source: downloads/boost_1_33_1/libs/program_options/doc/rationale.dox @ 13

/** @page rationale Rationale

    @section code_size Focus on code size

    The program options library has two important properties:
    - runtime performance is not important. After all, command line processing
      is done only once, and the amount of data is small.
    - code size matters. Since parsing command line is utility task, users
    won't be glad to have lots of code linked to every binary which has
    options.
    
    For the above reasons, the the library is designed so that it can be easily
    used as shared library, with minimum code on the side of main application.
    In particular, templates are used only where necessary, for example for 
    validation of user-defined types. In other places, boost::function is
    used to allow customization, but keep templates out of the public
    interface.

    @section string_vs_enums Strings vs. enums

    In some places, the library uses strings to convey information that
    could be represented by enumerations or values. For example, 
    the program_options::option_description class allows to add "?" to the
    parameter name to specify that the parameter is optional. For another
    example, while program_options::cmdline class allows to obtain the
    index of option, it does not require to specify an index for each option,
    and it's possible to tell options by their names.

    Such interface appears to be much more usable. If we were using
    enumeration for different properties of parameter, there would be 
    another argument to many functions, the need to type long, possible
    qualified names, and little advantage. 

    That little advantage is that if you type a wrong enumeration name,
    you'd get a compile error. If you type '!' instead of '?' after parameter
    name, you'd get incorrect behaviour.  However, such errors are deemed
    rare.

    @section char_vs_string const char* vs. std::string

    Most of the interface uses const char* where std::string seems a natural 
    choice. The reason is that those functions are called many times: for
    example to declare all options. They are typically called with string
    literals, and implicit conversion to string appears to take a lot of
    code space. Providing both std::string and const char* version would
    considerably bloat the interface. Since passing std::string is considered
    rare, only const char* versions are provided.

    @section init_syntax Initialization syntax

    The syntax used for creating options_description instance was designed to 
    be as easy as possible in the most common case. Consider:
    @code
    desc.add_options()
            ("verbose", "", "verbosity level")
            ("magic", "int", "magic value").notify(some_func)
            ;
    @endcode
    Here, most common properties of options: name, presense of parameter and
    description, are specified very concisely, and additional properties can
    be given quite naturally, too.

    Another possibility would be:
    @code
        option_description d1(...), d2(...);
        desc.add(d1 & d2);
    @endcode
    or         
    @code
        option_description d1(...), d2(...);
        desc = d1, d2;
    @endcode

    The drawback is the need to explicitly create new objects and give names
    to them. The latter problem can be helped if objects are created inside
    expressions:
    @code
        desc = option_description(...), option_description(...)
    @endcode
    but there's still extra typing.    

    @section help_handling Handling of --help

    It was suggested by Gennadiy Rozental that occurence of <tt>--help</tt>
    on command line results in throwing an exception. Actually, the 
    &quot;special&quot; option must have been configurable. This was not 
    implemented, because applications might reasonable want to process
    the rest of command line even of <tt>--help</tt> was seen. For example,
    <tt>--verbose</tt> option can control how much help should be output, 
    or there may be several subcommand with different help screens.    
  

      

*/