[boost] Re: implicit smart pointer conversions

From: Beman Dawes (beman_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-03-18 17:59:42

At 08:24 AM 3/18/00 -0800, Miki Jovanovic wrote:

>OK, people, I see that there are strong feelings both ways. So. lets
>get practical. Lets see a show of hands ...

We used the eGroups poll mechanism once before, and it worked fine.
An up-or-down vote works well to determine current practice or group
preferences.  But on complex or controversial technical issues, or
issues where acknowledged experts differ either between themselves or
with the view of the majority, then we say there is "no consensus"
and continue to work the issue until consensus emerges.  Eventually
we hope someone comes forward with a compromise or even a just plain
better solution to the problem.  

> that a default smart pointer
>will have conversion like:
>
>operator const void*() const throw() { return ptr; }
>
>And with the BOOST_SMART_PTR_CONVERSION define it would upgrade cast
to
>the more dangerous, but sometimes required:
>
>operator T*() const throw() { return ptr; }
>
>As Dave said, this seems like a compromise satisfactory to all.

I think he was suggesting adding a template parameter to select the
flavor, not continuing to supply the #ifdef hack to placate Greg, me,
and the others who like the implicit conversion.

--Beman