Re: [boost] STL container of fixed capacity but variable size

From: Carl Daniel (cpdaniel_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-30 11:27:02

From: "Darin Adler" <darin_at_[hidden]>
> On 1/30/02 7:45 AM, "Synge Todo" <wistaria_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> > This class might be used almost everywhere instead of std::vector,
> > except that its capacity is fixed to a (small) integer specified by
> > the second template parameter, and it throws an exception when its
> > size exceeds its capacity.
>
> The main question I'd ask is: Is this enough better than creating a vector
> and reserving the desired capacity to justify creating an entire separate
> class template?

IMO, yes.  For small, fixed-size vectors, this approach can use significantly less memory, with no dynamic allocation (I
hope, I haven't looked at the posted code yet).

>
> > As for the name, I simply named this class as `array2', but presumably
> > it's not a good name.  'resizable_array', `variable_array', or
> > `fixed_capacity_vector' might be better.  One possibility should be to
> > combine the current boost::array class template and my new one into
> > one class template, and to specialize depending on the third template
> > parameter:
>
> I like the name fixed_capacity_vector. I don't think it makes sense to
> combine this with the array class template.

I wrote a similar class which I called fixed_vector to serve the same purpose.  It's definitely something I'd like to
see in Boost.

-cd