Adding optional<T&> find like method to associative containers in boost.

From: Ivan Matek (libbooze_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-12-16 10:35:42

Hi everybody,

I presume somebody thought of this before but for some reason it never
happened, but just in case it was never discussed I wonder if people here
believe adding an nicer version of find(with different name obviously) to
associative containers in boost would be beneficial?

Since boost::optional allows references this would work.

I presume naming is what most people will have strong feeling about.
I personally prefer ofind/oat since I love short names, Barry suggested
different names in his blog
<https://brevzin.github.io/c++/2023/05/23/map-api/>, e.g. try_at.

boost::optional did not get all the updates C++23 std::optional got, e.g.
transform that make this usage compose nicely, but those could be added to
boost::optional.