[boost] Re: Boost.Variant collaboration effort

From: Itay Maman (itay_maman_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-07-21 06:43:39

"Douglas Gregor" <gregod_at_[hidden]> wrote in message
news:200207201047.06126.gregod_at_cs.rpi.edu...
[snip]
>
> > Currently variant::empty() is provided only for type signature
> > compatilibity with boost::any and always returns a true value. Is the
> > concept of an empty variant an important or useful one?
>
> Shouldn't that always return a false value?
You are right. It should be false.

[snip]
>
> extract<T> can be added at any time, so it might as well come along with
> variant.

This brings me to this point: The variant equivalent of any_cast<>, i.e:
variant_cast<>, has been renamed to boost::extract<>. This reduces the level
of compatibility with boost::any even further. Given this, shouldn't we drop
variant::empty() ?

 -Itay