Re: [boost] Heads up - string_ref landing

Subject: Re: [boost] Heads up - string_ref landing
From: Jeff Flinn (Jeffrey.Flinn_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-12-12 08:26:57

On 12/12/2012 2:50 AM, Yakov Galka wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 9, 2012 at 3:13 PM, Rob Stewart <robertstewart_at_[hidden]>wrote:
>
>>
>>>> - char const * data()
>>>> - size_t length()
>>> I propose the alias size().
>>
>> string_ref isn't a container like string, so I prefer just length().
>
>
> I propose adding size() and throwing length() away.
> Really.
>
> 1. According to the standard, string is not a container either.
> 2. initializer_list, which is semantically very similar to string_ref, does
> use .size().
> 3. Leaving the scope of the standard, Boost.Range uses boost::size(x) for
> ranges. I.e. size is a property of a range, not a container.
> 4. I always found string::length() to be an inconsistency in the standard
> library. I guess the reason for its existence is purely historical.
>

+1

I've got template code that currently takes, string's and vector<char>'s 
and uses size. With string_ref being a natural candidate, I'd hope it 
would work out of the box.

Jeff