On 8 Oct 2025 00:30, Seth via Boost wrote:
On Tue, Oct 7, 2025, at 7:41 PM, Andrey Semashev wrote:
No. My opinion is to_string and to_static_string should return the same string, at any supported C++ version. Option a doesn't qualify the second part.
"at any supported C++ version" here means that for a given input the produced output string should be the same at any supported C++ version.
Thanks for clarifying. I think we agree 100% on the goals. One of us reading the options wrong though, because I felt it is clearly the other way around.
Regardless of who is right here, let's just keep in mind that confusion seems to be possible and re-check whether the options as posed are unambiguous for the rest of us.
When I did that exercise, it occurred to me that `to_string` vs. `to_static_string` implies `std::to_string` vs. `boost::to_static_string` always (TTBOMK boost doesn't implement `to_string` except for non-standard types or as member function?).
With that in mind, option (a) is clearly what will (quoting your requirement): "make to_string and to_static_string [should] return the same string, at any supported C++ version" (AT any version; not BETWEEN versions, but there's no way to achieve that for `std::to_string` no matter what)
Re-reading the original post now, I think I see that I was somehow confused. I thought there was a Boost equivalent of to_string and also to_static_string, and we were considering how to align them with std::to_string. I was choosing option c from the standpoint of keeping the (supposed) boost::to_string and boost::to_static_string behaviors consistent and independent of the C++ version used. Speaking of just boost::to_static_string, I would still choose option c because that seems like the better behavior and I still consider independence of the C++ version the more desirable option.