Re: [boost] [endian] Refresh based on comments received

From: Eric Friedman (ebf_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-06-04 19:35:21

Beman,

I haven't looked at the implementation, but I did look through the 
documentation and caught up with this conversation thread today. For the 
most part, I like the new iteration quite a bit. Two comments:

First, the new names are a lot better than the old bin/bun names. But I 
think the aligned types could use spelling out, i.e., aligned_big2_t 
instead of abig2_t. Unlike unsigned types, where it is standard to 
abbreviate them to names like uint, aligned types are not so common.

Second, when I first read the docs I objected to the arithmetic 
operations. Then I read the following statement you made on June 2nd:

    Let's say you have to increment a variable in a record. It
    is very convenient to be able to write:

     ++record.foo.

    Rather than:

     int temp( record.foo);
     ++temp;
     record.foo = temp;

    Now I know that automatic conversions in some "placeholder"
    style endian classes make them pretty convenient, but there
    is no additional cost to providing the arithmetic operations.
    If you don't need/want/like them, don't use them."

This argument convinced me. I think this, or something like it, should 
appear in the docs instead of the more hand-wavy "Providing a full set 
of operations reduces program clutter and makes code both easier to 
write and to read."

Eric

Beman Dawes wrote:
> A refresh of the .zip file for the Endian library, based on comments 
> received so far, is available at 
> http://mysite.verizon.net/~beman/endian-0.2.zip
> 
> The docs are online at 
> http://mysite.verizon.net/~beman/endian-0.2/libs/endian/index.html
> 
> Changes include:
> 
> * Templates are exposed.
> 
> * The four outermost templates have been folded into a single endian 
> class template.
> 
> * The integer_cover_operators class template has been moved into a 
> separate header file, boost/integer_cover_operators.hpp. No docs yet, 
> but functionality is pretty obvious from the header.
> 
> * Provision has been made for native endianness. Not implemented yet.
> 
> * More explicit names have been given to the forty-four typedefs. A 
> careful explanation of the naming rationale has been added to the docs.
> 
> * The docs have been expanded.
> 
> * The example program has been rewritten and is much more realistic.
> 
> * I haven't looked at Scott McMurray's exact.hpp header yet, so that may 
> kick off yet more changes to come.
> 
> --Beman
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