Re: [boost] Formal Review Request: Boost.Convert

Subject: Re: [boost] Formal Review Request: Boost.Convert
From: Emil Dotchevski (emildotchevski_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-02-28 13:10:42

On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 2:55 AM, Andrey Semashev
<andrey.semashev_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> Emil Dotchevski wrote:
>
>> What's wrong with the following call syntax:
>>
>> boost::convert<target>( source const & [,arg1,arg2,...] )
>>
>> that is, the caller provides the target type for the conversion, then
>> the first argument is considered the source (deduced automatically),
>> and the rest of the arguments configure the conversion.
>>
>> Going back to my uuid example, uuid.hpp could simply say:
>>
>> #include <string>
>>
>> namespace user {
>>  class uuid;
>>  template <class Target> Target convert( uuid const & );
>>  template <> std::string convert<std::string>( uuid const & );
>> }
>>
>> (no need to include anything.)
>>
>> Now, the user of uuid.hpp can also #include "boost/convert.hpp" when
>> making calls to convert. This could provide generic overloads that
>> support common conversion options, which would bind only if uuid.hpp
>> doesn't provide overloads itself (which would obviously be more
>> specialized and the overload resolution will prefer them over the
>> convert.hpp generics.)
>
> I can't imagine how the generic convert.hpp could provide support for
> additional conversion options for user::uuid.

Additional conversion options that are specific to converting
user::uuid to string shouldn't be a concern for the generic convert
framework. The caller can pass such additional arguments if user::uuid
provides overloads that take them; if not then the caller will get a
compile error, which is also appropriate.

Emil Dotchevski
Reverge Studios, Inc.
http://www.revergestudios.com/reblog/index.php?n=ReCode