source: downloads/boost_1_34_1/libs/signals/doc/rationale.xml @ 29

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<section last-revision="$Date: 2006/11/03 19:45:40 $">
  <title>Design Rationale</title>

  <using-namespace name="boost"/>
  <using-namespace name="boost::signals"/>
  <using-class name="boost::signalN"/>

  <section>
    <title>Choice of Slot Definitions</title> 

    <para> The definition of a slot differs amongst signals and slots
    libraries. Within Boost.Signals, a slot is defined in a very loose
    manner: it can be any function object that is callable given
    parameters of the types specified by the signal, and whose return
    value is convertible to the result type expected by the
    signal. However, alternative definitions have associated pros and
    cons that were considered prior to the construction of
    Boost.Signals.</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Slots derive from a specific base
        class</emphasis>: generally a scheme such as this will require
        all user-defined slots to derive from some library-specified
        <code>Slot</code> abstract class that defines a virtual
        function calling the slot. Adaptors can be used to convert a
        definition such as this to a definition similar to that used
        by Boost.Signals, but the use of a large number of small
        adaptor classes containing virtual functions has been found to
        cause an unacceptable increase in the size of executables
        (polymorphic class types require more code than
        non-polymorphic types).</para>

        <para> This approach does have the benefit of simplicity of
        implementation and user interface, from an object-oriented
        perspective.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Slots constructed from a set of
        primitives</emphasis>: in this scheme the slot can have a
        limited set of types (often derived from a common abstract
        base class) that are constructed from some library-defined set
        of primitives that often include conversions from free
        function pointers and member function pointers, and a limited
        set of binding capabilities. Such an approach is reasonably
        simple and cover most common cases, but it does not allow a
        large degree of flexibility in slot construction. Libraries
        for function object composition have become quite advanced and
        it is out of the scope of a signals and slots library to
        encorporate such enhancements. Thus Boost.Signals does not
        include argument binding or function object composition
        primitives, but instead provides a hook (via the
        <code><functionname>visit_each</functionname></code>
        mechanism) that allows existing binder/composition libraries
        to provide the necessary information to Signals.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para> Users not satisfied with the slot definition choice may opt
    to replace the default slot function type with an alternative that
    meets their specific needs.</para>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>User-level Connection Management</title>

    <para> Users need to have fine control over the connection of
    signals to slots and their eventual disconnection. The approach
    taken by Boost.Signals is to return a
    <code><classname>connection</classname></code> object that enables
    connected/disconnected query, manual disconnection, and an
    automatic disconnection on destruction mode. Some other possible
    interfaces include:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Pass slot to
        disconnect</emphasis>: in this interface model, the
        disconnection of a slot connected with
        <code>sig.<methodname>connect</methodname>(slot)</code> is
        performed via
        <code>sig.<methodname>disconnect</methodname>(slot)</code>. Internally,
        a linear search using slot comparison is performed and the
        slot, if found, is removed from the list. Unfortunately,
        querying connectedness will generally also end up as
        linear-time operations. This model also fails for
        implementation reasons when slots become more complex than
        simple function pointers, member function pointers and a
        limited set of compositions and argument binders: to match the
        slot given in the call to
        <code><methodname>disconnect</methodname></code> with an
        existing slot we would need to be able to compare arbitrary
        function objects, which is not feasible.</para>
      </listitem>
      
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Pass a token to
        disconnect</emphasis>: this approach identifies slots with a
        token that is easily comparable (e.g., a string), enabling
        slots to be arbitrary function objects. While this approach is
        essentially equivalent to the approach taken by Boost.Signals,
        it is possibly more error-prone for several reasons:</para>

        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para>Connections and disconnections must be paired, so
            the problem becomes similar to the problems incurred when
            pairing <code>new</code> and <code>delete</code> for
            dynamic memory allocation. While errors of this sort would
            not be catastrophic for a signals and slots
            implementation, their detection is generally
            nontrivial.</para>
          </listitem>
          
          <listitem>
            <para>Tokens must be unique, otherwise two slots will have
            the same name and will be indistinguishable. In
            environments where many connections will be made
            dynamically, name generation becomes an additional task
            for the user. Uniqueness of tokens also results in an
            additional failure mode when attempting to connect a slot
            using a token that has already been used.</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para>More parameterization would be required, because the
            token type must be user-defined. Additional
            parameterization steepens the learning curver and
            overcomplicates a simple interface.</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>

        <para> This type of interface is supported in Boost.Signals
        via the slot grouping mechanism. It augments the
        <code><classname>connection</classname></code> object-based
        connection management scheme.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Combiner Interface</title>

    <para> The Combiner interface was chosen to mimic a call to an
    algorithm in the C++ standard library. It is felt that by viewing
    slot call results as merely a sequence of values accessed by input
    iterators, the combiner interface would be most natural to a
    proficient C++ programmer. Competing interface design generally
    required the combiners to be constructed to conform to an
    interface that would be customized for (and limited to) the
    Signals library. While these interfaces are generally enable more
    straighforward implementation of the signals &amp; slots
    libraries, the combiners are unfortunately not reusable (either in
    other signals &amp; slots libraries or within other generic
    algorithms), and the learning curve is steepened slightly to learn
    the specific combiner interface.</para>

    <para> The Signals formulation of combiners is based on the
    combiner using the "pull" mode of communication, instead of the
    more complex "push" mechanism. With a "pull" mechanism, the
    combiner's state can be kept on the stack and in the program
    counter, because whenever new data is required (i.e., calling the
    next slot to retrieve its return value), there is a simple
    interface to retrieve that data immediately and without returning
    from the combiner's code. Contrast this with the "push" mechanism,
    where the combiner must keep all state in class members because
    the combiner's routines will be invoked for each signal
    called. Compare, for example, a combiner that returns the maximum
    element from calling the slots. If the maximum element ever
    exceeds 100, no more slots are to be called.</para>

    <informaltable>
      <tgroup cols="2" align="left">
        <thead>
          <row>
            <entry><para>Pull</para></entry>
            <entry><para>Push</para></entry>
          </row>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <row>
            <entry>
<programlisting>
struct pull_max {
  typedef int result_type;

  template&lt;typename InputIterator&gt;
  result_type operator()(InputIterator first,
                         InputIterator last)
  {
    if (first == last)
      throw std::runtime_error("Empty!");

    int max_value = *first++;
    while(first != last &amp;&amp; *first &lt;= 100) {
      if (*first &gt; max_value)
        max_value = *first;
      ++first;
    }

    return max_value;
  }
};
</programlisting>
</entry>
            <entry>
<programlisting>
struct push_max {
  typedef int result_type;

  push_max() : max_value(), got_first(false) {}

  // returns false when we want to stop
  bool operator()(int result) {
    if (result &gt; 100)
      return false;

    if (!got_first) {
      got_first = true;
      max_value = result;
      return true;
    }

    if (result &gt; max_value)
      max_value = result;

    return true;
  }

  int get_value() const 
  { 
    if (!got_first)
      throw std::runtime_error("Empty!");
    return max_value; 
  }

private:
  int  max_value; 
  bool got_first;
};
</programlisting>
</entry>
          </row>
        </tbody>
      </tgroup>
    </informaltable>

    <para>There are several points to note in these examples. The
    "pull" version is a reusable function object that is based on an
    input iterator sequence with an integer <code>value_type</code>,
    and is very straightforward in design. The "push" model, on the
    other hand, relies on an interface specific to the caller and is
    not generally reusable. It also requires extra state values to
    determine, for instance, if any elements have been
    received. Though code quality and ease-of-use is generally
    subjective, the "pull" model is clearly shorter and more reusable
    and will often be construed as easier to write and understand,
    even outside the context of a signals &amp; slots library.</para>

    <para> The cost of the "pull" combiner interface is paid in the
    implementation of the Signals library itself. To correctly handle
    slot disconnections during calls (e.g., when the dereference
    operator is invoked), one must construct the iterator to skip over
    disconnected slots. Additionally, the iterator must carry with it
    the set of arguments to pass to each slot (although a reference to
    a structure containing those arguments suffices), and must cache
    the result of calling the slot so that multiple dereferences don't
    result in multiple calls. This apparently requires a large degree
    of overhead, though if one considers the entire process of
    invoking slots one sees that the overhead is nearly equivalent to
    that in the "push" model, but we have inverted the control
    structures to make iteration and dereference complex (instead of
    making combiner state-finding complex).</para>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Connection Interfaces: +=  operator</title>

    <para> Boost.Signals supports a connection syntax with the form
    <code>sig.<methodname>connect</methodname>(slot)</code>, but a
    more terse syntax <code>sig += slot</code> has been suggested (and
    has been used by other signals &amp; slots implementations). There
    are several reasons as to why this syntax has been
    rejected:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">It's unnecessary</emphasis>: the
        connection syntax supplied by Boost.Signals is no less
        powerful that that supplied by the <code>+=</code>
        operator. The savings in typing (<code>connect()</code>
        vs. <code>+=</code>) is essentially negligible. Furthermore,
        one could argue that calling <code>connect()</code> is more
        readable than an overload of <code>+=</code>.</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Ambiguous return type</emphasis>:
        there is an ambiguity concerning the return value of the
        <code>+=</code> operation: should it be a reference to the
        signal itself, to enable <code>sig += slot1 += slot2</code>,
        or should it return a
        <code><classname>connection</classname></code> for the
        newly-created signal/slot connection?</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Gateway to operators -=,
        +</emphasis>: when one has added a connection operator
        <code>+=</code>, it seems natural to have a disconnection
        operator <code>-=</code>. However, this presents problems when
        the library allows arbitrary function objects to implicitly
        become slots, because slots are no longer comparable.  <!--
        (see the discussion on this topic in User-level Connection
        Management). --></para>

        <para> The second obvious addition when one has
        <code>operator+=</code> would be to add a <code>+</code>
        operator that supports addition of multiple slots, followed by
        assignment to a signal. However, this would require
        implementing <code>+</code> such that it can accept any two
        function objects, which is technically infeasible.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </section>
    
  <section>
    <title><code>trackable</code> rationale</title>

    <para> The <code><classname>trackable</classname></code>
      class is the primary user interface to automatic connection
      lifetime management, and its design affects users directly. Two
      issues stick out most: the odd copying behavior of
      <code>trackable</code>, and the limitation requiring users to
      derive from <code>trackable</code> to create types that can
      participate in automatic connection management.</para>

    <section>
      <title><code>trackable</code> copying behavior</title>

      <para> The copying behavior of
      <code><classname>trackable</classname></code> is essentially
      that <code><classname>trackable</classname></code> subobjects
      are never copied; instead, the copy operation is merely a
      no-op. To understand this, we look at the nature of a
      signal-slot connection and note that the connection is based on
      the entities that are being connected; when one of the entities
      is destroyed, the connection is destroyed. Therefore, when a
      <code><classname>trackable</classname></code> subobject is
      copied, we cannot copy the connections because the connections
      don't refer to the target entity - they refer to the source
      entity. This reason is dual to the reason signals are
      noncopyable: the slots connected to them are connected to that
      particular signal, not the data contained in the signal.</para>
    </section>

    <section>
      <title>Why derivation from <code>trackable</code>?</title>

      <para> For <code><classname>trackable</classname></code> to work
      properly, there are two constraints:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><code><classname>trackable</classname></code> must
          have storage space to keep track of all connections made to
          this object.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><code><classname>trackable</classname></code> must be
          notified when the object is being destructed so that it can
          disconnect its connections.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>

      <para>Clearly, deriving from
      <code><classname>trackable</classname></code> meets these two
      guidelines. We have not yet found a superior solution.</para>
    </section>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Comparison with other Signal/Slot implementations</title>

    <section>
      <title>libsigc++</title>
      
      <para> <ulink
      url="http://libsigc.sourceforge.net">libsigc++</ulink> is a C++
      signals &amp; slots library that originally started as part of
      an initiative to wrap the C interfaces to <ulink
      url="http://www.gtk.org">GTK</ulink> libraries in C++, and has
      grown to be a separate library maintained by Karl Nelson. There
      are many similarities between libsigc++ and Boost.Signals, and
      indeed Boost.Signals was strongly influenced by Karl Nelson and
      libsigc++. A cursory inspection of each library will find a
      similar syntax for the construction of signals and in the use of
      connections and automatic connection lifetime management. There
      are some major differences in design that separate these
      libraries:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis role="bold">Slot definitions</emphasis>:
          slots in libsigc++ are created using a set of primitives
          defined by the library. These primitives allow binding of
          objects (as part of the library), explicit adaptation from
          the argument and return types of the signal to the argument
          and return types of the slot (libsigc++ is, by default, more
          strict about types than Boost.Signals). A discussion of this
          approach with a comparison against the approach taken by
          Boost.Signals is given in Choice of Slot Definitions.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis role="bold">Combiner/Marshaller
          interface</emphasis>: the equivalent to Boost.Signals
          combiners in libsigc++ are the marshallers. Marshallers are
          similar to the "push" interface described in Combiner
          Interface, and a proper treatment of the topic is given
          there.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </section>

    <section>
      <title>.NET delegates</title>

      <para> <ulink url="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft</ulink>
      has introduced the .NET Framework and an associated set of
      languages and language extensions, one of which is the
      delegate. Delegates are similar to signals and slots, but they
      are more limited than most C++ signals and slots implementations
      in that they:</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>Require exact type matches between a delegate and what
          it is calling.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem><para>Only return the result of the last target called, with no option for customization.</para></listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>Must call a method with <code>this</code> already
          bound.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </section>
  </section>
</section>