[boost] AlRangeExandrescu?

Subject: [boost] AlRangeExandrescu?
From: Neil Groves (neil_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-07-23 11:08:56

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Thorsten Ottosen <
thorsten.ottosen_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> David Abrahams skrev:
>
>> Hi Neil,
>>
>> I'm sure someone already spoke to you about this, but just in case: Andrei
>> Alexandrescu gave a very interesting presentation at BoostCon that was based
>> on a "ranges only" approach that should eliminate issues like this one:
>>
>>  2: return type specification for find() etc
>>  ===========================================
>>  There where no major objection to the mechanism, but some found
>>  the syntax ugly. I believe the suggested syntax (e.g.)
>>
>>   boost::find[_f,_e]( range, x )
>>
>>   boost::find[_f+1,_e]( range, x )
>>
>>
>> He says he's implemented a superset of the STL algorithms with it so we
>> know the expressive power is fairly complete.
>>
>
> If I remember correctly, he claims that his return of find() is the
> "correct" one. I think that is plain wrong, as the syntax above shows that
> there are many useful return ranges, perhaps with an obvious default.
>
> So the above is not an "issue" IMO, but a usable feature.
>

Yes, that is what I was trying to describe earlier. If we want a
parameterisable return range, we need a parameter and an addition to the
syntax, Perhaps the assumption that a parameterisable return range is
desirable is at fault in which case Andrei's answer is the right one. I
agree with Thorsten that the current RangeEx solution is superior because,
the parameterisable return is optimally efficient whereas adapters applied
to a more general range return type incurs overhead in space and time.

I do fully intend to look at Andrei's work in more depth. My previous
comment about studying the work briefly was not intended to indicate
satisfaction with this state, merely that I am currently ignorant of the
full ramifications of the proposed Range Concepts.

>
> -Thorsten
>

Neil Groves