Re: [boost] Loki SmartPtr questions

From: Rainer Deyke (root_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-12 19:50:59

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Abrahams" <david.abrahams_at_[hidden]>
To: <boost_at_[hidden]>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 4:37 PM
Subject: Re: [boost] Loki SmartPtr questions

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rainer Deyke" <root_at_[hidden]>

> > I tend to think of a overloaded function as a single generic
function.
> > Therefore I find a single function overloaded with significantly
different
> > semantics more confusing that member functions for smart pointers.
>
> Ah, but only within a single namespace, yes? Surely a function
foo(<args1>)
> in namespace A is not required to be semantically related to
foo(<args2>) in
> namespace B. That would effectively reserve the name for the first
library
> that used it...

I accept that 'A::foo' and 'B::foo' are different entities, just as I
accept that 'a.foo' is different from 'b.foo'.  However, typing
'A::foo(a)' is uncomfortably long compared to 'a.foo()', especially if
'A' is really a longer name such as 'boost::Loki'.  If I remove the
namespace qualification, it becomes confusing again.

This would not be a major issue for a rarely used function, but I have
found that I tend to make extensive use of 'boost::shared_ptr::get'.
I would not like to replace every instance of 'p.get()' with
'boost::GetImplPtr(p)' or something equally long.

--
Rainer Deyke (root_at_[hidden])
Shareware computer games           -           http://rainerdeyke.com
"In ihren Reihen zu stehen heisst unter Feinden zu kaempfen" - Abigor