[boost] Re: result_ofOp, operator should be a template parameter

From: Andy Little (andy_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-07-06 02:56:58

"David Abrahams" <dave_at_[hidden]> wrote
> Joel de Guzman <joel_at_[hidden]> writes:
> > Doug Gregor wrote:

> >>     result_of<Op(A, B)>::type
> >
> > I think this is the best interface I've seen so far. The result_of_plus
> > is just a temporary solution while waiting for Doug's result_of work
> > which was not available at the time.
>
> ...which is just a temporary solution while we wait for decltype?

Apologies, its not clear from the subject. I am referring to operations,
which have more attributes than just the type of the result.
 For example a multiplication maybe commutative in one context, but not in
another. This sort of information  could be used by an optimizer walking
about in an expression template for example.
stream output of the symbol for the particular operator provides a simple
way of debugging in generic code. A "super-functional" functor with
specialisable traits  would provide a common mechanism for specializing
operations for UDT's. IOW A way for the UDT designer to communicate their
intent to users of operations on their types and how they interact with
other types. At the simplest level for example, communicating whether an
operation between two types from different libraries is supported. So there
is more to it than just decltype. I am talking about operations rather than
types after all.

regards
Andy Little