"Jim Starkey" <jas@...> wrote in message
news:41FFB2FC.2080007@......

>
> Let's review how we got here:
>
> 1. The API should be functional, specifically meaning that only

one

> things is returned. This precludes passing structures by
> reference, globals, or thread globals.
> 2. The API should be object oriented, but defined as POD (plain

old

> data) structures that just happen to map to C++ objects on

certain

> platforms. The objects should be opaque, meaning data is
> accessible only through methods. The advantage of objects is

that

> they are extensible and polymorphic.
> 3. Exceptions are always errors. Expected results do not throw
> exceptions.

Why not introduce an incapsulated diagnostic object that may be
provided to
function calls or associated with other (statement, attachment, etc)
objects? This approach has been used in APIs for a while and could
meet all
requirements and have no pitfalls, or am I missing something?

Regards,
Aleksey Karyakin