Re: [Boost-users] [serialization]

"Robert Ramey" writes:

Daryle Walker wrote:

...

On 11/13/05 2:05 PM, "Robert Ramey" wrote:

...

Daryle Walker wrote:

...

[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.

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. -- Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com