[boost] Proposal: strings as template parameters?

From: Jason House (jhouse_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-03-02 12:23:51

I believe I've seen traffic earlier about some kind of upcoming deadline
for proposals for becoming part of the C++ standard.

I'm thinking that it would be nice to be able to us define distinct
types based on strings (the fundamental type const char * and not
std::string).  The intended use is in templates.

Here's one motivating example:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/associative_list/
by Emily Winch

Inside there is a line:
struct a{}; struct b{}; struct c{}; struct d{};

Which is then followed up by calls such as
get<a>(...)
get<b>(...)
...

a,b,c,d are all empty structures, with the only goal of getting distinct
types (this easily could have human readable forms, like an address book
example: struct FirstName{}; struct PhoneNumber{}; etc...)

I guess what I want to know is:
  Does anyone know of other motivating examples, especially within other
parts of boost?
  Any arguments as to why this is the worst idea ever?  
  How about the best? ;)

It seems like such functionality would be a convenience to the
programmer.  It would also make conversion of the type to a string
format very easy ;)  While that seems like a side topic, I'm sure that
there are interesting ways to tie that in.

For the moment, I'm just curious to see the reactions to the idea.