[boost] Re: static sized strings

From: John Nagle (nagle_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-05-07 19:23:18

    I've been doing some work on this too.  I made char_string
a subclass of a non-templated char_string_base, so you can
pass references to char_string_base.  This has the disadvantage
of requiring a vtable, but makes the class much more useful.

    I'll put this someplace publicly visible in the next day
or two.

    A fundamental question is whether we assume strings are
null-terminated, like C strings, or carry along an in-use
length, like STL strings.  There are arguments for both
forms.  It's possible to provide all the reasonable
STL string operations and the C string operations,
and make them compatible, either way.  Performance
differs, though.  If strings are null-terminated,
then STL operations like

        char_string s;
        s += 'a';

are very slow.  If strings are counted, then
C string operations like

        s[20] = 'a';

must update the length.  Which way to go?

    This is a good direction..  It's one of those simple
things that just ought to be there.

                                John Nagle
                                Team Overbot

Reece Dunn wrote:
> John Nagle wrote:
> 
>> Reece Dunn wrote:
>>
>>> John Nagle wrote:
>>>
>>>> Reece Dunn wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> There is currently a static-sized array in the Boost library that 
>>>>> allows you to operate on arrays of fixed size. I was wondering if 
>>>>> something similar exists for strings, in particular, providing 
>>>>> buffer-overflow safe string operations.