Re: [boost] Re: static sized strings

From: Rob Stewart (stewart_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-05-26 15:08:37

From: John Nagle <nagle_at_[hidden]>
> 
>    Since space for a trailing null is required, the
> minimum "capacity" is currently 1.

This means your class supports strings that can never contain any
data.  Is that something that should be permissible?

>    The maximum value for "size()" is then "capacity()-1".
> That seems a little wierd.  Should the trailing null be
> counted in "capacity?"  

No, capacity() should return the maximum value size() can attain.
Think about the typical approach to allocating a C string:

   size_t const MAX_LENGTH(10);
   char buffer[MAX_LENGTH + 1];

This permits using MAX_LENGTH in comparisons with
strlen(buffer).  I think capacity() is analogous to MAX_LENGTH.

-- 
Rob Stewart                           stewart_at_[hidden]
Software Engineer                     http://www.sig.com
Susquehanna International Group, LLP  using std::disclaimer;