std at() [was any_function (callback) ...]

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-04-12 08:50:06

Several posting in this thread have mentioned the standard's vector and 
similar at() functions.

It really isn't a good idea to use at() as an example of 
anything.  Speaking as the person who wrote the at() proposal, I can tell 
you that many of the considerations that went into at() had to do with 
committee dynamics, timing, or technical issues that don't apply to 
anything we will ever talk about at Boost.

For example, indexing was seen as a special case by some who claimed that 
indexing errors represented a large percentage (over half, IIRC) of all 
errors made by their (student?) users.  To try to deal with this concern as 
part of an overall error handling strategy would have further delayed the 
standard.

In any case, the situation we are faced with is so different I don't think 
looking back at at() is at all worthwhile.  It just confuses the very real 
issues being discussed in this thread.

If you are really interested in why at(), or std::string, or similar are 
the way they are, ask me privately over a beer sometime:-)

--Beman