Re: [Boost-users] [serialization]

Daryle Walker wrote:

On 11/13/05 10:01 AM, "David Abrahams" wrote:

...

Daryle Walker writes:

...

Reading from an uninitialized variable, like what could happen in the original case during encoding, is not a problem any library can fix. The programmer just has to be non-sloppy.

I buy Robert's argument that, in the case of bool, the assertion will often help him diagnose the problem and help his users when they complain that the library isn't working because they forgot to initialize something.

[TRUNCATE]

Since Robert's test involves undefined behavior, it's not portable. The assert may work on his system but may crash & burn on a different environment. The assert didn't help the second user at all. And what happens if the uninitialized variable just happens to match a valid state?

If users complain that the library isn't working because they forgot to initialize something, and this is included in the documentation as a reason for the exception that is thrown (stream error), as I have suggested, then users might well still complain, but they can then be told to RTFM :) There's no need to pander to slipshod programmers by trying to deal with their broken code - all that is needed is an update to the documentation. Simple solution. Paul