Re: [boost] [Heaps] Review

Subject: Re: [boost] [Heaps] Review
From: Tim Blechmann (tim_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-06-13 12:53:56

hi phil,

> Satisfactory.  If possible, I think it would be good to provide the new
> heaps with interfaces as close as possible to the std:: heap, i.e. as
> algorithms (push, pop, etc.) over arbitrary containers or ranges, as
> well as the current containers.  This would allow:
> (a) Existing code using std::push|pop_heap could be converted to use
> one of the alternative designs with just some search-and-replace;
> (b) Portions of a container could be managed as heaps, with other
> portions unordered, sorted, etc.;
> (c) Heaps over raw memory (e.g. memory-mapped files) would be possible.
> (I posted this suggestion in an email a few days ago but haven't had
> any replies.  It is possible that there is something that I have
> overlooked that makes this impractical.)

it would only be reasonable for the container adaptors (d-ary and b-heaps). 
however i do not see a big advantage
- some people discourage the use of b-heaps
- the stl heap functions are usually d-ary heaps (iirc with an arity of 4)

for the node-based heaps, this won't be possible ... mutability/stability will 
also require a specific layout so they cannot simply work on a memory regions 
like the stl functions ...

>      What is your evaluation of the documentation?
> 
> It needs some expansion, but it's on the right lines.  It suffers, from
> too many, commas.  A table indicating the features and complexity of
> those features for each heap would be useful at the start.

i am not a native speaker ... will try to improve 

thanks for your review, tim