Re: [boost] Minor Iterator Adaptor documentation issues

From: Dirk Gerrits (dirkg_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-06-18 06:22:12

David Abrahams wrote:
>>Dirk Gerrits wrote:
>>
>>>Couldn't you do a compile-time 'select' on 'is_pointer' to redirect
>>>pointer types to 'boost::detail::pointer_iterator_traits' and other
>>>iterators to 'std::iterator_traits'? I haven't tried it, but in my mind
>>>it seems plausible. Your thoughts?
>>
>>Oh but this should only be used where there is a lack of partial
>>template specialization otherwise the users own specializations for
>>iterator traits for pointers won't be used. Or is it illegal to make
>>your own iterator_traits specializations in the first?
> 
> 
> Actually, this is the perfect argument against doing what you're
> suggesting. The only hope for users without partial specialization is to
> explicitly specialize iterator_traits for their pointer iterator types, and
> as you observe, dispatching to a different type would undermine that. And
> no, specializing iterator_traits is not in general illegal, provided you
> follow certain rules.

Ah of course. And unfortunately iterator_traits lacks numeric_limits's 
convenient is_specialized member to work around this. :( Well, we'll 
just have to type a bit more then. :\

Dirk