Re: [boost] Interest in super string class?

From: Edward Diener (eddielee_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-07-04 16:40:49

Pavel Vozenilek wrote:
> "Thorsten Ottosen" wrote:
> 
> 
>> In php, there is not a single member functions in a string, and all
>> string processing is done with free-standing functions. In general I
>> find strings in php easy to work with:
>>
> Other scipting languages have /very/ powerful
> strings and present this as a major feature.
> 
> Borland C+ uses fat string and every GUI framework
> on the planet had ctrated their own string to deal with
> insufficiency of std::string (in their own words).

In their own words is right.

The std::string implementation is much better than Borland's AnsiString,
Microsoft's CString, .NET's System.String, java.lang.string and nearly
any other string class I have ever seen and used. The insufficiency is 
the other way around as far as the design goes. Almost all of the other 
string classes have no orthogonality, and a set of minimilistic 
functions which leave programmers groping for the correct sequence of 
basic manipulations when they have to do more complicated string 
manipulations. Only the std::string class has the richness to provide 
for a very large set of basic string manipulations at any point in a 
string for any length in an orthogonal way.

No one in their right mind would prefer, for example, Borland's 
AnsiString to std::string as far as the basic string interface goes. 
What some of these other string classes have is other specialized 
functionality, which std:;string lacked, and Jeff is just bringing these 
in to a super string class from Boost's own regex and string_algo 
libraries. I see nothing wrong with that as a simplification in a single 
class of other functionality.

I pointed out what I thought was the only bad design decision in 
std::string, but it's a done deal already and the mavens of C++ 
evidently want to support C idioms for the life of the language so who 
am I to object. Other than that, the much-maligned design of std::string 
is actually excellent, but that shouldn't stop anyone else from adding 
new functionality to a derived class and jeff has elegantly done so. 
Thanks Jeff !