Re: [boost] [review] string convert

Subject: Re: [boost] [review] string convert
From: Stewart, Robert (Robert.Stewart_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-05-06 08:00:55

Vladimir Batov wrote:
>
> I am glad you mentioned "lexical" and "conversion" together as
> that's exactly how I see lexical_cast which pretends to be a
> cast when it is not (and I do not like pretenders). It's a
> converter -- it returns a completely new instance of a
> different type when a cast returns the same instance but
> retyped (I am aware that upcast returns a different pointer
> instance for multiple inheritance).

You have quite a mistaken notion about casts.  static_cast<int>(1.235) returns an int.  It does not return the double 1.235 retyped as int.  lexical_cast is not pretending to be a cast.  It *is* a cast.

> So, I am not thrilled by the latest attempts to continue that
> pretending business with convert_cast name (not to mention it
> is an oxymoron -- convert and cast are quite different
> operations).

convert_cast does a proper cast.  Conversion and casting are different shades of the same color.  Consider static_cast<int>(1.235), which involves a conversion:

"4.9 Floating-integral conversions

1 An rvalue of a floating point type can be converted to an rvalue of an integer type."

_____
Rob Stewart                           robert.stewart_at_[hidden]
Software Engineer                     using std::disclaimer;
Dev Tools & Components
Susquehanna International Group, LLP  http://www.sig.com

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