[REQ] Allow compiling with exceptions disabled.

[mokafolio]

Describe the new feature

Allow compiling the threadpool in codebases that have exceptions disabled. Right now that is not possible as far as I can tell (please correct me if I'm wrong). Just from scanning the source, it would only affect the two places try/catch is used.

Additional information

I could look into this and create a PR if that's something you'd consider!

[mokafolio]

__cpp_exceptions could be used to check if exceptions are enabled or not (https://isocpp.org/std/standing-documents/sd-6-sg10-feature-test-recommendations)

[bshoshany]

Hi @mokafolio and thanks for opening this issue! My design philosophy starting with v4.0.0 has been to implement certain features as optional and let the user decide. I believe your request should be trivial to implement by changing exception handling to an optional feature, and adding a macro (e.g. BS_THREAD_POOL_ENABLE_EXCEPTION_HANDLING) to enable them manually for users who need them. I will incorporate that into the next release (could be either v4.0.2 or v4.1.0 depending how many changes I make by then).

[mokafolio]

Sounds great! I'd maybe suggest changing the flag to BS_THREAD_POOL_DISABLE_EXCEPTION_HANDLING as I feel like that should be an opt out rather than opt in kind of functionality :)

[bshoshany]

Hmm... But all the other macros are BS_THREAD_POOL_ENABLE_xxxxx, and I like to be consistent 😄 Besides, not everyone needs exception handling. In my own projects using this thread pool I never had any situation where I had to catch an exception thrown by a task. And the main reason I like having opt-ins for optional features is that not enabling a feature keeps the library lighter and (potentially) faster.

[mokafolio]

Yeah, on a personal level I am with you and I also like the consistency. I still think most people expect exception handling to be in place by default but it's your call, I certainly can live with either decision 😄

[mokafolio]

I still think the least intrusive solution could be to just rely on whether exceptions are enabled or not via __cpp_exceptions . That way it will do the right thing based on the build flags. Adding an extra library level flag does not add that much more usefulness imo.

[bshoshany]

Sure, that makes sense. I'll also have to change it so that BS_THREAD_POOL_ENABLE_WAIT_DEADLOCK_CHECK cannot be enabled if exceptions are disabled, or perhaps emits a compiler error/warning. Once I have time to work on a new release I'll look into it.

[bshoshany]

Update: This is now implemented in v4.1.0.