Re: Most needed/desired features in C++

From: quendezus (quendez_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-02-18 10:12:35

--- In boost_at_y..., "Peter Dimov" <pdimov_at_m...> wrote:
> From: "Herb Sutter" <hsutter_at_a...>
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > Pardon if this has already been discussed on the list, but I'd 
like your
> > feedback on this question: "What are the most needed or desired 
features
> in
> > C++ for modern library writing in general and Boost in 
particular?"
> >
> > Two usual suspects:
> >  - typedef templates
> >  - typeof (with gcc semantics?)
> 
> As I have been repeatedly stating, gcc typeof() is useless for 
library
> writing. It is a nice syntactic sugar.
> 
> typeof(std::cout << 5) should be std::ostream&, not std::ostream.
> 
> > What else should be on the list?
> 
> - a solution to the argument forwarding problem.
> - a solution to the "emulate varargs using N overloads" problem. 
(N^2 if the
> previous is not resolved.)
> 
> > For example, is there language support that
> > would assist type traits?
> 
> - a mechanism for querying the compiler for any information that is 
readily
> available (but impossible to obtain using the current language), 
including,
> but not limited to, the type of an expression, the alignment of a 
type, the
> various properties of the type that the type_traits library tries to
> address, and so on.
> 
> - another vote for let/auto/whatever automatic declarations:
> 
> let f = boost::bind(&X::f, _1, 5);
> 
> - a metadata mechanism w/ reflection support would be nice. ;-) I'm 
already
> tired of writing class descriptions.

A first little step that would help for RTTI+ : a standardization for 
what is returned by ::type_info::name( ). 

Sylvain