Re: [boost] Re: generic polyvalent input/output ['pickle']

From: Jens Maurer (Jens.Maurer_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-11-17 15:48:27

Beman Dawes wrote:
>    save<Writer, container parms...>(writer, container)
> save<Writer, ForwardIterator>(writer, first, last)
> save<Writer,T>(writer, object)

>    * Overloading of the name "save" at three different levels
>      is confusing. Rename them?

The point is that these are not really three different levels:
A container is just another object, and an element of a
container may in turn be yet another container etc.

So the first and third level in the above list have to be
named the same.  I could rename the second level to save_sequence()
or so, ok.

Further thoughts about XTL vs persistence.hpp:

 - I like the unified reading/writing approach of XTL, and I think
I am going remodel my stuff for that.  Describing user-defined
composite objects just once for e.g. easy C-style structs saves half
of the work if you don't have to do it for both reading and writing.
A user should always have the option to provide separate reading
and writing strategies for complex objects such as containers, though.

 - In addition to optional unified reading/writing at the object structure
description level, it is also nice to have reading and writing
unified for the output format description level.  For example, string
delimiters or begin/end markers for sequences should be the same
for reading and writing.  Thinking a bit further about it, the reading
side should probably not have a "this is the delimiter" style
function, but an "eat the delimiter" interface to allow for some
fuzz factor when reading.  (regex may come in handy for specific
formats.)

Jens Maurer