Re: [boost] Re: Proposal for any_cast to references

From: Douglas Paul Gregor (gregod_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-01-22 15:00:14

On Wed, 22 Jan 2003, [ISO-8859-1] Unai Uribarri Rodríguez wrote:

> I propose to implement any_cast<A&>(x) and any_cast<A*>(x) with the
> semantics of dynamic_cast. That is, if x has type A, any_cast<A&>(x)
> returns a reference to the content of x and any_cast<A*>(x) returns a
> pointer to the content of x. Else, any_cast<A&>(x) throws bad_any_cast
> and any_cast<A*>(x) returns the NULL pointer.

I'm assuming you meant any_cast<A*>(&x) and not any_cast<A*>(x).

> any_cast<A>(X) will work the semantics of static_cast, that is, returns
> a copy of the content of x.

Any particular reason why any_cast<A>(x) should return a copy and not a
reference?

        Doug