Re: [boost] [range] boost::end("hello") is sub-optimal

From: Eric Niebler (eric_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-12-31 12:36:12

Sebastian Redl wrote:
> Eric Niebler wrote:
> 
> 
>>That only works on compilers that handle SFINAE. Probably the easiest 
>>thing would be to remove the char* overloads and modify the "primary" 
>>boost_range_end(T const &) overload, which currently only works when T 
>>is an STL container, to use is_pointer<T> to dispatch to str_end().
>> 
>>
> 
> What if the non-template overload would be replaced by a template overload?
> 
> template<>
> const char* boost_range_end( const char* s )
> 
> Wouldn't that work? I know of a similar (but much less complex) case 
> where this solved the overload resolution problem.
> 

Did you try it? What you've shown is a function template specialization, 
not an overload, but it won't work, because it doesn't match any primary 
template. You could've written const char*&, but for completeness, you'd 
also have to provide overloads for char*&, char*const&, const 
char*const&, and all the wchar_t variants. That's a lot.

Now that I think about it, we had discussed eliminating the inconsistent 
  "boost::size(int[5])==5, but boost::size(char[5])==4" behavior. Bugs 
aside, why is it still there? Thorsten?

-- 
Eric Niebler
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com