Re: [boost] arithmetic type wrapper

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-04-12 14:18:07

At 02:54 PM 4/12/2001, Dejan Jelovic wrote:

 >... I've developed a
 >template class called arithmetic_type_wrapper. It provides a thin wrapper
 >around primitive types like int and double but lets you define different
 >types to represent different things.
 >
 > ...
 >
 >Is there any interest in adding this to Boost?

Yes, for sure.  I think the topic may have come up here before, too.  Not 
to mention that C.A.R Hoare once proposed that programming languages attach 
unit-of-measure to quantities, IIRC.

There is a related problem when for types representing identifying 
numbers.  For example, CountryID, ProvinceID, PostalCodeID, 
CustomerID.  They should never be mixed, and should support only a limited 
set of arithmetic operations.  Incrementing a CustomerID by one is useful, 
but adding two CustomerId's is probably a mistake, for example.

I have a Identifier class for the purpose that has been useful, but isn't 
ready for prime time.  Perhaps you might consider dealing with Identifiers 
as a subset of your proposal.

--Beman