[boost] Re: question regarding boost array

From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-08-08 13:36:33

>Robert Ramey wrote:

>> Currently boost array contains a copy of the array that initialized it.

>> Is there any reason that boost array can't be enhanced  to contain a reference
>> to the original C array?  I think this would make it more useful
>> to me as well as others.

>AlisdairM wrote
>I don't see the problem.  boost::array is not a wrapper around an
>existing array, it IS an array.  In the same way, std::vector does not
>take ownership of any existing memory you may want to initialise it
>with.

The problem is that boost::array is not a wrapper around an
existing array, it IS an array.  This implys making a superfluous
copy of the array in some cases.

Given an simple C array, I want a wrapper which will supply an
iterator interface so that I can do something like.

const in array{] = {1, 2, 3, 4};
boost::array<int> ba(array);
std::copy(ba.begin(), ba.end(), std_ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout));

Is there already a way to do this?  Or is there some reason why
one would never want to do this?

>I am not sure what you are trying to achieve, why do scoped_array or
>shared_array not serve in this case?

Hmmm - I didn't find shared_array nor scoped_array in my documenation
until you mentioned it.  Perhaps it should be added to the index at a higher level.