Boost logo

Boost :

From: Andrei Alexandrescu (andrewalex_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-02-03 14:44:14


"Howard Hinnant" <hinnant_at_[hidden]> wrote in message
news:D82ECED1-3784-11D7-AB9E-003065D18932_at_twcny.rr.com...
> On Sunday, February 2, 2003, at 11:40 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>
> > By and large, I believe "smart pointers to arrays" are an oxymoron and
> > should not be supported.
>
> Why?

The reasons are explained in MC++D. Here's my take:

1. Arrays of polymorphic objects don't work.

2. If I wanna arrays of monomorphic objects I can use std::vector.

3. If I wanna arrays of monomorphic objects and std::vector's performance
is unsatisfactory to me, I can use the typed buffers
(http://www.moderncppdesign.com/publications/cuj-08-2001.html,
http://www.moderncppdesign.com/publications/cuj-10-2001.html,
http://www.moderncppdesign.com/publications/cuj-12-2001.html) that are
present in the up-and-coming YASLI.

4. So there's no reason I'd ever wanna have smart pointers to arrays.

Andrei


Boost list run by bdawes at acm.org, gregod at cs.rpi.edu, cpdaniel at pacbell.net, john at johnmaddock.co.uk