Re: Does anybody know why boost::array does not support multiple dimensions?

From: John Maddock (jz.maddock_at_[hidden])
Date: 2022-01-01 16:56:23

> The bottom line is that such a multi-dimensional array would be a much
> more complicated component that is drastically different from the
> one-dimensional array. At the same time, array<> is supposed to be a
> thin and lightweight replacement for the language built-in arrays. IMO,
> it is not a worthy tradeoff.
>
> BTW, you still have the multidimensional language built-in arrays. Why
> can't you use those?

They're not as convenient or safe I would say.

Interestingly Boost.Math uses 2-D arrays all over the place for test 
data, and I've always used an array<array<T, N>, M> and never really 
thought about an alternative, but IMO it does rather make sense.  
Dereferenced iterators and operator [] would return a simple "smart 
index" object I guess, similar to Boost's Multi-Array.  BTW the catch 
with multi-array is that it's dynamically allocated (more like a 
vector), where as the nice feature of std::array is the all static, 
constexpr initialization.

So yes, I can see the point of view of the OP, and I don't even think it 
would be that hard or large to implement, it just doesn't get over the 
"need to have" barrier for me to want to do it ;)

Best, John.

-- 
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus