Johan Råde wrote:
I think the Rationale section in the array documentation should be updated, to include what we learnt during this discussion. Something like:
"The array class does not have a non-template assignment operator. If one were addded, the array class would still be an aggregate, and could still be initialized with a double brace enclosed initializer list. However, the array class would not be a POD anynmore, and such initialization would not be done statically."
--Johan Råde
The following might be better: "The array class is designed to be an aggregate and a POD type. Being an aggregate means that an array can be initialized with an initializer list as follows: boost::array<int,4> a = {{ 1, 2, 3 }}; Being a POD type ensure that such an initialization is done statically." Currently the design rationale discusses the aggregate property but not the POD property. But both are important. This has been a long and confused thread. I think much of the confusion has been caused by our failure, until today (thank you John), to realize that were two issies involved: aggregates and POD. --Johan Råde