[boost] Raw Array Classes

From: Reid Sweatman (reids_at_[hidden])
Date: 1999-08-18 16:19:36

Just out of curiosity, has there been any discussion of doing classes that
have the traditional container functionality, but also allow direct pointer
access to internals?  I have in mind applications where either the code
accessing the container insists on a raw pointer, and/or requires absolute
minimum overhead.  Stuff like processing numeric arrays, or storing and
using texture bitmaps.  In real-time apps this is especially critical, and
if you're doing complex number-crunching on arrays of data, any extra
overhead can add hours or days to processing time, depending on exactly what
you're doing.

I've seen implementations of bare-bones arrays as templates, but they were
missing all the stuff that usually makes up STL containers.  It would be
nice to be able to access the container data either way, depending on
circumstances.  Does this already exist somewhere, or been discussed on the
list?  Thanks.

Reid Sweatman
reids_at_[hidden]

"Let me guess: you're a computer programmer.  Must be the continual sitting
and snacking."