[boost] Re: any interest in a foreach looping construct?

From: Eric Niebler (eric_at_[hidden])
Date: 2003-10-13 13:28:27

Daniel Wallin wrote:
> Yeah.. So when using in_range() you'd still need to name your iterators, 
> and also place them in the "wrong" scope. 

in_range() is provided for use when you *already have* two iterators 
defining a range over which to iterate.

> I'd prefer
> 
>   for (iter_type iter = x.begin(), end = x.end();
>      iter != end; ++iter)
>   {}
> 
> over
> 
>   iter_type begin = x.begin();
>   iter_type end = x.end();
> 
>   BOOST_FOREACH(xxx i, in_range(begin, end))
>   {}
> 
> any day.

Of course.  And some would prefer

     BOOST_FOREACH( xxx i, x )
     {}

to either, which is how it is intended to be used.

That said, I'm having misgivings about BOOST_FOREACH.  It's cool that it 
*can* be done, but I'm not certain it should.  And when in doubt, better 
to leave it out; I don't think I'm going to push to get it included in 
Boost.  I'll leave it in the yahoo files section as a curiosity.

-- 
Eric Niebler
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com