Re: [boost] Re: Array support [was SmartPtr (Loki) -auto_ptr/movec'torissue]

From: Joerg Walter (jhr.walter_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-02-03 15:46:01

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrei Alexandrescu" <andrewalex_at_[hidden]>
To: <boost_at_[hidden]>
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 8:44 PM
Subject: [boost] Re: Array support [was SmartPtr
(Loki) -auto_ptr/movec'torissue]

> "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.

I needed something with exactly boost::shared_array's interface to add
reference counting to ublas. With shared_array I'm able to run the CLAPACK
test suite on ublas containers.

Best,

Joerg