Re: [boost] [endian] Project not maintained

Subject: Re: [boost] [endian] Project not maintained
From: Peter Dimov (lists_at_[hidden])
Date: 2016-04-05 09:44:47

Gavin Lambert wrote:

> Ultimately though it's all just specifying a host-architecture-independent 
> storage format (bit layout) for a given type.

It is, but my main point was that if you have an "endianness" library that 
gives you

    void write_ieee32le( float x, unsigned char * p );

this interface does not change when x is not IEEE 32 bit float.

So while it's indeed true that the library no longer does endianness 
conversion, making another library that is not called "Endian" but has the 
exact same interface and works in the exact same way as the first one when x 
is IEEE 32 bit float would be mighty silly.

If we start extending the interface with various other external formats, the 
analogy no longer works.