apache.org/contact
