[boost] Re: static sized strings

From: John Nagle (nagle_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-05-27 01:27:06

Rob Stewart wrote:

> 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?

  That's actually useful.  Consder the 
> 
> 
>>   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.
>