[boost] Re: Documentation improvement for boost::bind

From: Miro Jurisic (macdev_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-04-07 13:31:42

In article <c51662$3lh$1_at_[hidden]>,
 "Edward Diener" <eddielee_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> In the first line of the next to last paragraph of the boost::bind
> deocumentation under the heading of "Using nested binds for function
> composition", it is stated:
> 
> "Sometimes it is necessary not to evaluate the first argument, but not to
> evaluate some of the other arguments, even when they are nested bind
> subexpressions. "
> 
> I believe this is confusing and that a much clearer explanation of what is
> meant would be:
> 
> "Although the first argument is, by default, not evaluated, all other
> arguments are. Sometimes it is necessary not to evaluate arguments
> subsequent to the first, even when they are nested bind subexpressions."

Except that's not true. All arguments are evaluated, that's how C++ works; the 
difference is that the first argument is the functor, and it's desirable to 
evaluate it, and the remaining arguments are arguments, and it's often desirable 
to defer their evaluation until the bound call is actually made. 

That said, I agree, that part of the documentation should be clarified. The only 
reason I know this material is that I spent 3 hours on a compiler error that was 
ostensibly explained in that paragraph, but the paragraph didn't make sense 
until I painfully discovered the material myself.

meeroh

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