[Container] Forward declaration of movable types
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Hi,
I am evaluating container library by Ion Gaztanaga. I know it is not
officially a part of boost yet but I didn't know where else to ask
this question.
My problem:
If there is a movable class 'MyMovable' (I use boost.move) it can be
stored without unnecessary copies in move-aware vector that is
declared like so:
vector<MyMovable> movables;
which is very cool until this vector is suppose be a member of other class like:
//widget.hpp
class Widget
{
vector<MyMovable> movables_;
};
which is not cool at all because now widget.hpp must include
my_movable.hpp as opposed to just forward declaring it if it stored
say vector
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El 16/08/2011 15:00, Szymon Gatner escribió:
My problem:
If there is a movable class 'MyMovable' (I use boost.move) it can be stored without unnecessary copies in move-aware vector that is declared like so:
vector<MyMovable> movables;
which is very cool until this vector is suppose be a member of other class like:
//widget.hpp
class Widget { vector<MyMovable> movables_; };
You always need the include, just like you needed it when MyMovable was copyable, move is an optimization it does not offer type erasure. If you need to break dependencies, use pimpl idiom for all your members (Warning: I haven't compiled it): //hpp //Note: no includes needed here for vector or MyMovable class Widget { Widget(); ~Widget(); private: //No explicit member declaration //shadow it behind Internals struct Internals; Internals *impl_; }; //cpp #include<vector> #include"MyMovable.h" struct Widget::Internals { vector<MyMovable> movables_; vector<MyMovable> movables2_; vector<MyMovable> movables3_; }; Widget::Widget() //Single allocation for all internal types : impl_(new Internals) {} Widget::~Widget() { delete impl_; } Best, Ion
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2011/8/16 Ion Gaztañaga
You always need the include, just like you needed it when MyMovable was copyable, move is an optimization it does not offer type erasure.
Yeah I get that that. I probably wasn't clear, I only meant that no include was needed if instances were kept by (smart) pointer and not by value.
If you need to break dependencies, use pimpl idiom for all your members (Warning: I haven't compiled it):
[snip]
So there is no really a way around it, is there? Either:
1) objects in container have to be kept by pointer to break dependency
but then they
have to be allocated on the heap so there is little or no benefit in
making them movable
(as smart pointer will provide necessary copy/move/ownership semantics)
2) whole container has to be pimpled so that hidden implementation may then take
advantage of all move goodies like container emplacing
I feel like 2nd option is the one that gives real benefits. Is that right?
Also, I often write code like:
class Widget
{
public:
typedef std::vector
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El 16/08/2011 19:05, Szymon Gatner escribió:
So there is no really a way around it, is there? Either:
1) objects in container have to be kept by pointer to break dependency but then they have to be allocated on the heap so there is little or no benefit in making them movable (as smart pointer will provide necessary copy/move/ownership semantics)
2) whole container has to be pimpled so that hidden implementation may then take advantage of all move goodies like container emplacing
I feel like 2nd option is the one that gives real benefits. Is that right?
Right.
Also, I often write code like:
class Widget { public: typedef std::vector
MyMovables; const MyMovables& movables() const;
private:
MyMovables movables_; }
so that clients can later do:
BOOST_FOREACH(MyMovable& m, indirect(widget->movables()) { // do something with m }
how to design Widget's class API in similar way if MyMovables is hidden behind pimpl?
//hpp class MyMovable; class Widget { public: typedef std::vector<MyMovable> MyMovables; const MyMovables& movables() const; private: class Internals; Internals *impl_; }; //cpp #include "MyMovable.hpp" const Widget::MyMovables& Widget::movables() const { return impl_->movables_; }
PS. I just compiled such a code:
//widget.hpp
class Movable; // only forward declared
class Widget { boost::container::vector<Movable> movables_; }
and widget.cpp properly adds Movable instances by moving them to movable_.
Why does this work? If this is normal then I have no problem at all ;)
Because you haven't instantiated the type. This does not compile:
#include
participants (2)
-
Ion Gaztañaga
-
Szymon Gatner