Re: [Boost-users] [uuid] to string problem

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] [uuid] to string problem
From: Emil Dotchevski (emil_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-05-11 20:39:15

On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 4:12 PM, John Dlugosz <JDlugosz_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
>
>> > How about making explicit specializations of lexical_cast that would
>> be faster than the general implementation?  That way the optimization
>> is invisible.
>>
>> Nevermind optimizations, I think that a simple function call is easier
>> to use and more practical: std::string x=to_string(y). Lexical_cast is
>> in a different domain altogether IMO, plus it has other issues, for
>> example it can't use ADL.
>>
>> Emil Dotchevski
>
> hitting dictionary.com ... Anti-Defamation League?  Activities of Daily Living?

Argument-dependent look-up, but I'm sure that's not on dictionary.com :)

> I like the idea of defining operator<< and being done with it.

The problem is that op<< needs a std::ostream, and that's not
convenient when you want to convert something to string. However,
calling op<< is a good default behavior for a generic to_string
function template.

> If it's an explicit specialization, lexical_cast<string> is just another spelling for to_string.

No, the important semantic difference is that lexical_cast<string> can
not use ADL. However, it could be a good idea to write a generic
lexical_cast<string> that resolves to a unqualified call to to_string.

Emil Dotchevski
Reverge Studios, Inc.
http://www.revergestudios.com/reblog/index.php?n=ReCode