Re: [boost] [property tree review] No seperator additions

From: Marcin Kalicinski (kalita_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-05-08 09:20:27

> I don't really se the need for the converting get functions.
>
> Why is pt.get<double>(path) better than 
> lexical_cast<double>(pt.get(path)).
> (or string_to or atof)

There will be problems with non-throwing failure handling. Users will be 
forced to write something like that:

double d;
try
{
    d = boost::lexical_cast<double>(pt.get(path, default_value));
}
catch (boost::bad_lexical_cast &)
{
   d = default_value;
}

instead of just:

double d = pt.get(path, default_value);

Even if failure handling is not an issue, explicit use of lexical_cast 
forces uses to do one extra include, and writing:

boost::lexical_cast<int>(pt.get("path"));    // #1

instead of:

pt.get<int>(path);     // #2

Which in my opinion is much less readable. 95% of uses will do type 
conversion anyway (that comes from my personal experience with the library), 
so forcing users to write #1 instead of #2 in all these cases will do no 
good.

Also, user can use lexical_cast now if he really wants to:

int n = boost::lexical_cast<int>(pt.get<std::string>("path"));

Best regards,
Marcin