Re: [Boost-users] [serialization]

From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-11-17 21:18:49

David Abrahams wrote:
> "Robert Ramey" <ramey_at_[hidden]> writes:

>> As an aside, note that the serialization library contains
>> STRONG_TYPE which was needed to implement the library.  Its good
>> enough for the serialization library but probably not up to
>> "industrial strength".  May some enterprising individual might want
>> to take a look at this with the
>> idea of make an "industrial strengh boost version"
>
> There is no way to make such a thing "industrial strength" in today's
> C++, for most people's definition of "strong typedef". In fact, the
> one in the serialization library isn't anything like a typedef, and
> it's nothing like what most people mean when they say "strong
> typedef".  It's merely a wrapper over an instance of some type that
> can be implicitly converted to that instance.  A "strong typedef"
> wouldn't even necessarily have that implicit conversion -- in fact,
> eliminating those implicit conversions is one of the main reason some
> people want direct language support for strong typedefs.

What I needed was a type that had the functioning of say an unsigned
integer but was of a distinguishable type.  What do other people
mean when the say they want a strong typedef?

Robert Ramey