这是个有点奇怪的问题。我的目标是理解语言设计决策,并确定在c++中反射的可能性。
为什么c++语言委员会没有在语言中实现反射?在不运行在虚拟机上的语言(如java)中反射是否太困难了? 如果要在c++中实现反射,会遇到什么挑战?
我想反射的用途是众所周知的:编辑器可以更容易地编写,程序代码将更小,可以为单元测试生成模拟等等。但是如果你能评论一下反射的用法就太好了。
这是个有点奇怪的问题。我的目标是理解语言设计决策,并确定在c++中反射的可能性。
为什么c++语言委员会没有在语言中实现反射?在不运行在虚拟机上的语言(如java)中反射是否太困难了? 如果要在c++中实现反射,会遇到什么挑战?
我想反射的用途是众所周知的:编辑器可以更容易地编写,程序代码将更小,可以为单元测试生成模拟等等。但是如果你能评论一下反射的用法就太好了。
当前回答
所有的语言都不应该试图融合其他语言的所有特征。
c++本质上是一个非常非常复杂的宏汇编器。它不是(传统意义上的)c#、Java、Objective-C、Smalltalk等高级语言。
对于不同的工作有不同的工具是很好的。如果我们只有锤子,所有东西看起来都像钉子。拥有脚本语言对于某些作业是有用的,而具有反射性的oo语言(Java, Obj-C, c#)对于另一类作业是有用的,而超级高效的基本的接近机器的语言对于另一类作业是有用的(c++, C, Assembler)。
C++ does an amazing job of extending Assembler technology to incredible levels of complexity management, and abstractions to make programming larger, more complex tasks vastly more possible for human beings. But it is not necessarily a language that is the best suited for those who are approaching their problem from a strictly high-level perspective (Lisp, Smalltalk, Java, C#). If you need a language with those features to best implement a solution to your problems, then thank those who've created such languages for all of us to use!
但c++是为那些出于某种原因,需要在代码和底层机器操作之间建立强相关性的人准备的。无论是它的效率,还是编程设备驱动程序,还是与底层操作系统服务的交互,或者其他什么,c++都更适合这些任务。
C#, Java, Objective-C all require a much larger, richer runtime system to support their execution. That runtime has to be delivered to the system in question - preinstalled to support the operation of your software. And that layer has to be maintained for various target systems, customized by SOME OTHER LANGUAGE to make it work on that platform. And that middle layer - that adaptive layer between the host OS and the your code - the runtime, is almost always written in a language like C or C++ where efficiency is #1, where understanding predictably the exact interaction between software and hardware can be well understood, and manipulated to maximum gain.
我喜欢Smalltalk、Objective-C,以及拥有一个包含反射、元数据、垃圾收集等的丰富运行时系统。可以编写令人惊叹的代码来利用这些设施!但这只是堆栈上的一个更高的层,它必须依赖于更低的层,而这些层最终必须依赖于操作系统和硬件。我们总是需要一种最适合构建这一层的语言:c++ /C/Assembler。
Addendum: C++11/14 are continuing to expand C++ ability to support higher-level abstractions and systems. Threading, synchronization, precise memory models, more precise abstract machine definitions are enabling C++ developers to achieve many of the high-level abstractions that some of these high-level only languages used to have exclusive domain over, while continuing to provide close-to-metal performance and excellent predictability (i.e minimal runtime subsystems). Perhaps reflection facilities will be selectively enabled in a future revision of C++, for those who want it - or perhaps a library will provide such runtime services (maybe there is one now, or the beginnings of one in boost?).
其他回答
The reason C++ doesn't have reflection is that this would require the compilers to add symbol information to the object files, like what members a class type has, information about the members, about the functions and everything. This essentially would render include files useless, as information shipped by declarations would then be read from those object files (modules then). In C++, a type definition can occur multiple times in a program by including the respective headers (provided that all those definitions are the same), so it would have to be decided where to put the information about that type, just as to name one complication here. The aggressive optimization done by a C++ compiler, which can optimize out dozens of class template instantiations, is another strong point. It's possible, but as C++ is compatible to C, this would become an awkward combination.
反射可以在c++中实现,并且已经在c++中实现过。
它不是原生的c++特性,因为它有一个沉重的成本(内存和速度),不应该由语言默认设置——语言是“默认最大性能”导向的。
因为你不应该为你不需要的东西付钱,而且正如你自己所说,编辑器比其他应用程序更需要它,那么它应该只在你需要的地方实现,而不是“强制”到所有的代码中(你不需要对你将在编辑器或其他类似应用程序中使用的所有数据进行反思)。
如果c++可以:
变量名、变量类型和const修饰符的类成员数据 函数参数迭代器(只有位置而不是名称) 函数名、返回类型和const修饰符的类成员数据 父类列表(与定义的顺序相同) 模板成员和父类的数据;扩展的模板(意味着实际的类型将可用于反射API,而不是“如何到达那里的模板信息”)
这足以在无类型数据处理的关键处创建非常容易使用的库,而无类型数据处理在当今的web和数据库应用程序中非常普遍 (所有的orm,消息传递机制,xml/json解析器,数据序列化等)。
例如,Q_PROPERTY宏(Qt框架的一部分)支持的基本信息 http://qt.nokia.com/doc/4.5/properties.html扩展到涵盖类方法和e) -将对c++和一般的软件社区非常有益。
当然,我所指的反射不会涵盖语义或更复杂的问题(如注释、源代码行号、数据流分析等)——但我也不认为这些是语言标准的一部分。
Reflection requires some metadata about types to be stored somewhere that can be queried. Since C++ compiles to native machine code and undergoes heavy changes due to optimization, high level view of the application is pretty much lost in the process of compilation, consequently, it won't be possible to query them at run time. Java and .NET use a very high level representation in the binary code for virtual machines making this level of reflection possible. In some C++ implementations, however, there is something called Run Time Type Information (RTTI) which can be considered a stripped down version of reflection.
所有的语言都不应该试图融合其他语言的所有特征。
c++本质上是一个非常非常复杂的宏汇编器。它不是(传统意义上的)c#、Java、Objective-C、Smalltalk等高级语言。
对于不同的工作有不同的工具是很好的。如果我们只有锤子,所有东西看起来都像钉子。拥有脚本语言对于某些作业是有用的,而具有反射性的oo语言(Java, Obj-C, c#)对于另一类作业是有用的,而超级高效的基本的接近机器的语言对于另一类作业是有用的(c++, C, Assembler)。
C++ does an amazing job of extending Assembler technology to incredible levels of complexity management, and abstractions to make programming larger, more complex tasks vastly more possible for human beings. But it is not necessarily a language that is the best suited for those who are approaching their problem from a strictly high-level perspective (Lisp, Smalltalk, Java, C#). If you need a language with those features to best implement a solution to your problems, then thank those who've created such languages for all of us to use!
但c++是为那些出于某种原因,需要在代码和底层机器操作之间建立强相关性的人准备的。无论是它的效率,还是编程设备驱动程序,还是与底层操作系统服务的交互,或者其他什么,c++都更适合这些任务。
C#, Java, Objective-C all require a much larger, richer runtime system to support their execution. That runtime has to be delivered to the system in question - preinstalled to support the operation of your software. And that layer has to be maintained for various target systems, customized by SOME OTHER LANGUAGE to make it work on that platform. And that middle layer - that adaptive layer between the host OS and the your code - the runtime, is almost always written in a language like C or C++ where efficiency is #1, where understanding predictably the exact interaction between software and hardware can be well understood, and manipulated to maximum gain.
我喜欢Smalltalk、Objective-C,以及拥有一个包含反射、元数据、垃圾收集等的丰富运行时系统。可以编写令人惊叹的代码来利用这些设施!但这只是堆栈上的一个更高的层,它必须依赖于更低的层,而这些层最终必须依赖于操作系统和硬件。我们总是需要一种最适合构建这一层的语言:c++ /C/Assembler。
Addendum: C++11/14 are continuing to expand C++ ability to support higher-level abstractions and systems. Threading, synchronization, precise memory models, more precise abstract machine definitions are enabling C++ developers to achieve many of the high-level abstractions that some of these high-level only languages used to have exclusive domain over, while continuing to provide close-to-metal performance and excellent predictability (i.e minimal runtime subsystems). Perhaps reflection facilities will be selectively enabled in a future revision of C++, for those who want it - or perhaps a library will provide such runtime services (maybe there is one now, or the beginnings of one in boost?).