Re: [boost] Loki SmartPtr study: Policy orthogonality issues

From: Greg Colvin (gcolvin_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-12 17:10:07

From: "joel de guzman" <djowel_at_[hidden]>
> From: "Andrei Alexandrescu" <andrewalex_at_[hidden]>
> To: <boost_at_[hidden]>
> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 4:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [boost] Loki SmartPtr study: Policy orthogonality issues
> 
> 
> > > I find the whole idea of adding pointer arithmetic to shared_array
> > > questionable at best and nonsensical at worst.
> > 
> > Cool, but operator[] is kind of closely related to pointer arithmetic, ain't
> > it?
> > 
> > > That said, if I had to support pointer arithmetic, I'd rather provide the
> > > full range of operators.
> > 
> 
> I think the problem is that C incorrectly combined the notion of 
> pointers and iterators (and even arrays) in one whole uncanny mix. 
> Are we trying to commit the same mistake again? 

Speaking as a C programmer, I find the way C handles pointers and arrays
to be elegant and beautiful as well as uncanny.

It might not be right for C++, but that is the price we pay for basing
C++ on C.