Re: [Boost-users] [serialization]

From: Daryle Walker (darylew_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-11-17 06:55:12

On 11/13/05 2:05 PM, "Robert Ramey" <ramey_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> Daryle Walker wrote:
> 
>> 3a. In fact, I made a shocking realization researching for this
>> thread.  The standard describes "bool" in section 3.9.1, paragraph 6.
>> Unlike "wchar_t" (described in paragraph 5), the "bool" does not have
>> to be a rip-off of another built-in integral type!
> 
> I would be shocked to discover that wchar_t does have to be a rip-off
> of another built in integral type. The only compiler I test on that
> doesn't have wchar_t as an intrinsic type is VC 6.0.  Should we
> be altering jam toolset to besure tha wchar_t is a synonnym for
> something else?

I do _not_ mean that "wchar_t" is a "typedef"!  It is considered a separate
type.  It is implemented like a "strong type-alias"[1] of another built-in
integral type, just like "char" is a strong type-alias of either "signed
char" and "unsigned char".  The "bool" type could be of an underlying
built-in type that is otherwise unreachable in code, and that type doesn't
even have to be integral, just act that way through the compiler.

[1] C and C++ don't have this feature in general, although some wish for it.
Other languages do have this.  I think Ada is an example.

-- 
Daryle Walker
Mac, Internet, and Video Game Junkie
darylew AT hotmail DOT com